Akin Ayomide
Barcelona will finally return to their reconstructed Camp Nou stadium against Athletic Bilbao on November 22 in La Liga, the club said Monday, after more than two years in exile.
Since the stadium closed at the end of the 2022/23 season, the Catalan giants have been forced to play elsewhere, mainly at the Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill.
A series of delays means Camp Nou is reopening a year after it was originally slated to, following a 1.5 billion euro ($1.75 billion) transformation beset by construction chaos.
Barcelona will open the stadium with a temporary capacity of 45,401 spectators, with space for 105,000 when the top tier is completed.
They opened the stadium up for 23,000 fans to watch a training session earlier in November as a test event in the reopening process.
Barcelona are also hoping to receive the green light from UEFA to host Eintracht Frankfurt at the Camp Nou in the Champions League on December 9.
The Spanish champions were forced to play two matches at their 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff training ground stadium in the first weeks of the season after failing to get the permit they needed for Camp Nou, because of safety reasons.
The previous iteration of Camp Nou was built in 1957 and had a capacity of 99,000.
Barcelona plan to add a roof to the stadium which will be installed in the summer of 2027, a year later than the project was anticipated to be completed.