Barça tailor-make Estadi Olímpic Stadium

Article posted by Coliseum, January 5^th, 2023

Image: FC Barcelona

The LaLiga team FC Barcelona recently started work to adjust the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys Stadium, which is in Montjuïc (hill in Spain), where they will play their home games in the 2023-2024 seasons, as works are being carried out to rejig their residence – the Spotify Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain – which is the epicenter of the Espai Barça project.

‘BESOCCER’ stated that the Catalan side (FC Barcelona) started work to attune the above venue to the club’s LaLiga and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) criteria. A ceremony was held to mark the occasion of handing over the stadium on loan from the Barcelona Council via the company Barcelona de Serveis Municipals, to the top-flight club. Both the men’s and women’s (FC Barcelona Femení) teams of FC Barcelona will be able to use the Estadi Olímpic from August 2023 until May 2024.

Futbol Club Barcelona, commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça, is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in LaLiga, the top flight of Spanish football.

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The 99,354-capacity Camp Nou, officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelona since its completion in 1957.

The 55,926-capacity Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is a stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition in the City, it was renovated in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1992 Summer Paralympics.

The Espai Barça development plan goes well beyond modernization and reconstruction of FC Barcelona’s home venue Spotify Camp Nou. In addition to increasing the capacity of the current stadium to 105,000 from circa 99,000 and completely revamping the current structure of Spotify Camp Nou, the Espai Barça project entails building a new Palau Blaugrana with a capacity of 15,000, an additional court with a capacity of 2,000, an ice rink, a new social area, a new commercial area, revamped club offices, La Masía (read FC Barcelona’s youth academy), and an additional 5,000 parking spots. This ambitious initiative has been in work for several years and is scheduled to be ready for the 2024-2025 seasons. In April 2014, Espai Barça was approved by the club’s members with a budget of $700 million.

Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (BSM) is a Barcelona City Council company founded in 2002 with the aim of unifying the municipal provision of services to City residents in a single company. The activities currently managed by BSM are varied in nature and include aspects related to mobility through to managing benchmark installations committed to culture, recreation and biodiversity.

‘BESOCCER’ further stated that initially, work will be carried out to redesign the pitch of the Estadi Olímpic Stadium, revamping the drainage system of the facility as well as the water treatment plant.

In the later stages, redecoration works will be carried out in the dressing rooms, media zone and hospitality areas, as well as the television broadcast areas.

The public transport system will be streamlined to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Shuttle buses too will ply right from the main public transport stations.

In case of games finishing at a time when public transport buses do not ply, it is being planned that an alternative arrangement will be worked out with the Metro authorities to extend their timings so that fans do not face any kind of inconveniences. Bike lanes will also be added and the parking areas will be organized.

The Commission of the Barcelona Council will initiate the above works.

‘FC Barcelona’ stated that the agreement to use the Estadi Olímpic Stadium was struck in June 2021 between FC Barcelona and the Barcelona City Council. The deal was struck in the presence of the Barça President Joan Laporta, the Institutional Vice-President Elena Fort and the Director responsible for the Espai Barça project Jordi Llauradó.

The deal worked out the terms of use of the stadium by the top-notch club. As per the deal inked, the FC Barcelona Femení will also be able to use the arena for their training sessions.

‘FC Barcelona’ further stated that the lighting system will be improvised in the pedestrian paths for the ease of fans on matchdays.

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