Soriano could lead united board candidacy

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that former Barcelona economic vice-president Ferran Soriano will take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona.

Soriano would lead an own candidacy and the decision would be officially announced in two or three weeks.

First, Soriano wants to personally inform all the members of the board of directors of Spanish airline Spanair, of which he is the chairman, about his decision. The directors of Spanair wouldn't have problems with the candidacy and a possible presidency of Soriano.

Soriano's right-hand man during the campaign would be former Barcelona vice-president Marc Ingla, who left the club together with Soriano in 2008. Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that Ingla has been preparing the candidacy of Soriano.

Spanish news agency EFE claims that Soriano didn't yet make a decision but that he has been in contact with current Barcelona board members, among which presidential candidates Alfons Godall and Jaume Ferrer. None of the meetings would nevertheless already have led to a deal.

Sources of the entourage of Soriano would have told that the best option could be a united candidacy with the current board members and both Ferrer and Godall would be open for this option, that would also be supported current Barcelona president Joan Laporta. El 9 Esportiu claims that Soriano and Laporta could meet soon to solve their differences.

EFE says that it's so far unclear who should lead the candidacy but an agreement could be reached by the end of March or the beginning of April. Spanish news site El Confidencial suggests that Soriano would head the list because Godall would in the end prefer a role in the shadow.

Read more:
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Former president of Catalan federation could run

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Jordi Roche could take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona next spring.

Roche is a 35-years old businessman and former president of the Catalan football federation (2005-2008) and of Spanish second division club Girona (2001-2005).

Several sources would have indicated that Roche could make his candidacy public in the coming weeks, despite Spanish news site El Confidencial claiming last year that Roche was a part of the team of former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell.

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Jaume Guixa will run for president

Catalan university professor Jaume Guixà (51) will take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona.

It has been confirmed to this blog that Guixà has in the past weeks and months been in contact with Barcelona club members in order to prepare his candidacy. University professor of economics Jordi Vilajosana would become the right-hand man of Guixà, who has been hinting at his candidacy on his personal blog a few days ago.

Guixà would have been preparing his candidacy for several years now. Spanish news site El Confidencial already claimed last year that Guixà had contracted a public relations agency that has been working on a campaign strategy and that Guixà was holding meetings to form his team and to raise money to finance his campaign.

Former Barcelona vice-president Jaume Sobrequés, who is believed to be collaborating with Guixa, suggested last month at Catalan television channel Barcelona TV that Guixà is preparing a candidacy: "It won't just be the candidate of Laporta against Rosell. There will be others. There are other people who are working on a candidacy, discretely but in a very serious way. Like university professor Jaume Guixà. It's still premature to talk about it, but things will be made public at the right time."

Jaume Guixà, who would not be willing to team up with other candidates unless he would head the joint candidacy, was a pre-candidate in the elections of 2006 but wasn't able to collect enough signatures of club members to take part in the elections (read more here). He's an architect and lawyer and founded the Penya Mil·lenni, a Barcelona fan club of which he is still the president.

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