Serious complaint by a former Barcelona footballer: “I was completely exposed to humiliating and shameful situations”

Brazilian footballer Giovana Queiroz reported that she suffered “psychological abuse and violence” at Barcelona, and she did so through an open letter to President Joan Laporta, which she posted on her Twitter account. The player arrived at the club in 2020, at the age of 17, and remained until 2021, despite the fact that her contract ended in 2023. “Today I feel able to denounce the abusive behaviors I suffered in Barcelona women's football”, the current member of the Levante squad extended her letter.

Queiroz pointed to the first summons he received from the Brazilian national team as the starting point of the conflicts. “I first received indications that playing for the Brazilian national team would not be the best thing for my future,” he said. “In February 2021, I was subjected to illegal confinement by the head of the club's medical services,” she said. According to her version, from Catalonia they claimed that it was close contact, although she consulted with the authorities and told her that this was not the case.

“In the end they locked me up illegally and I couldn't leave my house. I couldn't train or have a normal routine. I was devastated,” she said in her letter. He then stated that, with FIFA authorization, he traveled to join his team. But on my return “I was accused of committing a serious indiscipline and that, as a result, I would be removed from the team and would suffer serious consequences. I was shocked.”

“From that moment on, my life changed forever,” he continued. “I was completely exposed to humiliating and shameful situations. It was clear that he (in relation to the director of the club”, sought to destroy my reputation, undermine my self-esteem, degrade my working conditions, belittle and underestimate my psychological conditions,” he stressed.

“Over time, abuse and psychological violence became more intense and destructive,” he added. The footballer ended up breaking the contract and moving to Levante. “I hope that FC Barcelona will fulfil its institutional role and act in a consistent and transparent manner, investigating and reporting possible crimes to the relevant authorities. I also want the club, through its president, to commit itself to implementing effective measures to combat the obvious and well-documented problem of moral abuse, workplace harassment, and psychological violence against women,” he demanded.

Barcelona answered him. Markel Zubizarreta, sports director, spoke to Cadena Ser and gave his side of the story. “The Gio case happened a year and a half ago. Obviously all this type of harassment, sexist behavior or humiliation has no place in women's Barça and Barça as an institution. We don't think what happened is related to these adjectives. Gio was one of the people affected by a COVID-19 outbreak that came out in La Masia, which caused a Barça B match to be suspended. It caused several players to be unable to go with their national teams, some with the Spanish U-19 or as in the case of Gio with Brazil. She made the decision to skip confinement to go with the Brazilian national team to play in the United States. When she returned we informed her that she would become part of female B as another player. It was considered to be a serious fault within the team's internal code and it was lowered to the subsidiary,” he rejected the complaint.

THE QUEIROZ COMMUNIQUÉ