Data as at 4 August 2026
Evidential base: FC Barcelona official statements and accounts; Morningstar DBRS rating actions; CNMV filings (Espai Barça FTA); KBRA rating documentation; Sixth Street announcements..
Key findings
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- Tranche 1 (€105m) closed 17 July 2026 at a 5.14% fixed coupon, maturing October 2036, placed in under two hours, more than 200% oversubscribed, entirely with US insurers, investment funds and pension funds. Goldman Sachs was sole lead manager and placement agent. Tranche 2 (€105m) is scheduled for November 2026 on the same programme.
- Proceeds “strengthen the Club’s cash position” and fund the strategic plan; press reporting ties it explicitly to summer transfer/registration liquidity and to a matchday-revenue shortfall from the delayed Camp Nou reopening. The club itself expects to breach LaLiga’s cost controls again.
- 202bps spread over the reference rate, down from 240bps on the previous media-notes issuance, the club’s headline evidence of improved credit perception. In absolute terms 5.14% sits well above the 1.98% blended cost of the 2021 media-notes programme, but that gap is driven by the ECB/Fed rate cycle, not by Barça’s credit.
- Immediately prior rounds (last c.18 months). (a) The €424m Espai Barça refinancing (announced 27 June 2025), restructuring c.40% of the stadium debt originally due 2028 into 2033–2050 maturities, cutting the average cost of the refinanced slice from 5.53% to 5.19%. (b) A June 2024 media-notes “Series F” of €85.6m. Both are covered as context.
- Structure and governance. The media notes are issued by the club (FCB) directly, secured by a first-priority interest in media-rights revenues and the collection account, with unsecured recourse to the club — distinct from the ring-fenced Espai Barça Fondo de Titulización that carries the €1.45bn stadium debt. As a members-owned association Barça cannot issue equity; all financing is debt or asset-monetisation (“palancas”), authorised through the Assemblea de Compromissaris.
- Rating. Morningstar DBRS confirmed the Issuer Rating and Senior Secured Media Notes at BBB on 9 July 2026 but revised the trend Positive→Stable, citing the extra 2026 debt and the Espai Barça schedule/financing needs.
As at 4 August 2026, Barcelona’s most recent funding round is the €210m Senior Secured Media Notes programme. The first €105m tranche closed on 17 July 2026 (confirmed on fcbarcelona.com, published 17 Jul 26): “FC Barcelona has successfully completed a €105 million issuance of Senior Secured Notes, maturing in October 2036 and carrying a fixed coupon of 5.14%.” Demand was “more than 200% oversubscribed,” placed “in less than two hours” among “US insurance companies, investment funds, and pension funds,” with “Goldman Sachs acting as lead manager and placement agent for this ten-year bond issue.” A matching second €105m tranche is scheduled for November 2026, confirmed both by Spanish reporting (EFE/Infobae: the club “will launch a similar operation for the same amount (€105m) in November”) and by the DBRS rating action.
This is distinct from, and more recent than, the two other transactions of the last 18 months:
- €424m Espai Barça refinancing (announced 27 June 2025): the club restructured “€424 million in debt originally due in 2028… into a new structure… repaid [from] 2033 and… fully paid off by 2050. The average cost of the refinanced amount stands at 5.19%.” This refinanced c.40% of the €1.45bn stadium debt and cut the cost of that slice from 5.53% to 5.19%.
- June 2024 media-notes “Series F” of €85.6m, a top-up on the existing media-notes programme (DBRS assigned a provisional BBB to Series F on 10 June 2024).
The August 2023 €1.45bn Espai Barça financing and the 2021 €595m corporate refinancing are the two structural anchors of the debt stack; both are covered below.
The core primary research documents are:
- FC Barcelona official statement, “FC Barcelona successfully completes a bond issue with strong support from international investors,” fcbarcelona.com, 17 July 2026, the €105m Tranche 1.
- FC Barcelona official statement (€424m Espai Barça refinancing), fcbarcelona.com, 27 June 2025.
- FC Barcelona official statement, “Morningstar DBRS confirms BBB rating for FC Barcelona…,” fcbarcelona.com, 9 July 2026.
