Here’s Where Barcelona Will Play Next Season As Nou Camp Gears Up For Redevelopment

Barcelona bid the Nou Camp farewell in an emotional ceremony that included players leaving in tears and sky-lighting pyrotechnics. While the Nou Camp is being renovated, the Spanish giants will relocate to the Olympic Stadium in Montjuic the next season.

Ansu Fati scored a brace and Gavi added a third goal as Xavi’s team defeated Mallorca 3-0 in their final match at the Nou Camp until November 2024. Before construction is finished in time for the 2025–26 season, the reigning Spanish champions will play at the Nou Camp in 2024–25 with a 50% capacity.

Olympic Stadium to play home to Barcelona until late 2024

For the majority of the previous 50 years, the Camp Nou has been the largest football stadium in Europe. It held matches in the World Cup in 1982 and the European Championship in 1964. It also hosted the 1992 Olympic Games football final, which Spain won with the help of Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique.

There have been two European Cup/Champions League finals, with Manchester United’s thrilling triumph over Bayern Munich in 1999 being the most recent. Despite this, UEFA hasn’t been selecting it for major matches in a while since years of neglect caused it to lag well behind rival stadiums on the continent that are crammed with lucrative VIP boxes.

Over twenty years ago, during Joan Laporta’s first term as president, plans for a rebuild were initially made public. However, due to institutional and budgetary challenges, these plans have continued to be delayed. Despite all the difficulties and internal strife, €1.45 billion in funding was ultimately secured last month, and the board is now moving forward as rapidly as possible.

The site has already undergone some preliminary destruction; the massive scoreboard behind the south goal was pulled down in September, and further work was done in preparation for the World Cup in Qatar in November and December. Barcelona will relocate across town to the former Olympic Stadium at Montjuic, which served as the previous home of its city rivals Espanyol.

Given that playing in the smaller Montjuic would reportedly cost Barca €90million a year, including missed revenue, it will be in the best interest of the Catalan club to return to the stadium as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, two club icons, played their last home games for Barcelona on an emotional night.

Before speaking to the crowd, both players got cheers from the home crowd as they exited the ground and were presented with mementos from the team for their service. After deciding to end his contract a year early, Alba is leaving Barcelona. The 34-year-old moved to the team in 2012 from Valencia, and since then, he has made 458 appearances for the Catalan team, scoring 19 goals and dishing out 91 assists.