Did Barcelona break the law by bringing on Gavi against Elche?

A Spanish report has revealed that FC Barcelona, the leaders of La Liga, committed a legal violation during their match against Elche in La Liga.

Barcelona maintained the 12-point gap separating them from rivals Real Madrid in the league race, after the first beat Elche 4-0, and then swept the second Valladolid 6-0 in the framework of the 27th round of the "LaLiga".

The Spanish website "Cadena COPE" confirmed that Barcelona involved Gavi in the match in violation of the regulations.

🚨🎖️| JUST IN: Elche is considering taking action against Barcelona due to Gavi’s performance in yesterday’s game. There are rules in the RFEF that say a player whose registration has been revoked cannot play again in the same season. [@isaacfouto] #fcblive pic.twitter.com/nwEcZJsrg2

— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) April 2, 2023

The network relied on Article 126 of the Spanish Federation's regulations, which prohibits a player from participating with a "canceled" license.

Gavi became an official first-team player in January 2023, after starting the season with the youth squad.

Last month, Barcelona's Commercial Court No. 12 ruled to cancel Gavi's first-team registration and force the Blaugrana to include him as a reserve player.

Cadena Ser explains that Gavi's designation as a first-team player cancelled his previous contract as a reserve player, which means that by cancelling the new contract, the young player is not entitled to represent the first team, not even the reserves.

The Spanish network confirmed that Elche is aware of the current situation, which is who will decide whether to escalate the crisis or not and claim match points.

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Meanwhile, the newspaper "Marca" revealed the position of the Spanish federation and the league "LaLiga" on the current crisis.

She stressed that the two institutions are fully aware of the participation of Gavi, 18, in the match, which they see as legitimate and there is no problem.

The Spanish federation and LaLiga justified their position by cancelling Gavi's contract with the first team, returning to the previous status as a player in the youth team.

Despite this, Cadena Copé insists that Gavi is not entitled to participate for Barcelona against Real Madrid next Wednesday in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final.

Gavi played against Elche, his first match after the last court decision, wearing the number "30" shirt leaving the number "6" shirt.