BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu resigned Tuesday in the fallout from his feud with Lionel Messi and one the club’s worst seasons in more than a decade.

Bartomeu announced that his entire board of directors also resigned, thus avoiding a motion of censure vote that was scheduled for the coming weeks.

Bartomeu wanted to delay the vote, citing health concerns for the club’s more than 110,000 members amid the coronavirus pandemic, but local officials earlier in the day authorized the vote to take place.

More than 20,000 Barcelona members had signed a petition for Bartomeu and his board to face a motion of censure. The petition was made not long after Messi said he wanted to leave the club, and following the team’s embarrassing 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a result that capped the club’s first season without a title since 2007-08.

COVID-19: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has tested positive for COVID-19.

The governing body of world soccer said that Infantino has mild symptoms and “has immediately placed himself in self-isolation and will remain in quarantine at least for 10 days.”

Advertisement

People who have come into contact with the 50-year-old Swiss lawyer in recent days have been informed “to take the necessary steps,” FIFA said.

Infantino has traveled little during the coronavirus pandemic, but he attended a signing ceremony at the White House last month to mark normalized relations for Israel with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Infantino’s infection comes as Switzerland reports a spike in COVID-19 cases. Switzerland has reported 127,000 cases this year, with more than 23,000 since last Friday.

• Diego Maradona began self-isolating Tuesday after a person he works closely with showed symptoms of COVID-19, state news agency Telam reported.

Maradona, the coach of the Gimnasia y Esgrima team in Argentina’s top division, was self-isolating at home, according to Telam. He will remain in quarantine until test results are known. The person with symptoms was not identified.

The soccer great turns 60 years old on Friday.

River Plate coach Marcelo Gallardo was also in quarantine at home, the club said on Twitter. On Saturday, he was in contact with a person who later tested positive for COVID-19, according to local media.

The Argentinian championship will restart this week. It was interrupted in March due to the pandemic.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.