The unfulfilled promises of the Camp Nou

Barça does not have a return date to the Spotify Camp Nou. This is the only tangible reality about the status of the works in the stadium. The team played its last game at home in May 2023 and then the remodeling work began, led by the construction company Limak. Since then the promises, all unfulfilled, of the directive regarding returning home have followed one another. From president Joan Laporta to the vice president responsible for Espai Barça, Elena Fort, messages have piled up in the newspaper library about dates that have been surpassed by the truth. First the objective was to return for the club’s 125th anniversary, on November 29, then it was said that at the end of the year and now it is a mystery.

“We will return as soon as possible after the first phase of the Champions League,” Laporta said Tuesday at the Christmas lunch with the media. This first phase ends on January 29 and the second starts in February (if the team has to play in the playoff for access to the round of 16) or in March (if Barça gets into the top eight and goes directly to the playoffs).

Laporta said in the summer of 2023 that the return would be for the 125th anniversary and that Limak would pay 1 million euros for each day of delay

The most recent announcement by the entity was to communicate in November that the last match of the first phase of the Champions League, on January 29 against Atalanta, had to be played in Montjuïc due to UEFA regulations that prevent matches from being played in the same section. competition in two different stadiums. That then suggested that at least until February 15 or 16 against Rayo Vallecano the return would not occur, but that is not at all clear.

The same will happen with European crossings. If Barça does not play the first continental tie (playoff or round of 16) at the Camp Nou, it will have to continue playing its next Champions League matches in another stadium. You must communicate this before the corresponding draws. The one for the playoffs is on January 31 and the one for the round of 16 is on February 21. If the Camp Nou is not ready, the club will continue playing in Montjuïc. As this newspaper has learned from municipal sources, although the Olympic venue had other activities organized by its managing entity, BSM (Barcelona de Serveis Municipals), the City Council would look for a solution for the club, as it is “the most important sports entity in the city.”

“If there is no pandemic or global catastrophe, we will be here on November 29, 2024,” said Elena Fort more than a year ago.

The last thing that the board communicated to the Consistory about the return to the Camp Nou is that it would be between February and March. “As long as Barça doesn’t tell us anything else, these are the forecasts.” If the March Champions League tie is played in Montjuïc, the club will not return to the Camp Nou until September because it does not want to have two stadiums operating at the same time (one for the League and the other for Europe). The club also recognizes this verbal agreement with the City Council that, if necessary, there would not be an unsolvable problem to extend the contract between Barça and BSM until the end of the season, which ends on March 31. That is, it is admitted that there have been informal conversations about it. “We know that Montjuïc has its commitments starting in March but we also know that a solution would be sought,” they underline from FC Barcelona.

March, with the Champions League round of 16, or September, the return alternatives

The board confesses that it has encountered more imponderables than it had thought when it came to finishing works that are far from being partially finished for a round with 66,000 spectators. There are still technical aspects that have not been resolved and that are not likely to be there by then, such as emergency exits. And then there is also the issue of grass. The forecast is that it can begin to be implemented around January 15 and the grass needs a couple of months to take root. We would already be talking about mid-March.

If Barça has to play in the 1/16 Champions League playoff, the deadline is February: the matches must be held in the same stadium

Club sources are now cautious because they do not want to discuss the matter any further. The next time the entity reports on the Camp Nou officially, they intend to give a definitive date for the return to the Blaugrana coliseum and put speculation aside. They hope to be able to say it in the coming weeks, without specifying more, because as soon as 2025 begins, time will begin to catch up with them.

The promises of the summer of 2023 are far away. Like the one he made in The Vanguard Joan Laporta. “We will return with 70% of the capacity for sure. But if it doesn’t happen there will be consequences for Limak. The strongest is 1 million euros per day of delay. But it won’t happen. They work at a very good pace and always meet the deadlines for their work. It is one of its strong points.”

The club already knows that if it needs to extend its stay at the Olímpic it will reach an agreement with the City Council

A strong point that has not been met and that according to that phrase should already be earning Barça 22 million euros for the delays in the works. But the club is not carrying out that penalty. Among other reasons, because in the face of a possible judicial conflict, Limak could also argue that part of the delays are due to construction permits that would not have arrived on time. Elena Fort was more categorical in November 2023 in Sports World . “If there is no pandemic or global catastrophe, we will be at the Camp Nou on November 29, 2024.” Months later, last summer, Laporta already lowered expectations on the Barça One platform by drawing a return for December or January. But December is about to toll the bell and January is not here either. Everything is uncertainty.