The Spotify Camp Nou reopens its doors to play a match. This Monday, Barcelona received the green light to reopen its stadium to 45,401 fans divided between Lateral, Tribuna and Goal Sud next Saturday, November 22, against Athletic Club (16:3), the first match after the national break. “We are returning home,” Barça announced online. Last week the club sent all the necessary documentation to the Municipality, which finally validated the first occupancy license for phase 1B. Barça thus returns to its fiefdom after the open-door training session on November 7, which brought together more than 23,000 people and served as a general rehearsal and pilot test. The stadium, which could already host an official match with a maximum capacity of 27 thousand seats, reopens a year later than initially planned and with the works less advanced than what was announced at the time. After postponed dates, delays and some controversy, Barcelona finally returns to Les Corts.
It will be a return also full of symbolism. Barça will return to play at home 909 days later on May 28, 2023. Then, Xavi Hernández’s team beat Mallorca 3-0, with a brace from Ansu Fati and a goal from Gavi. It was a farewell afternoon for Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, and the final photo of a different era. Now Hansi Flick is at the helm, Ter Stegen, then undisputed, now has the door open. Ansu, who continued to inspire enthusiasm, is now reborn and disappears on loan to Monaco, and Dembélé, who left that summer after criticism, is now PSG’s big star.
For others it will be an absolute first. Players who had never set foot at Camp Nou in an official match, like Joan García, and others who had done so as rivals, with other shirts, like Szczęsny and Rashford. And not even the younger ones, those from the quarry, the Montjuïc generation: Pau Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, Fermín López, Marc Casadó or Dani Olmo. Lamine Yamal knows what it means to debut in the Barça fiefdom, even if it was only seven minutes at the age of 15.
Work will continue to progress as the stadium is opened to host matches and the progressive reopening will continue. “The club continues to work in phase 1C to ensure the resumption of activity at Gol Norte,” the club said. The next phase will allow it to accommodate 60,000 spectators, and then the final one in terms of capacity: the new 105,000-seat Camp Nou and its third completed stand. Later it will be time to put the cover on.
The club will thus say goodbye to Montjuïc, its temporary home for two years and a rent of half a million euros on average per match. However, the European chapter remains to be resolved: UEFA must authorize Barça to change stadium in the middle of the Champions League. “We have started negotiations to try to play part of the championship phase. There is a good dialogue with UEFA,” said Joan Laporta, president of Barça. “We are working together with UEFA to be able to play the match against Eintracht Frankfurt at Spotify Camp Nou, as the necessary requirements are met, although we are still waiting to receive final confirmation,” Barça explained.
If realized, Montjuïc would close its European nights and Barça would increase the income of its renovated Colosseum which, two and a half years later, returns to enjoy football.
