Goldman Sachs to help Barça lower venue debt

Article posted by Coliseum, April 1^st, 2025

Image: FC Barcelona

The LaLiga team FC Barcelona has hired the investment banking company Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore ways to reduce the cost of the debt used for the ongoing revamp of the football club’s historic home ground – the Spotify Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona (Spain) – according to people familiar with the matter.

‘SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL’ stated that the Wall Street bank recently met with the lenders to provide a construction update. The club wants to ultimately reduce the interest payments through a partial refinancing of the €1.45 billion ($1.58 billion) in debt it raised in 2023 to finance the project, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

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

The Spotify Camp Nou is a stadium in Barcelona (Spain) 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 stadium with the largest capacity in Spain and Europe and the third-largest association football stadium in the world.

As the Spotify Camp Nou is undergoing total transformation the 55,926-capacity Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, is serving as the temporary abode of the Barça.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869 the Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City with regional headquarters in many international financial centers. Goldman Sachs is the second-largest investment bank in the world by revenue and is ranked 55th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

‘SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL’ further stated that Barcelona will “start paying interest on this debt in 2026” and two years later it “faces the repayment” of a €583M (US$636M) batch. The club “seeks to use its improved financial situation to drive down the interest rates”.

That loan covered €725m for construction work and €90m in interest with Goldman Sachs to be repaid over a 30-year period (five years of construction and 25 years of management). At the time, the 25-year payment period was due to begin from the 2024-2025 seasons when the project was originally due for completion.

Barça had hoped to be back in Spotify Camp Nou by now but their home ground expansion has since been hit by delays.

The top-flight wants to return home in September. They do not expect to be granted approval to host matches by the start of the season which is why they are asking LaLiga that they be allowed to play their first few fixtures of the 2025-2026 campaign away from home which would allow extra time for the Spotify Camp Nou to be readied for staging matchups.

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