The 125th anniversary celebration of Barcelona’s reconstructed and beautiful Camp Nou was scheduled for November 2024, but 10 months later the stadium is still closed due to reconstruction chaos.
Barcelona anticipated being able to reopen Camp Nou a year and a half after closing the grand but crumbling stadium in May 2023.
However, the deadline remained in place as did others in the summer of 2025 and then August. The chaos increased as the curtain remained closed.
La Liga even agreed to schedule their first three games away from the Camp Nou in order to give them more time and optimism that Barca could begin their home campaign this year at their renovated stadium.
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However, after relocating from their temporary home for the previous two years, Barcelona were forced to make the absurd choice to play their first two home games at Johan Cruyff’s 6, 000-capacity training ground.
They were reportedly billed more than four million euros ($4.7 million) for that alone.
And on Tuesday, Barca suffered a new blow from the city council’s delay in granting the club a permit to reopen the stadium due to accessibility issues affecting 27, 000 people.
The deputy mayor of Barcelona, “This city council must ensure the safety of everyone who wants to visit the stadium,” he added.
For Sunday’s league game against Real Sociedad and the Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain next Wednesday, Barca have at least secured access to the Olympic stadium.
However, president Joan Laporta, who is always optimistic, hopes to get the permit in time to face Girona at Camp Nou on October 18.
Things that are missing
The club has encountered a number of issues since the start of the construction work.
Due to flooding, two changing rooms had to be rebuilt twice. Due to neighbors’ objections, noise and light pollution led to tighter working hours, and increased material costs, in part as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although the two lower tiers of the original stadium, which opened in 1957, were maintained, over 2,000 more modifications were required.
Barcelona are reportedly paying 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for the project, and the sooner the stadium can start earning money from it, the sooner it can reopen.
The financially strained club wants to see the already secured VIP seats listed on their books in accordance with La Liga’s financial fair play regulations.
On Tuesday, the new stadium’s institutional vice-president, Elena Fort, and their operations manager, Joan Sentelles, showed the team’s media, including AFP.
Fans will appreciate the stadium’s seating and pitch area as impressive, spacious, and comfortable when they finally return, even with the newly constructed third tier, the top ring around the stadium.
Interior areas are unfinished, despite stepping back from the pitch.
The first team dressing room has no paintwork and exposed pipes in the ceiling, as well as two visiting ones that were not yet constructed.
The first occupancy permit can be issued as long as safety is not compromised, even if there are deficiencies, such as painting walls and decoration. Fort stated that the stadium is prepared to host games.
Although evacuating people poses a challenge in the short run to get their permits, Camp Nou is in far better shape than it was in the long run.
Sentelles noted that the stadium’s evacuation will take four and a half minutes, rather than the previous eight, according to Sentelles.
The Camp Nou will eventually reach capacity, making it the only stadium in Europe with a capacity of $100,000.
Due to the delays, the 2026 deadline for the anticipated completion of the stadium will not be reached, and the “big lift” project won’t be finished until the summer of 2027.
If Barcelona’s stadium, which bears the name “the music streaming company,” isn’t fully occupied by the end of the current season, then Barcelona may earn significantly less on their 70 million euros-a-season agreement with Spotify.
That is a very real risk given the number of previous delays.
Source: Channels TV
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