On Wednesday, Antonio Alvarez will be sworn in as the new president of Barcelona SC. He will take office as the only candidate, without an election, after the Canary Electoral Court qualified his list and then declared him the head of the yellow club.

Rafael Verduga’s candidacy was not accepted, and even with the protection order, which was dismissed, he could not contest the elections after he gave up his presence on the board chaired by Carlos Alfaro Moreno. Verduga clarifies that he no longer submitted appeals to the regular judiciary, which is awaiting the decision of the Ministry of Sports, which took office without prior elections. Alvarez believes that something similar to what El Nacional experienced could happen, where Lucía Vallecilla is not recognized as president and Creole elections will be called.

According to Verduga in the bullring, by not announcing the elections for the Assembly “a mistake was made” in the announcement of the president and that the consequences could be dire for Barcelona SC. He confirms that the new administration, if it is not registered by the Ministry of Sports, is ready to compete in possible elections.

In Barcelona SC, they did not receive an invitation to the election assembly and Antonio Alvarez will be sworn in as president this Wednesday. Could there be a case similar to that of El Nacional?

They made a series of mistakes. They forced things to have the presidency of Barcelona SC. They did it in a bad way and it can cause chaos. There must be elections. The sports law is clear. It cannot be that the law serves you for some things, and for other things you say: ‘no, I only look at the regulations, nothing more’. So, if it doesn’t happen today, it will happen tomorrow, in a month, or for whatever half-year it is due, elections will have to be held.

Could it happen that the Ministry of Sports does not register the new Canarian board and something similar to El Nacional happens?

If they don’t register your directive, how do you sign contracts with players? How much are the contracts you sign with them or with sponsors worth? The institutional damage being done to Barcelona SC is truly appalling. Too many things happened that, at best, can be called coincidence. When we submitted our candidacy and when we were ratified, the State Attorney’s Office, which is the attorney of the state, had to worry about oil contracts, those for the construction of bridges and refineries, in less than 24 hours it got involved in the Barcelona SC elections when we had already presented our candidacy. That is, a lawyer intervenes in the middle of the process. Too many coincidences happened to end up on the list (Antonio Alvarez’s) that was not chosen because there was no choice.

Would you participate in possible elections, with changes to the list, if the Ministry of Sports does not register the management of Barcelona SC?

Of course. If there was a solution from the ministry in this sense, we would obviously have to change and there would be no problem because I insist: this is a project that is above people. When the project and the candidacy were presented, there was no statement from the State Attorney’s Office, it was not on the table, it was not on the table. The Ministry has never said anything, so it replies that it is subject to the interpretation of the law and that is clear.

Do you have in mind to initiate any lawsuit for trying to hold elections or do you expect a statement from the ministry?

It is not true that I filed five, six or seven protection claims. I think there should be a lot more of them, because they are represented by members of the club, and it is one of their rights for a member to vote. They violate the member’s right to vote, to participate in elections. We also participated indirectly in the action initiated by our partner in Montecristi. An appeal was filed against that decision and we are waiting for the result of that appeal. We did not participate in any other action, because we also know that there was pressure on the ordinary judiciary to prevent our candidacy. For our part, we will not insist on it.

In some interviews, you said that they don’t “want” you to be a candidate. Who are those who don’t want it?

The old (management) model that has existed in Barcelona SC for 30 years, whose representatives do not want things to change. The model that doesn’t build a field, the one that doesn’t have player training, the one that guides everything by hand, the presidential model.

He also said that Carlos Alfaro Moreno (outgoing president) betrayed him when he told him he would not run again and then he did.

I think he will have to deal with his conscience. It is clear to me that I helped in the last directive, but those questions that are more personal should be resolved by him with his conscience. Today we are in this process, trying to hold elections in Barcelona SC, presenting our project. We are not giving up. We believe that there will be elections in the club. (D)