adminBARCELONA. — Barcelona would not be allowed to play in the Spanish La Liga if Catalonia broke away from Spain, the country’s football league chief Javier Tebas said as tensions mounted in the region over the possibility of an independence referendum next month.
Politics have been interwoven with the football club almost since it was formed and is summed up by the team’s motto: “more than a club”.
Barca’s role in pushing the Catalan nationalist cause varies depending on the board in power, but it always plays a central role in cultural life.
The present board, first under president Sandro Rosell and now Josep Maria Bartomeu, have taken a back-seat role in the heated debate currently taking place in the region about whether to hold an independence referendum on November 9. — Reuters.
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