Hopes of a partial return to Camp Nou in September have faded as the club struggled to get final approval from local authorities
Barcelona will play their Champions League home match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
The club confirmed on Friday that the group-stage tie on 1 October will take place at Montjuic, where they have played home games for two seasons while the €1.5bn redevelopment work continues at Camp Nou.
Hopes of a partial return to their traditional home ground as early as September faded in recent weeks as Barcelona struggled to get final approval from local authorities.
Last week, the club played their home game against Valencia at the 6,000-capacity Estadi Johan Cruyff, home to the women’s and reserve teams, because the Estadi Olimpic was unavailable in September. They will also face Getafe there on Sunday and very likely Real Sociedad on 28 September, before switching to Montjuic for PSG’s visit.
Uefa regulations require clubs to play all their home fixtures at the same ground, which means Barcelona would be stuck with any stadium in which they host PSG. While there is some wiggle room in the regulations to switch stadiums, it would not be possible to do so until the period between the league phase and the knockout rounds in February.
Playing the Champions League home game at the Estadi Johan Cruyff has been ruled out due to the small size of the venue, and the Camp Nou will not be ready in time for the fixture on 1 October.
Should Barcelona manage to return to Camp Nou before the end of the calendar year, they will then have to wait until the knockout rounds to stage Champions League matches there.
Hansi Flick’s team opened their European campaign with a 2-1 win away at Newcastle United on Thursday. Uefa granted the club the licence to play their first Champions League game away in order to sort out their venue issues.
