Barcelona to play first game at renovated Camp Nou on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao | Barcelona

Barcelona will lastly play on the Camp Nou for the primary time since Could 2023. The Catalan membership introduced they’ve been granted a licence to occupy 45,401 seats of the renovated stadium, which is but to be accomplished, in opposition to Athletic Membership on Saturday afternoon.

The announcement comes after a sequence of missed targets and 10 days after a profitable, smaller-scale take a look at run by which a coaching session held there was attended by greater than 20,000 supporters. The stadium will carry the identify Spotify after a €280m title rights deal was agreed in March 2022.

Barcelona have been granted an occupation licence for part 1B of the development of the brand new Camp Nou on Monday, permitting them to open the principle stand and south finish in opposition to Athletic, a yr later than scheduled.

A request has been made to Uefa to permit them to alter their designated dwelling floor from the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium at Montjuïc, the place they’ve performed for the previous two seasons, to the brand new stadium for the remainder of their Champions League marketing campaign. They hope to have the ability to play on the Camp Nou in opposition to Eintracht Frankfurt on 9 December.

A licence to occupy the primary part, 1A, of the under-construction stadium had been granted in mid-October however that allowed Barcelona to make use of solely 27,000 seats in order that they determined to proceed to play at Montjuïc, which has a capability of greater than 55,000. Additionally they performed two video games this season on the 6,000‑seat Johan Cruyff Stadium on the coaching floor owing to clashes with occasions at Montjuïc. The following part of occupation would come with the north stand, taking them over 60,000, with the ultimate capability reaching 105,000.

Barcelona’s final sport on the Camp Nou was in opposition to Mallorca two and a half years in the past. They have been managed on the time by Xavi Hernández, and that was the final look for the membership of Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

Barcelona had hoped to start this season on the new stadium and had been granted permission to play their first three fixtures away from dwelling to finish the primary part of development work and apply for the requisite licences. That was adopted by the worldwide break, permitting them additional margin. However with 5 days remaining earlier than that sport, they introduced they’d be going through Valencia on the Johan Cruyff. A Submit Malone live performance had prevented them from utilizing Montjuïc they usually additionally performed Getafe on the Johan Cruyff, though they have been subsequently capable of return to the Olympic stadium.

Work began on the stadium instantly after they confronted Mallorca in Could 2023, carried out by the Turkish firm Limark, which promised a faster development than different bids. The preliminary plan had been to play on the new stadium in entrance of 62,000 followers on the membership’s a hundred and twenty fifth anniversary late final yr. “If there may be not a pandemic or a worldwide disaster, we are going to open the Camp Nou on 29 November 2024,” stated the vice-president, Elena Fort. Joan Laporta, the president, stated that they’d reopen with 70% capability.

Barcelona subsequently expressed their hope that the stadium could be prepared in December, the brand new yr, after which the spring in time for the clásico there in Could 2025. Laporta introduced that Barcelona’s conventional pre-season curtain-raiser could be performed on the Camp Nou on 10 August, below the slogan “we’re again”. Now they lastly are. Final Sunday, Lionel Messi had sneaked in to go searching whereas the workforce have been taking part in in Vigo; this Saturday, 45,401 followers will have the ability to observe him by the doorways of their new dwelling.