Will he be able to play in Mallorca? Barça's time limit to register Joan García
Published New:13/08/2025 - 17:01h
Updated New:13/08/2025 - 17:01h
Barça is working against the clock to resolve Joan García's registration. The goalkeeper must be the starter against Mallorca and could receive the federative license on Saturday itself.
FC Barcelona is awaiting the resolution of the LaLiga Medical Committee regarding the downtime of Marc-André ter Stegen to know if the captain's injury will allow or not to register Joan García. Hansi Flick counts on the Catalan goalkeeper to occupy the goal on matchday 1 against Mallorca, as long as the player from Sallent is enabled in time in the azulgrana squad.
Currently, Barça has 18 players registered on the official LaLiga website. In the goal, only Ter Stegen and Iñaki Peña appear as enabled, the latter a fixed discard for Flick. The player from Alicante, although he did the preseason with the team, did not play a minute in the four summer friendlies.
The other available alternative is Diego Kochen. The American has a филиал card and, unlike Iñaki, he did play 15 minutes in the match against the Korean Daegu (0-5). However, the club still has room for maneuver to register García in time to play at Son Moix.
Joan García can be registered on Saturday and play in Mallorca
Until when would Barça have the possibility of registering Joan García for matchday 1 of La Liga? According to the regulations, the maximum period for the club to register its players is when the main referee of the match receives the list of starting and substitute players.
This is usually done one hour before each match. Considering that the Mallorca-Barça match is played at 19:30, the azulgrana team would have, at most, until 18:30 on Saturday to resolve the registration of the 24-year-old goalkeeper.
A scenario, this last one, unthinkable for now, since the Medical Commission of LaLiga should not take more than four days to issue the official report of Ter Stegen's injury. If there is no unanimity in the doctors' report, the commission will speak directly with the German to determine his downtime.
When the registration department of LaLiga receives the documentation required to enable the registration of a player in the squad of each of the 20 clubs in Primera, an authorization is automatically sent to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to activate the player's license.
If Barça included any of its players in the list of starters and substitutes for matchday 1 without any of these being registered, they would lose the match due to improper alignment by a score of 3-0.
Barça's alternatives to resolve Joan García's registration in time
If, finally, the Medical Commission determines that Ter Stegen's injury does not require long-term leave (five or more months), FC Barcelona will only be able to take advantage of, at most, 50% of his card to register other players. That is, as long as the captain's recovery is four months.
In case 'Matts'' leave does not free up enough salary margin for Joan García to enter the squad, the club has already approved a personal guarantee of 7 million euros as an emergency solution to balance its accounts and get closer to the 1:1 rule.
In addition to Joan García, Marcus Rashford, Roony Bardghji, Wojciech Szczesny and Gerard Martín are also awaiting their registration. The goalkeeper's case is the most urgent and, with the rest of the players, there is still room for maneuver thanks to the pending 'lever' of 100 million euros corresponding to the VIP seats.
However, the four players mentioned could hardly be registered in time for their debut in Mallorca. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, the club already experienced similar scenarios with Jules Koundé, Iñigo Martínez and Dani Olmo.
