Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu brings forward elections to March 2021

Barcelona's presidential elections have been brought forward from next summer to March 2021, the Catalan club announced on Monday.

President Josep Maria Bartomeu called an emergency board meeting for Monday morning and a number of matters were discussed, including the coach's job, player recruitment and the elections.

Later in the day, Barca released a statement confirming coach Quique Setien had been dismissed, while announcing the provisional dates for the elections in another post on their website.

"The FC Barcelona Board of Directors, assuming its responsibility for the sporting situation that the club are experiencing, have agreed that the date for the next presidential elections will be the first matchday past March 15, 2021," the statement read.

Following Friday's disastrous 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich, there had been numerous calls for the elections to take place immediately, but Barca said: "After considering all options, the Board consider this to be the most viable date for the aforementioned elections.

"The Board understand that an immediate call for elections is not feasible, given that the league season will begin on the weekend of September 12, 2020, and the situation arising from the COVID-19 crisis -both economically and socially.

"Consequently, the club will continue to implement the plan to reverse the sporting and economic situation, based on profound changes to the first team, plus a redefined budget to deal with the new situation caused by COVID-19, before the end of the current mandate."

And they added: "The holding of the elections from March 15 next year implies that the Board of Directors assume full responsibility regarding the 2020-2021 financial year.

"Likewise, the holding of elections on the first available date within the deadline set due to the end of the mandate, in accordance with the provisions of the Club Statutes, will allow an orderly transition to the winning candidacy, which will have a sufficient time frame in which to plan for the 2021-2022 season."

Bartomeu cannot stand again after two terms at the helm, but the current board are likely to nominate a 'continuity' candidate.