FC Barcelona ran the election of the advisory council that represents its 1,160 supporters' clubs online with Vocdoni. Penya presidents voted from any device with a one-time SMS code and an anonymous vote, and 84% of the penyes called to vote took part.
Ferran
· 6 min read
FC Barcelona's motto is "Més que un club", more than a club. A big part of what makes that true is its supporters' clubs, the penyes: 1,160 fan clubs spread across Catalonia, Spain and the rest of the world, each one a community of Barça members and fans with a voice in how the club relates to its supporters.
That voice is organized through the Consell Consultiu de Penyes, the advisory council where elected delegates represent the penyes before the club. In July 2022, FC Barcelona renewed this council with a fully online supporters' clubs election run on Vocdoni. Penya presidents voted from their phones and computers, confirmed their identity with a one-time code sent by SMS, and cast an anonymous vote that no one, including Vocdoni, could link back to them.
The result: 84% of the penyes called to vote took part, voters of every age cast their ballot without a single incident, and the club announced its 30 delegates four days after the polls closed.
The penyes are how many Barça fans live the club far from the stadium. They organize trips to matches, gather to watch games together and keep the club present in towns and cities across the world. The Consell Consultiu de Penyes gives that movement a formal seat at the table.
In January 2022 the club approved new supporters' clubs regulations, and in June it opened the election to renew the council.
Running this election in person would have meant asking penya presidents from all over the map to travel to a single place to cast one vote, or organizing it through a cumbersome, bureaucratic in-person process.
FC Barcelona is one of the most important institutions in world sport, and anything connected to its governance draws attention from members, fans and the media. The club needed:
FC Barcelona ran the election on Vocdoni's online voting platform. For voters, the whole process took a few minutes:
Vocdoni is open-source, and its results don't depend on trusting the organizer or the provider. The count is recorded on a public record that no one can edit or delete, so any penya, candidate or observer can verify that it is correct. At the same time, no one, including Vocdoni or FC Barcelona, can see how any individual voter voted.
For an election connected to a club as visible as Barça, that combination is what makes a result stand: it can be checked by anyone, and every vote stays anonymous.
The penya presidents who voted belonged to every generation, and some of them were approaching their 100th birthday. All of them cast their ballot online, and the election ran without a single incident.
Making voting simple is what turns an eligible voter into an actual voter.
The same held true earlier that year in Bellpuig's digital referendum, where residents who were hesitant about digital tools found voting with Vocdoni easier than they expected.
A turnout of 84% in a summer election is not a coincidence. It is what happens when the barrier to voting is removed and voters trust that their vote is anonymous and counted.
Member-owned clubs share a structural trait: their members and supporters are everywhere, but their governance traditionally happens in one place, on one day. Supporters' clubs, fan federations, sports federations with affiliated clubs and the clubs themselves all face the same question: how do you give every member a vote that counts, wherever they are?
Football club online voting answers that question without lowering the standard: strong identification, a secret ballot and results anyone can verify. It is the same approach that Plataforma per la Llengua uses to give members in four states an equal vote, and the one COIB used to run its annual general meeting with instant results.
If your club runs board elections, delegate votes or member referendums, see how Vocdoni works as sports club voting software.
FC Barcelona's supporters' clubs election shows what online voting for sports clubs looks like when it is done right:
If your club, federation or supporters' association needs to take a decision to its members, our team can help you design the election. You can also start free and set up your first vote in minutes. No credit card required.
In four days, more than 60,000 teachers in Catalonia cast their vote on whether to endorse the preliminary agreement with Catalonia's Department of Education. Three different unions ran the consultation together with Vocdoni, a voting technology that is secure, verifiable and secret by design.
Ferran
6 min read
Belarus’ 2026 Coordination Council election faced 24 billion malicious requests and 68TB of attack traffic. Despite sustained cyberattacks, Vocdoni and Society22 kept the election online, verifiable, and censorship-resistant, enabling 2,113 participants to vote securely.
Ferran, Jordi Pinyana
11 min read
A dispersed membership is not a reason to run a lesser election. Plataforma per la Llengua, shows how an organization spread across multiple territories can give every member equal vote, wherever they are.
Ferran
6 min read