Barcelona unable to put exact date on Camp Nou return, says club ...

Barcelona vice-president Elena Fort says there is still no agreed date for the club’s return to the Camp Nou, despite previous plans to play there before the end of 2024.

Work to refurbish Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium and increase its capacity to 105,000 — the largest in European football — began in June last year.

Since then, Barca president Joan Laporta had outlined aims to re-open at a reduced capacity in time to mark the club’s 125th anniversary on November 29, but a statement last week said this would happen in the “second half” of the season instead.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Fort said: “There are no exact dates to return to the stadium. We can’t say right now, but we are on the correct path.”

After Saturday’s 3-0 win over Deportivo Alaves, club sources told The Athletic it would be late January or early February before Barca could return to the Camp Nou. Fort on Monday made a comment that suggested February might be the more likely date.

She said UEFA prefers for each team in the Champions League to hold their home matches at the same venue in the league phase — with Barca’s final fixture coming on Wednesday, January 29 at home to Atalanta. Any proposed changes to already-scheduled Champions League venues are subject to UEFA approval.

Barca’s next home game after that is currently scheduled for the weekend of February 2, when they play at home to Alaves in La Liga.

She added: “The city council knows our full plan. We are following all the safety protocols and we’ve received the green light from several institutions.

“Now we’ll need to make rapid work to get the license back to reopening the stadium and execute everything.”

Barca have been playing home games at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, the venue for the 1992 Olympic Games, while work on the refurbished Camp Nou takes place. The club have a contract with Barcelona’s city council to play at the ground until March 31.

Last week, a Barca statement said playing at the Lluis Companys while the Camp Nou is rebuilt had led to a drop of “over €100million” in revenue from matchdays and the club museum.

Reconstruction on the Camp Nou is scheduled to be fully completed in time for the 2026-27 season.

Hansi Flick’s side are top of La Liga, three points ahead of rivals Real Madrid, having taken 24 points from their opening nine games.

They return to action after the international break at home to Sevilla on October 20.

(Pol Cartie/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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Pol joined The Athletic in 2021, initially moving to Manchester to assist us with our Manchester City, Manchester United and Spanish reporting. Since 2015 he has been an English football correspondent for multiple Spanish media, such as Diario Sport and RAC1 radio station. He has also worked for The Times. In 2019, he co-wrote the book Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam. He will now move back to Spain, covering FC Barcelona for The Athletic. Follow Pol on Twitter @polballus