Barcelona's Camp Nou expansion is set for yet another delay. The 105,000-capacity upgrade will miss the reopening target in the first quarter of 2025.
Barcelona faces challenges in reopening Camp Nou by early 2025. Although there was initial optimism about a phased return, establishing a clear timeline has become difficult. The First Quarter of 2025, specifically March 2025, was seen as a key date for completing work, with the club already missing the November 2024 date.
March 2025 is crucial, as it could determine whether the team plays at Camp Nou or stays at Montjuic. The renovation project is progressing but has encountered delays. To ensure advancement, the club holds weekly meetings with the construction company.
Camp Nou expansion now facing UEFA issue
The importance of March is amplified by the UEFA Champions League round of 16 matches scheduled from 4 March to 12 March 2025. If Barcelona qualifies, it hopes to host these games at Camp Nou. However, the board acknowledges that meeting the March deadline is challenging, and a potential return is pushed to September 2025.
Despite these hurdles, Barcelona remains hopeful that returning to Camp Nou will boost the team's morale and the club's finances, with fans rallying around the team.
This optimism is slightly tempered by the fact that the stadium requires three months for the pitch to grow. The problem is that the pitch is still covered in heavy machinery and has yet to be installed. So unless they get things growing soon, it remains unlikely that the club will hit the March deadline.
Barcelona will first return to the Camp Nou with a reduced capacity of 60,000 while work on the stadium continues. UEFA requires clubs to announce their playing location between the group and knockout stages, hence the March deadline. While La Liga has no such rules, at this time, it's more likely that the club will play no UEFA games this season at the ground and instead play La Liga matches in a reduced capacity.
However, once the work is done, the new stadium will be 105,000, making it the largest stadium in Europe. Barcelona left the Camp Nou in 2023 and has been playing at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona ever since. The club's lease on the Olympic Stadium runs until March, though a prolonged stay isn't likely to cause issues.
FGG says: If only Barcelona had a lever for stadium construction
In recent years, as an outside observer of Barcelona, who only watches them if they play an English team in Europe or they play Real Madrid, I have found the club a bit of a joke. Now, I will stress here that I mean the ownership; from the outside looking in, Barcelona looks like a club desperately trying to hold onto power in any way it can. The Camp Nou expansion, however, might be the only long-term thinking the club has done in recent years. From long-term stadium rights deals to pre-selling TV revenue and not really making significant signings in transfer windows. Barcelona has become a strange club to observe, even if just through the gaze of the news articles written about them.
Camp Nou is great; it's an iconic stadium, and I'm really happy it will be sticking around for decades to come. One day, I hope to see my club there, as we have three points left.