Elche’s ineligibility complaint against Barcelona’s Gavi officially dismissed

The Spanish Soccer Federation’s (RFEF) Competition Committee have officially dismissed Elche’s complaint that Barcelona fielded Gavi as an ineligible player in the matchday 27 LaLiga clash between the two teams, which ended in a 4-0 victory for Xavi Hernández’s side. The Committee confirmed that on 4 April the RFEF’s Licensing Area “stated that the player has been registered with a youth licence with Barcelona’s Divisón de Honor team [the top level of the Spanish league system for youth players] since 2 October 2020″.

Gavi “met all the conditions required”

In a four-page statement, it was confirmed that “at no time, therefore, was the player’s licence cancelled, and it cannot be understood that article 141.5 of the General Federation Regulations, referred to in the third legal basis of this resolution, was violated. The player, in short, met all the conditions required in article 248.1 of this same General Regulations, which lists the general requirements that soccer players must meet to play. In particular, it has been proven (...) that the player was duly registered and in possession of a license obtained during the periods established by the Regulations”.

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The Committee Competition agrees to the ‘filing of the claim’ in a document signed by the president, Carmen Pérez González. Elche can appeal to the Appeals Committee within the next ten days.

Contractual issues for Gavi and Barcelona

Due to Barcelona’s ongoing financial issues, they have had trouble registering Gavi as a first-team player with LaLiga. The midfielder signed a new contract with the club in September last year, which was initially registered by Barça with LaLiga at 11:59 p.m. on 31 January just as the winter transfer window ended. However, LaLiga refused to accept the document under Financial Fair Play regulations in accordance with Barcelona’s debts. Gavi was able to temporarily play with the number 6 shirt and play under a standard first team registration temporarily as the case went through the courts.

A recent Barcelona Commercial Court ruling however annulled the precautionary measure and forced Gavi to return to using the number 30 shirt with the midfielder returning to being considered as a Barça B team player. If Barcelona fail to resolve their salary cap issue before 30 June, Gavi’s first team contract would be annulled and the player would automatically become a free-agent and be able to move to another side for zero cost.