Club still working on amendments for the reopening of Camp Nou “in the coming days”
Barcelona have confirmed they will play Sunday’s La Liga match against Real Sociedad at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys at Montjuic, after the city council declined to grant the necessary safety licence to reopen Camp Nou.
The club had hoped to use the redeveloped stadium for the fixture, but city officials confirmed that issues related to fire safety and access routes remain unresolved.
Barcelona’s chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague announced on Tuesday that the city council had “identified several elements that need to be fixed to guarantee the safety and security of fans in the stadium”.
The club then announced that they were “currently working on the new amendments that the council shared today”, in the hope of reopening their traditional ground “in the coming days”.
The €1.5bn renovation of Camp Nou and its surrounding area began in June 2023. Barcelona had initially targeted a return this August, later revising that to mid-September. Both deadlines have now passed without approval, and no new opening date has been confirmed.
The club have already played two home fixtures in September at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, a 6,000-capacity venue used by the women’s and B teams.
However, its tiny capacity has been hurting Barcelona financially and the club were eager to return to the larger Montjuic, which they have used for home games in the past two seasons during the renovation work.
The Olympic stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000, will also host Barcelona’s Champions League group match against Paris Saint-Germain on 1 October.
