Victor Font was one of Joan Laporta’s primary rivals in Barcelona’s last election. At the time, his primary motto and manifesto revolved around Xavi Hernandez being the coach and Lionel Messi being the team’s hero.
Laporta eventually won, and while Xavi did become the manager, he could not renew Messi’s contract given the club’s finances leading to an abrupt end to the Argentine’s regime at Barcelona.
Fast forward to 2026, Font is again one of Laporta’s biggest rivals for the forthcoming elections. His manifesto, five years later however, still appears to hover around Messi and not much more.
Font’s Messi-centred campaign
Presenting his project earlier today, the Barcelona presidential candidate again reiterated how his project revolved around the Argentine superstar and began by emphasising that it was not a dream but an idea already presented to the club legend.
“This that we are telling you today began in 2022. That’s when we started working on this project with three pillars. In mid-2023, we presented our idea and our proposals to the Messi family.”
He then spoke on his idea of making Messi Barcelona’s ‘Honorary President’ as part of his manifesto and how the player stood for all of Barcelona’s values.
“Leo’s values reflect what we culers are like. Committed, a leader, honest, and someone who loves Barça very much. He is the most well-known face of Barça-ism.”
Font then spoke on his proposed farewell for Messi and how the Argentine deserved a far better departure from Barcelona than he had when Laporta arrived.
“I propose that he be able to say goodbye wearing shorts at Spotify Camp Nou after the World Cup to receive the tribute he deserves.”
Is one last dance still possible? (Photo by Ayush Kumar/Getty Images)
“Leo Messi cannot say goodbye to Barça with a photo and all his trophies behind him. He must say goodbye on the pitch, playing, which is how he moved us,” he added.
The presidential candidate also stressed how none of the aforementioned dreams would be possible if Joan Laporta was elected back to power owing to sour relations between the two parties.
“The culers must be clear that this will never happen if Joan Laporta wins these elections and returns to run the club.”
“On the commercial side, I propose combining the Messi brand with the Barça brand, which would give us enormous economic potential, in the purest Jordan and Nike style,” he added, making a controversial statement on how Messi with Adidas and Barcelona with Nike could collaborate.
Taking a jibe at Laporta, the candidate then reminded the public of how he deceived Messi twice in recent years.
“I remember that Laporta deceived Messi twice. In 2021 and in 2023. Twice! Reason enough to stop serving as president of Barça.”
Finally, he was asked about the relationship between the previous board and Real Madrid, to which he said,
“We did not break relations with Florentino. We broke them with Messi. It is extremely serious.”
“The official narrative tells us that we defend Barça and that we break relations with Madrid, and the reality is that they win matches thanks to the CTA while we remain distanced from Messi, as well as from other legends,” he added.
Source: SPORT