Barcelona says it remains on track to reduce its debt without the use of financial levers

BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona is on track to reducing its debt without having to resort to new financial levers, the club said Wednesday while announcing a higher-than-expected net profit of 304 million euros ($320.5 million) for the 2022-23 season.

Barcelona said the club’s operating income was 1.26 billion euros ($1.33 billion), with expenses at 1.16 billion euros ($1.22 billion), which enabled the reduction of the net debt for a second consecutive season. The debt dropped from 680 million euros ($717 million) in June 2021 to 552 million euros ($582 million) in June this year, the club said.

“We have managed to seal the hole, but work must continue to reduce the debt to a sustainable amount,” said Eduard Romeu, vice president of the club’s economic department. “We are returning to ordinary current income. That means without extraordinary operations, without levers or sales.”

Barcelona recently resorted to a series of financial operations to help reduce its debt, including the advance sale of television rights for the Spanish league.

The club said most of its spending came on sports salaries, amounting to 676 million euros ($712 million), or 79% of the 860 million euros ($906 million) in revenue not accounting for the sale of TV rights.

The club said it expects to make a profit in the current financial year despite the reduction in income resulting from the transfer of games to the smaller Olympic Stadium in Montjuic while the Camp Nou undergoes renovation work. It said the forecast is to generate 859 million euros ($905 million) and a profit of 11 million euros ($11.5 million) before taxes.

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Court officials said earlier Wednesday club president Joan Laporta will also be investigated by a judge looking into the payments made by Barcelona of millions of euros (dollars) over several years to a company that belonged to the vice president of Spain’s refereeing committee.

The investigation is related to the previous stint of Laporta in charge of the Catalan club. Former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu are also being investigated.