The Gamper of blushes: far from Camp Nou, without registrations and a referendum for Ter Stegen

"You never know here," they whisper from Can Barça. There's no more ambiguous and, at the same time, more illuminating answer to understand what's happening at FC Barcelona. Perhaps the only team in the world capable of combining sporting success and institutional crises with such skill. After a week of absolute open warfare between Joan Laporta, president, and Marc-André ter Stegen , captain of the first team, both will be at the 2025/26 season presentation acting as respective Barça leaders.

The truce, though not the end of the conflict , came after Ter Stegen issued a statement on Friday afternoon, explaining his point of view to the Barça fans and agreeing to authorize medical reports for LaLiga. According to sources close to the player, he had "not heard from the club for months," but this statement prompted a call from Joan Laporta. This gave the German the green light for the Employers' Medical Commission to accept his discharge, and, therefore, the Blaugrana can benefit from exceptions to the regulations that facilitate registrations. The club responded by withdrawing the disciplinary file and returning him to the captaincy.

Barça arrives at the Johan Cruyff Stadium with seven first-team players yet to be registered. Six days before the start of LaLiga, the club has announced the signings. Joan García, Szczesny, Gerard Martín, Héctor Fort, Bernal, Rashford, and Roony Bardghji (eight if you count Oriol Romeu, whose departure is still pending confirmation). There is optimism at the club following Iñigo Martínez's departure to Saudi Arabia and the exception of Ter Stegen's injury. Hope is a hallmark of Laporta's board, and judging by recent seasons, a way has always been found. Financial engineering levers, political interventions, last-minute sales...

Referendum with Ter Stegen

As Barça captain, Ter Stegen has the responsibility of leading the dressing room in front of the Johan Cruyff Stadium, which will hold a maximum of 6,000 Barça fans. The player is injured, and therefore Araújo will wear the armband for the match. Will the goalkeeper give his address to the fans? Although the crowd isn't comparable to what the Gamper Stadium would have been at Camp Nou , the fans' presence will serve to assess his position relative to the German goalkeeper.

According to this newspaper, Ter Stegen was planning to attend the Joan Gamper Stadium even with the disciplinary proceedings open and his captaincy suspended. The truce with Laporta appears to have calmed the waters, but on social media, some fans are highly critical of the German goalkeeper's actions.

One of the goalkeeper's obsessions is maintaining a good relationship with the Barça fans . He feels there's a smear campaign being waged against him by the club, and that this has turned the fans against him. The reality is that the dressing room has, at least publicly, shown itself to be in favor of Ter Stegen. The players have long since stopped understanding the board's ways. The captain himself, Raphinha, expressed this at the beginning of the year when the signings of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor were up in the air: "If I were at another club, maybe I'd think about whether it's better to stay at Barça."

A leading voice within Barcelona, Xavi Hernández, Hansi Flick's predecessor, came out in favor of Ter Stegen after the German's statement. "Always exemplary," the legendary Barça player shared. Now it's Barça's turn to speak.

At the end of June, Barça announced with great fanfare its homecoming : the Gamper Trophy would be played at Camp Nou. Expected to be packed stands of 60,000 Barça fans celebrating last season's Copa del Rey and La Liga triumphs, as well as a Champions League semi-final defeat. The commercial featured Joan Laporta himself on the pitch. The stadium will be under construction until 2028, the club's deadline for finalizing the renovation, but a partial reopening is expected in 2025.

Following the announcement, voices in the Catalan construction sector clutched their heads. It seemed impossible for the project to be completed on time. Just a few weeks later, it became clear that the board had once again erred on the side of optimism. From 60,000 at Camp Nou to 6,000 at Johan Cruyff Stadium.