Barça's financial rush to return to Camp Nou

Barcelona"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.

The €1.45 billion financing from around twenty investors is already beginning to exhaust some of the budgeted amounts. According to the figures for the Espai Barça securitization fund, published by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the total cash flows that have left the fund's cash register since its creation in spring 2023 total €189.9 million. This figure includes interest generated and associated expenses incurred by the fund itself, such as the opening transaction.

In 2023, €73.7 million were withdrawn from the fund, and in 2024, €71.7 million. The latest data from the CNMV (National Securities Market Commission) is from September 1st and reports that €44.5 million in cash flows from operating activities have left the fund in the first two quarters of 2025. The problem with the total figure of €189.9 million is that of the €1.45 billion financing, only €179 million was allocated to financial costs and issuances. Therefore, the budgeted amount for this item would have already been exceeded.

Barça will start paying interest in December.

Until now, these interests and expenses have been covered through the same Espai Barça securitization fund. But this will change starting this December, when the club will have to start returning. Specifically, before the end of the year, Barça will have to pay 44.7 million for this item. In 2026, the figure will increase substantially, to 94.3 million. In 2027, it will be 96.2 million.

In June, Barça refinanced 40% of the financing for Espai Barça (through a €424 million bond issue), allowing it to postpone the bonds' first maturity date from 2028 to 2033. However, this refinancing does not include the maturity dates for the interest generated, which appear in the securitization fund deed. This December is the first time.

Spotify pressure

This financial pressure is one of the reasons Joan Laporta's board is in such a hurry to return to playing at the Camp Nou. Playing matches at the Johan Cruyff stadium or at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, evidently, generates much less revenue than doing so at a remodeled Camp Nou, even with limited capacity. Javier Gómez, the corporate director of La Liga, on Friday estimated that Barça's loss of earnings per season due to its exile is between 70 and 80 million euros.

Aside from the financing interest, there are other stadium-related items at stake. As SER Catalunya explained, Spotify currently only pays €5 million annually to put its name on the Camp Nou. And it won't pay more than that amount until the stadium is almost completely renovated. After that, the payment will be €20 million over the next 20 years. This, contractually, is expected to be reached by June 1, 2026. But if this were not the case, Spotify would continue paying €5 million annually at the latest until July 1, 2028. After that date, if the stadium is still not ready to hold a minimum of 94,500 spectators and a 90% capacity, the possibility of unilaterally canceling the contract.

The alleged Palau Blaugrana item has been exhausted.

The total utilization of the €179 million allocated for financial costs and issuances once again confirms the impossibility of building the new Palau Blaugrana with the current €1.45 billion financing for Espai Barça. Eduard Romeu, Barça's former vice president of finance, assured the media when he presented the financing that this allocation would contribute to paying for the new Palau Blaugrana because it wouldn't need to be used to assume the original burden assigned to it. But reality has been different.