Barcelona postponed their first match marking their return to Camp Nou less than a month before the scheduled grand comeback.
The Catalan team has not played at their iconic home stadium since May 2023, within the framework of the plan to temporarily leave Camp Nou for 18 months to serve the reconstruction work with a budget of up to 1.25 billion pounds.
Barcelona moved to the Olympic Stadium before the 2023-2024 season, and have finally had to stick with the entire recent campaign here. The Blaugrana board had hoped to return to Camp Nou in time for the end of the season, but due to consecutive delays in the renovation process, they were forced to continue to stay at the temporary stadium.
At the beginning of this month, it seemed that Barcelona had finally seen the "light at the end of the tunnel". President Joan Laporta announced that the pre-season friendly match with Como on August 10 will mark the first phase of the plan to reopen Camp Nou, with limited capacity for spectators.
However, that plan was quickly canceled. Barcelona announced that: "The necessary work to comply with the requirements for intervention procedures of urban authorities in construction works has made it impossible to complete the procedures necessary for granting initial licenses".
" Specifically, due to the scale of the work done, we cannot fully meet the conditions for licensing, although the club has intended to reopen the stadium after renovating each area.
We are closely coordinating with the Barcelona City Council and relevant authorities to speed up the completion of the remaining requirements. At the same time, it will notify members and fans as soon as there are new developments related to the return date to Camp Nou.
This delay does not affect the repayment plan for debts under the Espai Barca project," the Catalan team added.
Barcelona has been given a chance by La Liga to play their first three away games of the new season. Currently, the Catalan team is racing against time to prepare Camp Nou for the first home match against Valencia, scheduled to take place on September 14.
The construction of a new stadium with a modern appearance will continue throughout the season, but according to the plan, this process will not be completed until at least the beginning of the 2026-2027 season.
If used in the coming period, Camp Nou will only be able to welcome a limited number of fans, ranging from 50,000 to 60,000 people.
According to some sources, Barcelona have yet to rule out a return to Montjuic, as they have to play at least one home game in the Champions League before October. However, returning to the city's hillside would cost them another unwanted expense.
