Judge orders Barcelona to hold presidential election

Barcelona have been ordered to hold an immediate presidential election by a Spanish judge who upheld a complaint from three club members that Joan Laporta had already served four years.

"An electoral process to choose a new board must be called as soon as possible," Judge Roberto Garcia Ceniceros said in a statement.

He ruled that according to the club's statutes the year ran from July to June, and that as Laporta was elected to the post on June 16, 2003 the period before the end of that month constituted his first year in office.

Laporta's four-year term would therefore have expired on June 30 this year.

He won the election pledging to buy England midfielder David Beckham when he came to power. The move did not materialise but Laporta did sign Brazilian Ronaldinho. Since then the Catalan club have won two Primera Liga titles and they won the Champions League in May.

Arch-rivals Real Madrid have just held a presidential election which saw Ramon Calderon elected after a bitterly contested five-way battle.