Barca Femeni have long managed to avoid being engulfed in the off-pitch chaos that has hampered the men's team - until now...
Barcelona's men's and women's teams have experienced quite contrasting fortunes over the last few years. While the latter have reached all of the last five Champions League finals, winning three of them, and been the unwavering, dominant force in Spanish women's football, the former have found themselves fighting fires when it comes to the financials, with off-pitch issues regularly impeding them in their own quest to return to the very top of the European game.
Indeed, one of the biggest concerns in Catalunya over the past few weeks has surrounded player registration, yet again, with head coach Hansi Flick admittedly "not happy" that the availability of both Marcus Rashford and Joan Garcia for the start of the new campaign remained up in the air until almost the last minute. "The same thing happened last season," he lamented, before everything was finally resolved just in time for Barca's first La Liga game.
Barca Femeni have long been able to escape the impact of these issues, unlike other sections of the club. But, perhaps inevitably, that appears to be changing. A rather worrying summer suggests those problems are now seeping into the fortunes of this all-conquering side, whose ability to fight on all four fronts so formidably looks set to be hampered in 2025-26.