La Liga
Barcelona Faces Fresh Camp Nou Delay With Valencia Match Relocated To Training Ground
For the third time in less than a year, Barcelona’s much-anticipated return to the renovated Camp Nou has been pushed back.
Just five days before their scheduled home opener against Valencia, the club announced that the match would no longer take place at their iconic ground. Instead, fans will pack into the more modest 6,000-seat Johan Cruyff Stadium at the club’s Sant Joan Despí training complex.
Why the Delay?
Barcelona had initially been granted permission to play their first three La Liga matches away from home this season, allowing extra time to complete the first phase of the stadium’s construction.
Following that period, plus the international break, the expectation was that Camp Nou would finally reopen albeit with a reduced capacity.
However, despite repeated inspections from local and football authorities, the club failed to secure the certificate of completed work required to obtain a public-use permit. That certificate remains a non-negotiable step, and without it, Camp Nou cannot legally open its gates to supporters.
This is the third missed public deadline. The club originally targeted November 2024 for the stadium’s partial reopening, only to shift that date several times to December, early 2025, and later in the spring.
Optimism even lingered around hosting last season’s El Clásico at Camp Nou, but that too fell through.
Where Will Barcelona Play Instead?
For this weekend’s match against Valencia, Barça have opted for the Johan Cruyff Stadium. Although its capacity is well below La Liga’s 15,000-seat requirement, an exception has been granted in this case.
To accommodate professional standards, upgrades have been made, including new camera setups for VAR coverage.
Barcelona also has a contingency agreement in place with the Olympic Stadium at Montjuïc, which served as their home throughout last season.
The arrangement secures access until February, but a Post Malone concert at Montjuïc this Friday night ruled it out as an option for this specific fixture.
Upcoming fixtures highlight the urgency of the situation. Barça hosts Getafe on September 21, Real Sociedad on September 28, and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on October 1.
Montjuïc is already registered as their provisional Champions League venue, though that could change if Camp Nou finally gets clearance.
The Long Road Back to Camp Nou
The redevelopment of Camp Nou began immediately after Barcelona’s final home game in May 2023, with Turkish company Limak winning the construction contract. Limak’s bid was attractive for its cost and also for its promise of faster completion compared to rivals.
The initial plan was ambitious:
Phase 1: Allow 62,000 fans into the stadium while construction continued.
Phase 2: Completion of the full 105,000-seat stadium.
But Phase 1 was later broken into three sub-stages first reopening to 27,000 fans, then 45,000, and eventually 62,000. Even with these incremental steps, progress has consistently lagged behind projections.
Barcelona had even scheduled their traditional pre-season Joan Gamper Trophy curtain-raiser for August 10 at the new Camp Nou under the slogan “We’re back”.
That, too, was moved to the Johan Cruyff Stadium at the last moment.
A Communication Gap
Barcelona’s statement, released around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, was brief and vague. It thanked supporters for their patience, assured them the club was “working intensely” to secure the necessary permits, and promised further updates on ticketing and access.
But fans were left without a timeline for when they can finally step foot inside their beloved stadium again.
What This Means for Supporters
The continued delays have become a source of frustration for Barcelona fans. Supporters were told to expect a phased reopening last year, with hopes of celebrating the club’s 125th anniversary in November 2024 inside the Camp Nou.
Instead, the anniversary passed with the stadium still closed and deadlines continuing to slip.
While the Johan Cruyff Stadium offers a temporary solution, its limited capacity means only a fraction of season-ticket holders will be able to attend matches.
For most fans, the wait to return to Camp Nou goes on.
