Reports | Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and board resigns

Despite revealing earlier yesterday, that he has no plans of resigning as the president of Barcelona football club, ESPN has reported that Josep Maria Bartomeu has submitted his resignation. The Barca president was facing a vote of no confidence after more than 20,000 supporters signed a petition that needed only around 16,000 votes to be passed. It would have forced a vote of no confidence which would force an election to vote a new president but multiple reports have revealed that it won’t be necessary. 

This comes after several months of criticism with Barcelona’s Champions League loss to Bayern Munich and Lionel Messi’s transfer saga the final straw for many. It saw a petition for change signed by many with Bartomeu’s position under incredible scrutiny especially after all the votes were collected. While reports indicated that the Barcelona board tried to postpone the vote, it seemed inevitable and ESPN has revealed that Bartomeu didn’t want to face a fans’ vote of no confidence.

This, if true, brings an end to a six year spell for Bartomeu after he replaced Sandro Rosell in 2014, an era during which he saw Barcelona lift the treble under Luis Enrique. However, while the club have won honors since, their lack of Champions League trophies has seen the Barcelona president face scrutiny over his position. Victor Font, Joan Laporta and Jordi Roche are some of the candidates expected to run in an election to decide Bartomeu's successor.