BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The small auditorium in a working-class neighborhood of Barcelona is packed with people listening to a middle-aged man in a suit tell them why he deserves their vote. There are campaign posters, a jingle blaring over loudspeakers, television cameras, lots of handshakes and selfies, and, of course, a stump speech full of pledges as well as barbs for the rival candidate.

But this is not about deciding the next mayor or filling a seat in a national legislature.

This election campaign is to determine who will earn the job of running FC Barcelona during one of its most turbulent periods as it struggles to emerge from a mountain of debt.

Barça (pronounced “Barsa” in English) is proud of its slogan of being “more than a club” for its attractive soccer, its connection with Catalan culture, and backing humanitarian causes.

But what really makes Barça stand out from other globally followed sports teams is that it is owned by 114,000 due-paying club members, not a billionaire or energy-rich Middle Eastern state like those which control Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

Those Barça club members have been called to cast votes on Sunday in Barcelona and three other cities in northeastern Spain, as well as neighboring Andorra, to pick the club's next president and executive board.

“I really like the elections. It makes me feel part of the club. My father was a Barça supporter since I was a little girl. I’ve lived and loved Barça since I was little," 96-year-old Rosa Capdevila, cane in hand, said at a recent event held by incumbent Joan Laporta.

Many voters, however, believe their choice of president, who also acts as the CEO, will prove crucial to the future of Barça's rare ownership model, which is threatened by the highest debt burden of any soccer club in the world, a staggering 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion).

Real Madrid is also member-owned and Florentino Pérez has presided over the club for all but three years of this century without any serious opposition. More comparable to Barça's democratic model are fellow Spanish clubs Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna, and Portuguese majors Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon, which have leadership elections while not holding the same rank as Barça does as an elite soccer club.

Voters' views are key

The election will hinge on voters' views of how Laporta ran the club for the last five years under considerable financial strain.

Laporta successfully presided over Barça from 2003-10 during the glory years of coach Pep Guardiola and a young Lionel Messi, and returned to the office in 2021. He inherited some 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in debt due to the lavish spending of his predecessor and the impact on revenues from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Laporta, 63, has repeatedly said the club was ruined when he came back and it was a “miracle” it was still in the hands of club members, instead of having been sold off to third-party investors, a move that club members consider anathema.

But many members are critical of Laporta’s decision to sell some club assets in moves he dubbed “financial levers,” including selling 25% of its Spanish league TV rights for the next 25 years, to generate quick cash for immediate needs and to sign new players.

Laporta’s push to finance a long-overdue renovation of Camp Nou, the largest soccer stadium in Europe, has only bloated the debt amount even further.

“These elections are very important because Barça is highly indebted,” club member Josep Maria Carbonell said at another campaign event. “So we need new blood to help put the club’s finances in order, because if it is economically sound the rest will follow.”

Only one rival in election

Víctor Font is Laporta’s only rival in the election after other possible candidates dropped out for lack of support. Font, a local businessman, lost to Laporta in 2021 and has been preparing for a rematch ever since.

Font told The AP that he fears that Laporta will end up inviting in a big-time investor to become an owner, thus destroying its members-owned model.

Font envisions Laporta “asking to sell some 10% to an investment fund, so we can sort out our financial problems and perhaps buy a great player."

“That risk is real. That is why it is so important to make a change in these elections," he said.

Pérez announced last year that Real Madrid is considering allowing outside investors to buy a stake of up to 10% in the club.

Laporta vehemently denies he is thinking of the same move. Among his campaign pledges is the promise to reform the club statutes to include a requirement that any sale of the club, even partial, would have to be approved by members in a referendum.

He argues that a new-look Camp Nou with more seating and other sources of income will boost revenues, thus making economic sense in the long term.

He also defends his financial management by highlighting the club has lowered its spending on player wages and boosted its merchandise sales. Barcelona generated the second-highest club revenue in world soccer last season, some 974 million euros, behind only Real Madrid, according to Deloitte’s yearly Money League survey.

After Messi, Barça has Yamal

Laporta’s detractors point to his record of promises that didn't pan out. In his first campaign back in 2003, Laporta promised to bring a still-young David Beckham from Manchester United, only for the English star to choose Real Madrid. Then in 2021 Laporta said he would find a way to keep Lionel Messi, but once elected he said the club couldn’t afford to keep its superstar.

In Laporta’s favor come Sunday are the trophies the team has won in recent years, including last season’s La Liga and Copa del Rey and the multiple successes of its women's team, along with the discovery of a new star player in Lamine Yamal.

Over the past month Laporta has held 30 rallies or media events while touring Catalonia in a bus that is plastered with his name and the slogan, “We defend Barça.”

He is asking voters to let him finish the job he started “to save Barça,” while warning that Font lacks a deep sentimental connection to the club.

“We cannot leave Barça in the hands of a technocrat who understands Barça looking at his computer,” Laporta said about Font. “He hasn’t got Barça in his head or in his heart.”

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AP video journalist Hernán Muñoz contributed to this report.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer