The 3 rounds of La Liga in the new season have passed and Barcelona still do not have a home stadium. The waiting time for them to return to Camp Nou, which is still in the process of a €1.5 billion renovation, is still prolonged.
This week, Blaugrana announced that Valencia's away trip to Estadi Johan Cruyff on Sunday (local time) will take place. This is a 6,000-seat stadium next to Barcelona's training ground in the suburbs of Catalan city.
Estadi Johan Cruyff Stadium is home to the matches of the Barca women's team and the men's reserve team. This weekend, as an emergency measure, Estadi Johan Cruyff Stadium will also become the home stadium of Barcelona's first team.
The decision was made on Tuesday (local time) when Barcelona was once again forced to postpone their return to Camp Nou. They have previously announced that they will return to the stadium in November 2024, coinciding with the club's 125th anniversary.
Meanwhile, they cannot compete at the Olympic Stadium in the Montjuic area of the city this weekend due to a concert organized by Post Malone. This is a location Barcelona has used since 2023, when the expensive renovation project began at Camp Nou.
Barcelona and perhaps more importantly, their fans still do not know where their team will play when hosting Getafe next week. The matches against Real Sociedad and Paris St-Germain will also take place not long after.
Why hasn't Barcelona returned to Camp Nou yet?
In June this year, Barcelona announced that the Joan Gamper Trophy match with Serie A Como will be held at Camp Nou on August 10. However, that match was moved to Estadi Johan Cruyff because Barca did not receive the necessary license to host at Camp Nou.
After missing the Como appointment, the Blaugrana have more than a month to continue the stadium development work. In addition, it is necessary to request a license from the locality so that Camp Nou can be ready to host matches in La Liga in September. However, they have not been able to complete it yet.
According to Spanish media, the pitch, player facilities and a large number of seats at Camp Nou are ready. And the image released by the club also shows that. However, this is not the main problem.
During this month, at Camp Nou, the number of workers entering and leaving the stadium was continuous, the work took place almost day and night (when the local government allowed). In addition, the construction area of the stadium is also very large.
This is very important in terms of health, safety and attracting fans. Barca do not have time for experimental events as they are trying to bring the matches back to the stadium as soon as possible.
As the match against Valencia approached and the reality was that Camp Nou would not be used, Blaugrana looked for other options. However, most of them are not feasible or never implemented.
The Olympic Stadium has been left out of the plan due to Post Malone's concert. Girona's Montilivi Stadium has never been considered in their plans.
In fact, Estadi Johan Cruyff does not meet the La Liga's minimum 8,000-seat regulations. However, a source from La Liga said an exception was approved for architectural reasons, according to the leagues regulations.
However, they still have to renovate the pitch to meet many other requirements of the tournament, especially the deployment of VAR and semi-automatic offside technology.
Barcelona are currently aiming to return to Camp Nou for the Getafe match on September 22, but Vice President Elena fort said this is not guaranteed.
The Laporta president also only said on Thursday that "the club is doing their best to ensure a return as soon as possible".