- Morningstar DBRS press releases (initial BBB assignment 10 Aug 2022; confirmation 18 June 2024 naming Series F €85.6m and listing the six Private Placement Numbers E5444# AD6/AE4/AF1/AG9/AH7/AJ3; trend to Positive 16 June 2025; the 9 July 2026 action confirming BBB and revising trend to Stable).
- FC Barcelona Consolidated Annual Accounts (the 2021 €595m Senior Secured Notes issuance of 19 August 2021, secured by the marketing of the club’s audiovisual rights).
- Espai Barça, Fondo de Titulización, CNMV entity registration and periodic reports (issuer NIF V44649325; management company Intermoney Titulización, S.G.F.T., S.A.).
- KBRA preliminary rating report on the Espai Barça FTA (three €500m senior-note tranches, aggregate €1.5bn, maturities 2032/2045/2052; BBB+ preliminary, subsequently revised to BBB by KBRA and re-cut to a €1.3bn notes/€200m loan split with a 2047 final maturity).
- Vienna Stock Exchange listing (2023 Espai Barça notes listed with maturities 2028–2047 and coupons reported between roughly 6% and 7.22%).
In 2021 Barça raised money on its media rights at 1.98% fixed; in July 2026 it raised on the same collateral at 5.14%. That looks like a dramatic deterioration but it is not, Euro/USD base rates rose several hundred basis points across the 2022–23 ECB/Fed tightening cycle. The correct like-for-like metric is the credit spread, and on that measure Barça improved from 240bps to 202bps between its previous media-notes deal and July 2026, a c.38bps tightening. On the stadium debt the club made the same point differently: the €424m refinanced slice fell from 5.53% to 5.19% (c.34bps), and the club claimed the risk premium was cut “to nearly half” of the 2023 level. The direction of travel on credit is unambiguously positive even as the absolute cost of money rose.
| Raise | Date | Amount | Coupon / cost | Tenor | Security | Spread (reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 corporate refinancing | 19 Aug 2021 | €595m (4 series Senior Secured Notes) | 1.98% fixed (per club Memoria, via press) | up to c.15yr | Media (LaLiga TV) rights | n/a |
| Sixth Street palanca (10%+15% TV rights) | Jun–Jul 2022 | €207.5m first tranche; c.€517m total (headline gain €267m + €400m) | Asset sale, high implied cost of capital (25-yr rights forgone) | 25yr | Sale of future TV income | n/a |
| 2023 Espai Barça notes | Apr–May 2023 | €1.45bn (extendable +€50m) via FTA | Blended c.5.53% (est. all-in); tranche coupons c.5.94%–7.22% | 5/7/9/20/24yr (2028–2047) | Ring-fenced new stadium revenues (no mortgage) | risk premium c.2× the 2026 level (per club) |
| Media-notes Series F | 10–18 Jun 2024 | €85.6m | Not disclosed (240bps spread implied) | n/a | Media rights | 240bps (prior deal) |
| Espai Barça €424m refinancing | 27 Jun 2025 | €424m | 5.19% (down from 5.53%) | 2033–2050 | Same FTA framework | risk premium halved vs 2023 |
| Media Notes Tranche 1 (most recent) | 17 Jul 2026 | €105m | 5.14% fixed | Oct 2036 (10yr) | First-priority media rights + collection account; unsecured recourse to club | 202bps |
| Media Notes Tranche 2 (scheduled) | Nov 2026 | €105m | n/a | n/a | Same | n/a |
- Issuer: Futbol Club Barcelona (the club directly, not the Espai Barça FTA).
- Lead manager / placement agent: Goldman Sachs (sole).
- Investors: US institutional only, insurance companies, investment funds, pension funds (unnamed; consistent with the 2023 and prior media-notes buyer base of US insurers).
- Rating agency: Morningstar DBRS (DBRS Ratings GmbH, Frankfurt; endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for UK use): BBB, Stable trend from 9 July 2026; Lead Analyst Manuel Gutiérrez (VP), Committee Chair Alberto Faraco (SVP, Sector Lead).
- Security: first-priority interest in the club’s media-rights revenues and the bank account into which they are paid; unsecured recourse to the club.
- Governance chain: Board of Directors (Junta Directiva under president Joan Laporta) executes within authority granted by the Assemblea de Compromissaris; the socio-owned association model prohibits equity issuance, forcing all capital-raising into debt or asset monetisation.
- Related football-finance exposure: Goldman Sachs is also principal lender/arranger to Barça’s Espai Barça and 2021 refinancing, and is active with Real Betis, Valencia and Sevilla; Sixth Street (Barça’s TV-rights palanca counterparty) also holds a Bernabéu operations deal with Real Madrid.
Comparator raises in football
- Real Madrid: Bernabéu: €575m in 2019 at 2.5% fixed over 30 years (to 30 July 2049), led by JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch with Banco Santander and Société Générale, CaixaBank as agent; annual debt service c.€29.5m from 30 July 2023; +€225m in 2021 at 1.53% (27yr, same maturity, approved by the members’ assembly on 20 Nov 2021), taking the package to €800m; whole-club backing, no mortgage. Plus Sixth Street’s Bernabéu operations deal.
- Tottenham Hotspur: £637m 2019 refinancing (£525m US private placement + £112m BofA Merrill Lynch term loan), weighted-average coupon 2.66%, average maturity 23 years, longest tranche 30 years (a 30-year USPP tranche priced at 2.79%); BofA Merrill Lynch as Lead Placement Agent/Sole Bookrunner, HSBC Co-Placement Agent, Rothschild & Co adviser. By June 2025 the stadium debt was £847.7m at a 3.16% weighted-average coupon, 17.6-year average maturity, essentially interest-only/bullet.
- Inter Milan: €415m 6.750% Senior Secured Notes due 2027, issued 9 Feb 2022 by Inter Media and Communication S.p.A. (ISIN XS2439248472); refinanced early under Oaktree in 2025 at c.4.52% to 2030 (early redemption at 101.7 on 26 June 2025), saving c.€12m p.a.; media/sponsorship-rights backed, the closest structural analogue to Barça’s media notes.
- Arsenal: £260m securitised stadium bonds (2006), later refinanced; whole-stadium receipts backing (context).
- Equity contrast: Juventus: repeated equity capital increases (rights issues), a lever entirely unavailable to socio-owned Barça and Real Madrid.
| Club / raise | Date | Amount | Cost | Tenor | Backing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona media notes T1 | Jul 2026 | €105m (of €210m) | 5.14% (202bps) | 10yr | LaLiga media rights |
| Barcelona Espai Barça | 2023 (refi 2025) | €1.45bn | 5.94–7.22% coupons; refi slice 5.19% | 5–24yr | Ring-fenced stadium revenues |
| Real Madrid Bernabéu | 2019 / 2021 | €575m + €225m | 2.50% / 1.53% | 30yr / 27yr | Whole club, no mortgage |
| Tottenham stadium refi | 2019 | £637m | 2.66% blended | avg 23yr (to 30yr) | Whole club/stadium receipts |
| Inter media notes | 2022 (refi 2025) | €415m | 6.750% → c.4.52% | 5yr → 2030 | Media/sponsorship rights |
| Arsenal stadium bonds | 2006 | £260m | n/a (refinanced) | long-dated | Stadium receipts securitisation |
| Where Barça sits
Barça’s programme is mainstream for the sector. On spread, Barça’s stadium and media notes price materially wider than Real Madrid’s Bernabéu loans (2.5%/1.53%) and Tottenham’s 2.66%, but those were struck at the bottom of the rate cycle and are therefore not fair like-for-like comparators today. The fairer comparator is Inter’s 2025 refinancing (c.4.52% on media/sponsorship collateral): Barça’s 5.14% media-notes coupon is in the same post-tightening zone but somewhat wider, consistent with Barça’s higher leverage and negative net equity. Barça’s 2023 stadium notes (5.94%–7.22% tranche coupons) sit at the expensive end of European football stadium financing, reflecting construction risk and the ring-fenced securitisation structure, although considerably cheaper than Everton’s undisclosed (in terms of cost) stadium debt Conclusion: Barça is a credible, repeat, investment-grade (BBB) issuer that can place paper in hours, but it pays a leverage premium of roughly 50–120bps over the best-run stadium borrowers even after adjusting for the rate cycle. |
What the raise means for Barca’s financial position
Debt stack
Gross debt is c.€1.95bn (2024/25). This comprises the Espai Barça stadium debt (€1.45bn programme through the FTA), the 2021 corporate media-notes programme (c.€499.6m outstanding at June 2025), plus the new €210m media notes and transfer payables (€159.1m owed to other clubs, of which €140.6m due within a year). Net “ordinary” club debt (excluding the ring-fenced stadium debt) was reported down to €469m at 2024/25, c.€90m lower year-on-year and c.€211m below 2021.
The stadium debt is designed to be serviced from projected new Camp Nou revenues of c.€247m per year once complete; the club paid its first interest maturities from its own cash in December 2025 (€44.7m) and again in June 2026 (c.€49.5m, of which only c.€5m was principal). Bloomberg’s 2023 reporting put full stadium debt service at c.€94m per year. The bulk of principal falls due from June 2028; the acute pinch point is 2030–2032, when a large slice of the 2021 programme principal (c.€265.7m maturing in 2031) coincides with stadium-debt amortisation.
Camp Nou status (as at August 2026)
The stadium reopened in phases from late November 2025 (first competitive match 22 Nov 2025 vs Athletic Bilbao); current usable capacity is c.62,652 (Phase 1C licensed March 2026). Full 105,000 capacity has slipped: the third tier is now expected only in Q1/Q2 2027 and the roof in summer 2027, with a temporary return to Montjuïc likely during roof installation. Construction has run materially past the original November 2024 target (the €1m/day penalty clause on Limak was not enforced), generating the very liquidity gap the July 2026 media notes address. Stadium revenue for 2025/26 was tracking c.€250m, above the c.€226m budgeted.
LaLiga cost controls
The club anticipates exceeding LaLiga’s squad-cost limit again in 2025/26; the wage-to-income ratio was reported at c.54% for 2024/25 (within UEFA’s ratio but a recurring constraint on registrations).
Governance and regulatory observations
The socio model means no equity cushion, the €210m is member-sanctioned debt secured on the club’s most valuable recurring revenue (media rights). Pledging that collateral repeatedly narrows future financial flexibility, which is precisely the concern behind the DBRS move to Stable. Barça’s negative net equity (reported at c.−€153m and expected to begin narrowing with 2025/26 profits) underscores that debt capacity, not equity, is the binding constraint.
Source documents:
Every primary source underpinning this report, catalogued with document title, issuer, date and link.
| # | Document (with link) | Issuer | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “FC Barcelona successfully completes a bond issue with strong support from international investors” (€105m Tranche 1) | FC Barcelona | 17 Jul 2026 | Coupon 5.14%; Oct 2036; Goldman Sachs; 200%+ oversubscribed |
| 2 | “Morningstar DBRS confirms BBB rating for FC Barcelona and considers the Future project robust” | FC Barcelona | 9 Jul 2026 | BBB confirmed; trend Positive→Stable |
| 3 | “FC Barcelona statement” (€424m Espai Barça refinancing)
https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/club/news/4297630/fc-barcelona-statement |
FC Barcelona | 27 Jun 2025 | c.40% of stadium debt; 5.53%→5.19%; 2033–2050 |
| 4 | DBRS “Confirms FC Barcelona’s Issuer Rating and Senior Secured Notes at BBB with Stable Trends” | Morningstar DBRS | 18 Jun 2024 | Names Series F €85.6m; six PPNs E5444# AD6–AJ3 |
| 5 | “DBRS Morningstar Assigns Ratings to Futbol Club Barcelona at BBB with Stable Trends” (initial) | Morningstar DBRS / Business Wire | 10 Aug 2022 | Security description of media-notes programme |
| 6 | FC Barcelona Consolidated Annual Accounts (2021 €595m Senior Secured Notes, 19 Aug 2021) | FC Barcelona | 2022/23 | Confirms issuance & audiovisual-rights security |
| 7 | Espai Barça, Fondo de Titulización, CNMV entity record (NIF V44649325)
https://www.cnmv.es/portal/consultas/datosentidad.aspx?nif=V44649325&lang=en |
CNMV | ongoing | FTA registration; Intermoney Titulización as gestora |
| 8 | KBRA preliminary rating report, Espai Barça FTA
https://static.ecestaticos.com/file/ad0/e9e/428/ad0e9e4286d2087cc98ea4f1bd683f6d.pdf |
KBRA | Feb 2023 | 3×€500m; 2032/2045/2052; BBB+ prelim (later BBB) |
| 9 | “Ordinary General Assembly says yes to the consolidation of FC Barcelona’s financial recovery” (2024/25 accounts) | FC Barcelona | Oct 2025 | 2024/25 results; net ordinary debt €469m |
| 10 | “III. Financing” (Espai Barça 5.53% estimated total cost; assembly authorisation) | FC Barcelona | 2023 | Original Espai Barça financing framework |
| 11 | “FC Barcelona gets a unique financing model for Espai Barça” (original €815m model) | FC Barcelona | 2021 | Predecessor financing architecture |
| 12 | Sixth Street 10% and 15% LaLiga TV-rights acquisition announcements | FC Barcelona / Sixth Street | Jun–Jul 2022 | Palanca transactions, 25-year term |
Comparator primary sources: Tottenham Hotspur official refinancing statement, 20 Sep 2019 (tottenhamhotspur.com/news/996266); Real Madrid loan approvals via The Stadium Business, 15 Apr 2019; Inter Media & Communication €415m 6.750% notes due 2027, ISIN XS2439248472.
Recommendations and watchpoints:
- Treat the July 2026 raise as a liquidity patch, not a structural fix. Barça is again funding operations with balance-sheet capacity rather than operating cash. Benchmark that would change this view: the November 2026 second tranche pricing, if it prices wider than 202bps, appetite for Barça media paper is fatiguing; if tighter, credit sentiment is still improving.
- Watch the 2030–2032 maturity dates. More than half the 2021 corporate programme (c.€265.7m in 2031) and large Espai Barça principal slices fall due in this window. Benchmark: whether new Camp Nou revenue reaches the c.€247m run-rate before then. Falling short would force refinancing into whatever rate environment prevails.
- Monitor the DBRS trend. The Positive→Stable move on 9 July 2026 is the single most important third-party signal. A downgrade to BBB(low)/negative would materially raise Barça’s marginal cost of debt; a return to Positive would validate the deleveraging thesis. Trigger: any DBRS action tied to a further Camp Nou slippage past mid-2027.
- Obtain per-series primary pricing. For a definitive pricing table, pull the full annual-accounts debt note (per-series coupons/maturities of the 2021 and 2024 programmes) and the Espai Barça FTA periodic reports from CNMV (NIF V44649325).
Appendix
- FTA (Fondo de Titulización de Activos): bankruptcy-remote Spanish securitisation vehicle; here the Espai Barça FTA (CNMV NIF V44649325; managed by Intermoney Titulización) holds the €1.45bn stadium debt, ring-fenced from the club.
- Senior Secured Media Notes: notes issued by the club secured by a first-priority interest in LaLiga media-rights revenues and the collection account, with unsecured recourse to the club.
- Palanca: “lever”, Barça’s term for asset-monetisation transactions (e.g., the Sixth Street TV-rights sales and Barça Studios/Vision stake sales).
- Spread: the credit-risk premium over a benchmark reference rate; the cleanest like-for-like measure of a borrower’s cost across rate cycles.
- PPN (Private Placement Number): identifier for US private-placement securities (Barça’s outstanding notes: E5444# AD6/AE4/AF1/AG9/AH7/AJ3).
- Assemblea de Compromissaris: Barça’s delegate members’ assembly, the sovereign body that authorises major financings under the socio-owned model.