FC Barcelona could reopen the Spotify Camp Nou this weekend if they wanted to. On Friday, the Barça board made official the reception of the first occupancy license for the Estadi in its phase 1A, with the Tribuna and Gol Sur stands enabled to receive 25,991 culers.

The City Council finally gave the green light to the first phase of the works in Les Corts, just over two months after the date initially estimated (August 10, for the Joan Gamper Trophy).

The club and the construction company Limak had to rectify a long list of technical and safety irregularities which, ultimately, postponed obtaining the indispensable requirement to reopen the work.

However, although the government and LaLiga would allow Barça to play at Camp Nou against Girona, the board ratified that it will wait until the conclusion of phase 1B, with a capacity of around 45,000 spectators and the Lateral stand available, to definitively return home.

The completed improvements to the Spotify Camp Nou

In its statement, the club specified the improvements that, so far, have been completed in the Estadi after almost two and a half years of work that included the partial demolition of the entire structure. These include:

  1. ✅ New players' tunnel.

  2. ✅ New locker rooms for the first team and the visiting team.

  3. ✅ Improvements in comfort and safety, with more accesses, evacuation routes, and railings.

  4. ✅ Access systems with integrated gantries and ticketing, compatible with event days and construction traffic.

  5. ✅ New sprinkler and automatic extinguishing system.

Finally, the capacity available in phase 1A will not be 27,000, but 25,991 spectators. That is, just over half of the total capacity of Montjuïc (50,000 seats).

This factor, added to UEFA's refusal to authorize licenses for stadiums that do not guarantee the segregation of visiting fans (something impossible for the Spotify Camp Nou in this phase), leads the club to continue playing, for now, at the Lluís Companys.

The possibility of playing Liga matches at Les Corts and Champions League games at Montjuïc would generate higher expenses for a Barça side that prioritizes returning home in the best possible conditions, never to leave the culé temple again.

When will Barcelona return to Camp Nou?

Barça decides to postpone the reopening of Spotify Camp Nou until phase 1B

In that sense, the return to Spotify Camp Nou will take, at least, until after the international break in November. Hansi Flick's team will host Athletic Club on the weekend of November 22-23, a tentative date for the possible reopening of the Estadi in its 1B phase.

However, the directive aims to "guarantee a complete and safe validation process before the stadium's total opening." Once the first occupancy license for the South Goal and Tribune is obtained, the process for the Lateral, hopefully, will be much faster.

Thus, the return of the Barça team to the renovated culé temple is much closer, almost certainly before the end of the year. In the meantime, the team will continue playing in Montjuïc, where the club is licensed to continue acting as host until at least February.

"FC Barcelona thanks its members and fans for their understanding and support in a process as complex and exciting as the return to the new Spotify Camp Nou," concludes the statement issued by the club.