Alberto ‘Tito’ Álvarez – Barça’s deal with Uber is the club selling its soul

F.C. Barcelona announced last week that it had signed a deal for ridehail giant Uber to be its mobility partner, leading to uproar from many fans. Alberto ‘Tito’ Álvarez is leader of the Élite Taxi Barcelona union, which has organised a taxi protest outside of Barça’s Champions League match on Tuesday [21 October]. Álvarez writes about why he and the taxi movement are demanding that the club tear up their deal with Uber.

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File:Camp Nou més que un club.jpg
Picture by Laziale93

FC Barcelona has announced an agreement with Uber to become its new mobility partner. This move has surprised thousands of Barcelona and Catalan residents, who see Barça as more than just a club: a symbol of identity, dignity, and commitment to the values ​​of our country. Uber is not just any transportation company, nor does it represent innovation in mobility. It is a global corporation that has built its empire on deregulation, job insecurity, and tax evasion, using its resources to alter regulations and weaken essential public services, including taxis, which are a service of general interest in Barcelona.

Barça, on the other hand, was born from precisely the opposite: from community commitment, collective effort, and a national vision. Throughout its history, the club has represented something far beyond sport. It was a moral refuge and a symbol of dignity in the darkest years, when Catalonia was forbidden even to express itself. It is no coincidence that Barça is linked to a people who have suffered persecution, exile, and executions for defending their freedom. Catalonia is the only country in Europe with a president executed by firing squad, Lluís Companys, executed by fascism for refusing to surrender. And during that time, Barça was one of the few open doors through which these people could breathe, dream, and keep their dignity alive.

The club’s founder, Hans Gamper, was also a victim of intolerance. He was persecuted and ruined by Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, to the point of taking his own life. Gamper was a man of ideals who dreamed of a club that served the people, not the elites. A club that united culture, sport, and civic spirit, not an instrument of corporate propaganda or money laundering. That’s why it’s hard to understand why the club born from that spirit is today associated with a company that represents the exact opposite: greed over justice, speculation over effort, and technology at the service of power, not people.

Uber doesn’t represent modernity. It represents a predatory model that threatens the very foundations of the social contract. It is the visible expression of a new digital authoritarianism: a system that, from Silicon Valley, preaches the end of democracy and labour rights in the name of efficiency and profitability. A system that dreams of replacing public institutions with private algorithms and workers with automatons. It is the dictatorship of data and money, where decisions are no longer made in parliaments or stadiums, but in the offices of a few corporations that answer to no one.

Barça, however, is not just any company. It is a living institution, with a history that has inspired the world. Joan Laporta, in his first term as president, understood this perfectly when he put the UNICEF logo on the shirt. That gesture transcended football: it was an ethical statement. The club that united an oppressed people also wanted to raise its voice for the children of the world. It was a reminder that there were things more important than money or image. Today, that same leadership has the opportunity to remember where it comes from and who it is, before it’s too late.

We know the world has changed, that the financial pressure on clubs is immense, and that every agreement is presented as a necessity. But there are limits that cannot be crossed without losing one’s soul. This pact with Uber is not only a commercial mistake: it’s a moral one. The company Barça partners with has been sanctioned in multiple countries for unfair competition, tax evasion, and labour rights violations. Its former CEO resigned after covering up a case of sexual assault committed by one of its drivers. And while the Barcelona taxi company did its duty, Uber took advantage of every crisis to enrich itself.

During the Ramblas attacks, taxi drivers were the ones who evacuated the victims and transported the injured without charging a single euro. During the pandemic, they were the ones who took healthcare workers to hospitals, sick people to emergency rooms, and family members to say goodbye, risking their health and often without receiving any compensation. Meanwhile, Uber multiplied its fares and received contracts handed down by the Ayuso regional government in Madrid.

The taxi has remained what it always was: a public service serving the people. It takes grandparents to see the Christmas lights, sick children to go for a walk on Sant Joan de Déu, elderly people to their doctor, or families who can’t afford a car to work or home. It doesn’t do this for marketing reasons. It does it out of humanity.

And while the taxi continues to represent just that—solidarity, presence, dignity—Uber buys the soul of Catalonia’s biggest club to clean up its image. The contrast is as painful as it is evident: those who work for their city without asking for anything in return, and those who take advantage of it with multimillion-dollar contracts and false narratives of sustainability.

For all these reasons, we at Élite Taxi Catalunya ask the board of directors of FC Barcelona to reflect. Let them not be fooled by the mirage of modernity, nor by the siren call of a company that represents the exact opposite of what Barça has symbolized for more than a century. We are not asking for an act of confrontation, but rather one of coherence.

We trust that President Laporta, who once demonstrated that values ​​come before money, will once again listen to that inner voice that made Barça an institution admired around the world.

There is still time to rectify. There is still room to correct the error and preserve the club’s moral greatness. We can all make mistakes, but not all of us know how to correct them in time. We ask the board to do so, to honour the memory of Gamper, of Companys, of all those who made Barça a symbol of freedom. May they not allow a soulless company to drag the values ​​of a people through the mud.

If this situation doesn’t change, the Catalan taxi industry will not be able to remain silent. But today, with all due respect to the club, we appeal first to its conscience, its history, and its dignity. Barça has the opportunity to demonstrate that it is still more than a club, and that its decisions are still guided by the same values ​​that inspired entire generations.

Because if Barça rectifies its position, it will do so in the name of everyone: of the people, of honest work, of sport as a form of justice and fraternity. But if it doesn’t, if the club persists in this alliance with those who have trampled on the law and workers’ rights, the Catalan taxi industry will rise up once again, with all its might, to defend its city and its dignity.

For decades, Barça was the voice of a people who couldn’t speak.

Today, that voice has the opportunity not to be sold out.

And the taxi, as always, will be there to remind them of that.

Because the taxi, like Barça before, still belongs to the people.

And the people don’t give up.

Never.

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