Joan Laporta clarifies when Barcelona will return to Spotify Camp Nou

FC Barcelona laid a floral offering at the Rafael Casanova monument to commemorate the Diada de Catalunya this September 11. Joan Laporta led the Barça delegation accompanied by goalkeeper Joan García and other club directors and representatives from other Barça branches.

During the emotional event, the president took the opportunity to talk about the topic of the moment at Can Barça: the long-awaited return to Spotify Camp Nou. The club confirmed the Johan Cruyff Stadium as the venue for Sunday's match against Valencia (9:00 PM CEST) and will probably keep the usual home of the subsidiary and the Women's team as a fiefdom for the Barça-Getafe match on matchday 5 (Sunday 21).

In that sense, Laporta assures that the Barça team will "return to Spotify Camp Nou as soon as possible". The tentative date points to Sunday, September 28, against Real Sociedad, for the seventh league matchday. In the Champions League, there are also possibilities of playing on October 1 in Les Corts against Paris Saint-Germain, although more scarce.

Barça does not rule out keeping two stadiums open in the first half of 25/26

Barça chooses Spotify Camp Nou as stadium for Champions League, without ruling out Montjuïc

The reason has to do with UEFA's requirement to enable a capacity greater than the 27,000 seats available during phase 1A, which will be the capacity authorized by the Ajuntament with the first occupancy license.

The idea is to increase, in the coming weeks, the capacity to 45,000 (phase 1B) and 60,000 (phase 1C), but this may take until the final stretch of this year or even early 2026.

Therefore, the board sees with good eyes, unlike months ago, to keep two stadiums open and operational. For La Liga, the team led by Hansi Flick would play at Spotify Camp Nou only with the Tribune and part of the Gold Sud enabled.

In the Champions League, Barça would keep Montjuïc as the venue for the league phase, requesting UEFA to move to the culé temple once the Estadi has the side and the Gol Nort available. As it is a force majeure, the club could change venues during the course of the league.

In any case, the board maintains its commitment to return to the Camp Nou as soon as possible, but also has resolved the stay, until the end of February, at the Lluís Companys as an emergency solution for the first half of 25/26. The Estadi Olímpic was the official culé venue in the last two seasons and, almost certainly, will host team matches in Europe this year again.

Laporta is confident in the return to Spotify Camp Nou, but this time avoids giving dates

Beyond his confidence for the early reopening of the Estadi, Laporta, this time, avoided giving the tentative date of Barça's first match in Les Corts after the start of the works in the summer of 2022. What the president did make clear is the "excitement and emotion of the club" to return home after more than two years of hard work.

"We will have done it all together, especially thanks to the culés. They know it is the most important project in history. We will soon return home, I cannot specify the moment because it depends on the permits", added Jan.

The next step is to deliver the Final Work Certificate (CFO) that demonstrates the operability of the Estadi in its phase 1A, with a partial capacity of 27,000 seats. Then, we must wait for the first occupancy license from the Ajuntament and resolve all the technical and security operations necessary to reopen the culé temple.

"We are working and moving forward to make it a reality as soon as possible. I want the culés to see the stadium. The other day we were a representation of the Board and it is wonderful. We will enjoy it. There is little left. We are moving forward", Joan Laporta pointed out.

In principle, the club hoped to have the Spotify Camp Nou partially operational in November 2024, for the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of FC Barcelona. Afterwards, the return date was moved to early 2025, but the works progressed at a slower pace than estimated.

In July, the board carried out a campaign of intrigue anticipating the dispute of the Joan Gamper Trophy 2025 in Les Corts, but it was not possible to enable the field for August 10, the date scheduled for the match. The Johan Cruyff Stadium hosted the match and will also do the same with the home debut of the Barça team, but the wait, now yes, seems to be coming to an end.