It has been more than a month since Camp Nou has been operating with the first two stands full. After uncomfortable tug-of-wars with technicians from the Barcelona City Council, Barça was able to implement phase 1C of the stadium's reopening to aim to accommodate a maximum of 62,000 people inside. The current season will end with this capacity, despite considerable progress in the construction of the third stand, which will house more than 40,000 spectators, reaching a capacity of 105,000.

Since Barça approved the renovation of Camp Nou and its surroundings in a 2014 referendum, the project's cost has steadily increased. What was initially budgeted at €600 million was revised upwards by Josep Maria Bartomeu's board, a year before his resignation, to €815 million. Once Joan Laporta inherited the project, the total expenditure skyrocketed by 250% compared to the initial estimate, reaching €1.5 billion. It was estimated that the Camp Nou renovations would cost €900 million, while those of the Palau Blaugrana would reach €420 million.

A major development has emerged at Espai Barça. As this newspaper has confirmed, the Catalan club will begin construction this November on the Memorial, a space designed to honor members and fans from several generations. Running parallel to the stadium renovations, which are scheduled to reopen to the public during the second quarter (November-January) of the 2025-26 season, the plan is for the memorial construction to take approximately a year, until the end of 2026. The project is being led by the Terrassa-based company Espanyol, which also operates the Cornellà-El Prat stadium. Among the details obtained by ARA is the size of the space, which will cover 1,280 square meters, making it the largest memorial in the world associated with a sports organization. The Barça memorial, to be built in the stadium's basement between the north goal and the side stand, will have a capacity for 26,600 columbarium niches, 9,000 commemorative plaques, and other symbols designed to preserve the memory of Barcelona fans who wish to be part of it. The club has accelerated its construction in part after dozens of members and fans from Catalonia, Spain, and around the world expressed their desire to have their ashes—or a portion of them—placed next to Camp Nou.

Despite the 17 million losses that Barça has had in the 2024-2025 financial year, which entail a total of 230 million in accumulated losses during Joan Laporta's term in office.The virtual meeting of delegate members, as expected, was a breeze for the Barça president. The delegate members (only 553 of the 4,641 summoned voted) approved the accounts with 412 votes in favor, 84 against, and 31 blank votes. They also approved the budget for the 2025-2026 season, with an expected income of 1.075 billion euros and profit of 5 million euros (506 members voted), with 418 votes in favor, 55 against, and 21 blank votes.

In a vacant lot in Santa Fe del Penedès, between lonely vineyards and the C-15 motorway, some pieces of the new Camp Nou are waiting patiently to begin a second life. Being part of of one of the most important works currently being built in southern Europe to an uncertain future that could lead them to become either a stately door to a block of flats in the Eixample district or the nightstand you'll buy next week at Ikea.

"Laporta's children will still have to deal with Barça's debt," a specialist in Barça's economics recently commented. He said this metaphorically, because none of them has ever publicly expressed their intention to become Barça president one day. What the author of the phrase meant was that the Catalan club has reached such a high level of debt and for such a long time that future generations of culés will have to assume it. Barça's debt currently stands at around 1.3 billion euros, not counting the debt. the 1.45 billion euros in funding for the Espai Barça, which are expected to be repaid by 2050 with the profits generated by the fully refurbished Camp Nou.

Laporta's most resounding blunder regarding the Espai Barça wasn't his appearance in the announcement of a return to the Camp Nou for the Joan Gamper Trophy, which never happened. Laporta's most resounding blunder regarding the Espai Barça took place on October 8, 2021, before the Camp Nou renovations had even begun. The Barça president then informed RAC1 that Barça's men's first team would be going "for a year to play at the Johan Cruyff stadium, with 40,000 or 50,000 spectators."

The future of Camp Nou is on fire. Hundreds of workers from around the world are working these days on the countdown at Barça's stadium. Work shifts are running around the clock with the goal of partially reopening the stadium in mid-September, coinciding with the La Liga match against Valencia. This is the plan maintained in the offices of the club and Limak. from the disappointment associated with the Joan Gamper trophy, which ultimately had to be played at the Johan Cruyff Stadium due to construction delays.

After several postponements, Barça announced that their return to the renovated Camp Nou would be for the Joan Gamper Trophy on August 10, against Cesc Fàbregas' Como. A few days later, however, The club announced that it would not be possible in the end. because the necessary permits were not obtained. Now, construction continues against the clock, always with the goal of being able to partially open the stadium for the first home league match, against Valencia, in mid-September.

Barça announced on social media, in a video featuring Joan Laporta, that Camp Nou would reopen for the Joan Gamper Trophy on August 10. The club's plan is to open the first two rings and a capacity of around 60,000 spectators. However, with just over a month to go until the first match at the stadium, there's no complete certainty that this can be achieved.

