After 909 days since the stadium closed for construction football returned to Spotify Camp Nou (Barcelona, Spain) recently.
‘Catalan News’ stated that the LaLiga team FC Barcelona played their first competitive match back at home beating their peer team Athletic Club 4-0 and marking the beginning of a new era.
The Camp Nou, officially the Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship reasons, and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of the LaLiga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation and with a planned increased seating capacity of 105,000 it will be the largest stadium in terms of seating capacity in Spain and Europe and the second largest association football and the fifth largest overall stadium in the world.
‘Catalan News’ further stated that for now, however, the stadium looks far from its future final form: The capacity is limited to 45,000 spectators, less than half of what it will hold once the project is completed.
But even with scaffolding, exposed structures and the smell of construction dust the fans returned to the stadium filled with excitement.
The comeback arrives at the halfway point of the stadium’s reconstruction with the entire third tier and the roof still to be completed. The final completion date is expected at the end of 2027, more than a year later than initially planned.
“I remember before the construction works every time you would come to the stadium, you would be like: “Wow. I hope this still happens now,” said Joel.
Many fans are happy because returning also means ending the more than two-year hiatus at Montjuïc, a stadium that was harder to access and where seats changed constantly.
Many of the supporters who attended the match had traveled long distances from abroad. Antony and his group of friends came all the way from Australia. “It’s an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he says.
Businesses Celebrate Return
“These last two years have been very long, more or less, we survived,” Antonio from the Copan Restaurant said Among his clients are workers from nearby offices, as well as football supporters, some of whom have been coming to the same bar for 27 years. “It will be like a reunion,” he said before explaining that during a match day he can triple the revenue of any other day.
Just in front of the Copan Restaurant there is a store dedicated to Barça merchandise run by Josep Ferrer – “Without any football games in the stadium business is nonexistent. At the end of the day, the hope has come back,” after having had to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then having to survive the construction works of the stadium. Today is just a test, everything will be welcome, the most important thing was to open the store. We really needed the reopening, we needed it like water or like breathing.”
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