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Photo: ALEJANDRO GARCIA / imago images / Agencia EFE
Barcelona's club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has resigned.
The club confirmed this on Twitter.
The 57-year-old, who had been in office since early 2014, announced his retirement at an extraordinary board meeting.
The entire board of directors resigns together with Bartomeu.
The reason given was the refusal of the authorities in the Catalonia region to postpone the vote on a motion of censure against him, writes the Spanish newspaper "Mundo Deportivo".
Bartomeu had requested the postponement because of the pandemic.
He said he didn't want to put the club members' health at risk.
The vote was scheduled for November 1st and 2nd.
The opposition had collected more than 20,000 signatures from association members for the motion of no confidence.
The Bartomeu opponents would have needed a two-thirds majority to oust the unloved boss from the throne.
Barcelona currently has a lot of trouble spots.
The team had its sporting low point in the 8-2 win against Bayern Munich in the last Champions League season, but things are not going well in the current season either.
The Clásico were lost 1: 3
After two wins at the start, Barcelona only took one point from the last three league games.
Recently, the "Clásico" lost 3-1 to Real Madrid.
With just seven points from five games, Barcelona are only twelfth - and are already seven points behind leaders San Sebastian, who has played two more games.
Even more serious, however, was probably the broken relationship between Bartomeus and the team and his superstar.
Lionel Messi wanted to change at the start of the season, but Bartomeu wouldn't let him go - and to his annoyance, he also sold friend and strike partner Luis Suárez to Madrid.
Defense chief Gerard Piqué recently publicly criticized the club's management for their decisions.
And then there was the so-called "Barçagate", a presumed campaign against Barcelona stars, which Barcelona has meanwhile rejected as defamation, but because of which Bartomeu had been asked to resign weeks ago by fans.
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bka / dpa