City Council authorizes the reopening of Camp Nou, but Barça will remain at Montjuïc.

BarcelonaTwo years and five months after the renovation work began, Camp Nou is once again available for football. This was determined by Barcelona City Council and the Fire Department, who granted Barça a first occupancy license (LPO) on Friday, as confirmed by municipal sources to ARA. However, the club will not yet use its stadium and will remain at Montjuïc, as only 27,000 fans are currently allowed in. It won't be until later, when the capacity rises to 45,000, that the first team will consider their exile over and the doors of the stadium in the Les Corts neighborhood will reopen.

The LPO has been a long time coming because the Fire Department had found safety deficiencies, which has lengthened the process of obtaining approval. Finally, it was obtained two days before the game against Girona. It corresponds to Phase 1a, which allows use of the grandstand areas and the south goal. Initially, Barça already had enough with that to return to playing at home, and if it had received this authorization in September, it is likely that it would have already started playing matches in the stadium.

However, the club has encountered some additional obstacles. Beyond the delay in the LPO, UEFA required a higher capacity for Champions League matches, where the full-back area would be operational for television and security reasons—making it easier to separate visiting fans. Furthermore, the initial capacity is very limited, limiting its business potential. Thus, having made the investment in Montjuïc—where the turf had to be re-laid—Barça has decided to continue playing at Lluís Companys until it obtains the Phase 1b permit, which allows the full-back area to be opened, thus increasing capacity to 45,000 spectators.

The question is when this license will be available. For the moment, the City Council has not confirmed whether it has received the documentation or not. Barça is confident it can be ready in November and has set the target date for the match against Athletic Club on November 23, the first home game after the next international break. There's a month to spare, and the club believes they can make it in time. But, after everything that happened with the failed reopening in September, no one is willing to put their hand in the fire.