FC Barcelona announce €97m losses due to coronavirus as total debts rise to €820m

Barcelona have announced losses of €97million (£88m) for the 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Catalan club has been hit heavily by the pandemic, with no fans at their Camp Nou stadium since lockdown started in March, plus a huge reduction in visitors to the club museum and official stores in recent months.

A statement on Barca's official website said: "The 2019/20 economic year ends with losses of 97million euros, caused by the effects of Covid-19."

It added: "Impact of the pandemic implies 203 million decrease in revenue and it is estimated that without this effect the expected one billion in revenue would have been exceeded and the year would have closed with a profit of 2 million."

Barcelona went on to explain the reasons behind the losses.

"The Club suffered financially from the consequences of games being played behind closed doors, as well as the total cancellation of the basketball Euroleague, and hence there was a considerable loss of income," they said.

"The lack of tourists and visitors to the city of Barcelona due to the reductions and limitations applied to international tourism also meant far fewer visitors to Barça’s premises, meaning major losses in terms of such areas as visitors to the Camp Nou Experience and the sale of products in official stores."

In total, Barcelona have now accumulated €820m (£744m) in debt, the club's economic vice-president Jordi Moix said on Monday.

Despite those figures, the Catalan club confirm that they plan to press ahead with their Espai Barça project, which includes renovation of their Camp Nou stadium, at a cost of €815m (£739.7m) over the next 30 years.

"This operation will be conducted in association with Goldman Sachs," Barca said.

"The conditions for the new financing plan consider that the aggregate amount of the agreement is 815 million euros (725 for investment and to pay for the work and 90 million for capitalizable interest over the five years of work plus the initial financial costs)."

Meanwhile, Barca have validated 13,574 signatures of the 16,520 needed to force a vote of no confidence against president Josep Maria Bartomeu, which could lead to elections at the Catalan club this autumn.

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