Welcome to SuoSports

SuoSports

Hoeness: I can’t understand that Barcelona can still be in La Liga with a debt of 1.3 billion, but it would have been relegated in another country.

4:44pm, 25 November 2025Football

Bayern Honorary Chairman Hoeness recently talked about Barcelona's operating model again in an OMR podcast. He admitted that Barcelona's model should be used as a negative teaching material for modern top football operations.

Hoeness: "Barcelona... this is obviously not the model I want. In any other country, they would have been relegated long ago."

"Really, owed 1.3 billion euros in debt - how can this be possible? I can't understand how they can still play in the top league."

Hoeness specifically compared Barcelona's financial model with Bayern. Barcelona relies on various economic levers and short-term financial means to barely maintain the competitiveness of the lineup, while Bayern is taking a path that does not rely on debt at all and only relies on stable support.

When he talks about teams that inspire or influence Bayern, he explicitly mentions other clubs: Liverpool, Manchester United in the past, and, at some point, Real Madrid. But Barcelona is not on his list.

Links: