Because of the "Barcelona scandal" .. 6 members of the board resigned and a call for early elections

Six of Barcelona's board members, the Spanish football champions, resigned from their posts today, Friday, in protest against the club's approach to dealing with some problems and the financial implications of the crisis of the Corona Virus, as looming signs of a crisis in the Catalan club.

Among the resignations are two of the four vice presidents, Emily Rosewood and Enrique Tompas, along with the four directors: Silvio Elias, Josep Pont, Jordi Calamilia and Maria Teixidore.

In a speech to the club's fans, these officials criticized the club's president, Josep Maria Bartomeo, and expressed doubts about the ability of the current board of directors to face the repercussions of the epidemic crisis, due to which the club's revenues fell greatly, and led to a 70% reduction in player wages.

They also called on the president to call for presidential elections as soon as possible, and criticized the club's use of a third party (the A3 Ventures) earlier this year to follow up on what social media is reporting on Barcelona.

Bartomeo denied accusations that the company opened social media accounts with the aim of offending any candidate for the presidency and former and current players of the team, but he acknowledged the club's contract with this institution, which in turn denied any wrongdoing.

"We have reached this stage because we cannot change the way the club is run in the face of great challenges awaiting it in the future, especially in the post-epidemic stage," said the letter, published by Spanish media on Friday.

"We also want to show dissatisfaction with what happened with regard to social media accounts known as the (Barcelona scandal), which we learned about through the press," the letter added.

The letter also said, "In the context of our other services to the club, we recommend calling for elections as soon as the circumstances allow, so that the club can be managed in the best possible way and facing great challenges in the near future."

There was no immediate comment from Barcelona or its president, Bartomeo.

Barcelona won eight La Liga titles in the last 11 seasons, and was top of the championship standings when the league stopped last month due to the highly pathogenic Corona virus outbreak.

And Spain is one of the countries most affected by the spread of the virus in the world, as the number of infections so far reached more than 150 thousand, while the virus caused the deaths of 15 thousand and 238 people.

Barcelona players - including Argentine captain Lionel Messi - agreed to an additional cut in their salaries, to make way for the rest of the team's crews to receive their full salaries, during the cessation of sports activity.

Bartomeo - who assumed the presidency in 2014 after Sandro Russell's resignation - will not be able to run for the first position, after he has held two terms as president at the club's administration.

Bartomeo came under increasing criticism from the fans of the club, who organized loud protests against him in the last two games in the team's stadium, during which they called for his resignation.