Barça announced this Friday that it has closed a bond issue worth 424 million euros, allowing it to refinance 40% of the debt related to the Espai Barça before the return of the men's first team. to the Camp Nou on August 10 to compete in the Joan Gamper Trophy. With the participation of Goldman Sachs, which is handling the transaction from the investors' point of view, Barça has converted, through the same existing financial structure, a total of €424 million of debt used for the construction of the new stadium, which had an initial maturity in 2028, into a new structure that will begin to be repaid in 2033 and will be fully paid off in 2050.

The renovation of Camp Nou and the interest generation from the financing that is allowing the works to be carried out are progressing in parallel. This is one of the ways in which the twenty investment funds that have provided credit so Barça can undertake its most important project of the 21st century do business. According to the 2024 report of the Espai Barça securitization fund, published by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) this spring, the Blaugrana club has accumulated €132.4 million in accrued interest (i.e., not yet paid) without any of it having been amortized. The first €46.9 million were generated in 2023, and the remaining €85.5 million, in 2024.

The hectic movements of Barça's players on the pitch have given way to action in Aristides Maillol's offices. While player renewals are being finalized, with Lamine Yamal's being the most prominent, the club is keeping an eye on the shadow of the great sword of Damocles on the horizon in financial matters: some €800 million must be repaid from the financing of the Espai Barça construction project. before 2028. The figure is a result of the bonds (122.5 million for the first maturity of the operation), interest, and bridge loans. However, this forecast is likely to be adjusted due to the construction work on the asset that should allow the repayment of the financing for the Espai Barça, the remodeled Camp Nou, They are almost a year late.

With the temporary turf installed and the pitch lines painted, anyone watching images of the Camp Nou renovations has the feeling that football can finally be played again. This is exactly what the board of directors wants to convey, setting the countdown to the return to the stadium and urging Limak to finish his work this summer. The intention is to return on the weekend of August 9 and 10 to play the Gamper, turning the tournament into a "pilot test"—in the words of president Joan Laporta. However, although official Barça sources are very optimistic about the possibility of meeting the deadline, the rest of the stakeholders involved are more skeptical.

The choice of Limak for the remodelling of the Camp Nou caused astonishment in the construction sector. The Turkish company stood out from the other bidders because it promised to shorten deadlines and carry out the work at a very affordable price. While the Spanish construction companies asked for 1.3 billion euros, Limak committed in writing to less than 1,000. A very sweet treat that President Joan Laporta gladly accepted, and which, for Limak, meant his gateway to Western Europe.

Camp Nou's renovation has finally been set in motion. Barcelona City Council has granted a license to start work on the Espai Barça just after the end of this season, focusing on the first and second tiers, the technological area, the stadium's surroundings and the urbanization of the exterior. "The neighbors will gain space, bike lanes and access, it's a great agreement" explained Mayor Ada Colau in the Saló de Cent. "We will have the best stadium in the world, in the best city in the world and the best country in the world" said Barça president Joan Laporta. "Being conservative, we expect an additional income of €200m thanks to the new stadium" the president added looking to the future. The works would be finished during the 2025/26 season.

The previous Barça board played with fire with the Camp Nou. It is a stadium that will soon be remodelled but where, in the meantime, Barça play their home games. After being closed for a year and a half because of the pandemic, the Camp Nou reopened its doors in mid-August, but only after 127 defects had been repaired, 44 of which were of a serious and urgent nature. The report that warned of the defects, as advanced by La Vanguardia, was received by President Josep Maria Bartomeu in 2019, but he did not act due to lack of budget and up to 21 matches were played with fans during that period, including one el clásico. The problems, however, originated much earlier. As ARA has learnt, the first reports warning of the "poor state" of the facilities date back to 2012. And in 2014 another one was received that spoke of "urgent measures". In neither case were the deficiencies addressed.

In parallel to the sporting outcome of the season, the board and the new Barça executives are focusing on the management of the coming seasons, marked by the effects of the pandemic, the drop in income and a skyrocketing debt. All these factors are being collected in the audit that the new board commissioned shortly after taking office to portray the economic situation of the club. The results of this exhaustive study are expected to be released internally at the end of May and will be presented to the members at the first assembly of committed members to be held since the beginning of the pandemic, probably during the month of June. However, the CEO of the club, Ferran Reverter, and the rest of the new Barça officials already know that the season will end with a loss of more than 350 million euros, which means that they will have to be extremely cautious when negotiating, for example, Leo Messi's new contract, or the signing of Haaland or Neymar.