It's official: Gamper will not be played at Camp Nou.

BarcelonaIn mid-February, Barça called an informational meeting with members to discuss a return to Camp Nou. After failing to meet the first two proposed deadlines—November 2024 and early 2025—the club apologized by publishing a list of the many setbacks it had encountered since the start of the construction work. It was extensive. Broadly speaking, it absolved the construction company Limak and the club itself of responsibility. "These things happen," said vice president Elena Fort and head of operations Joan Sentelles. During the meeting with members, no specific reopening date was announced, and the message was that the stadium would return "when possible."

Although it wasn't officially stated, the club had leaked that the goal was to return in May to play the Clásico against Real Madrid. Although work on the first and second stands was progressing well, problems with the structure of the third tier and with the access points made it impossible. The season, then, ended at Montjuïc with the hope, now, of putting an end to the exile with the start of the new football season. Finally, on June 25th, it was announced that Camp Nou would open its doors on August 10th for the Gamper match, via a video featuring president Joan Laporta. But, once again, This promise cannot be fulfilled eitherThis Friday, the club confirmed that the return will have to wait. The Gamper match will finally be played at the Johan Cruyff Stadium.

"Due to the scale of the work carried out, it has been impossible to meet all the requirements established by the regulations governing obtaining a first occupancy license, despite the club's desire to launch Spotify Camp Nou by sectors," Barça summarized in the statement. Hours earlier, Laia Bonet confirmed that Barça had not yet applied for this first occupancy license, which is the final requirement before reopening the stadium once the operating license has been obtained. The deputy mayor of Barcelona confirmed that they had been working together with the Blaugrana club to monitor the progress of the renovation. In projects like this, City Council technicians have the power to conduct a visit at any time, even if a license has not been formally requested.

Barça's Plan B hasn't worked.

"The work may be finished, the problem is the permits," commented one of the sources consulted, linked to Limak, hours before Barça issued the statement. The club already knew it wouldn't be able to have the access points ready to accommodate 60,000 people, the number of seats it has installed at the venue. Plan B was to reduce capacity and open only the grandstand and one of the goals, but even then it didn't work. Thus, the next challenge is to ensure that the Camp Nou is available for the weekend of September 14, which is when the first La Liga match is scheduled to be played. And the following week, depending on the draw, the first Champions League match would also be played. UEFA actually visited the venue a few days ago. Barça admits that the inspectors wrinkled their noses, but the club is determined and believes it is committed to ensuring that everything will be in perfect working order. However, they can't guarantee it 100%, and that's why Barça will wait a few more days to begin selling season tickets for the 2025-26 season.

And with the accumulation of delays, it's also possible that Barça will return to Montjuíc to play the first half of next season. As reported by ARA a few months ago, the builders had recommended to the board of directors that they extend their stay at Lluís Companys for several more months. The explanation was simple: since the structure of the third tier had been delayed, so had the construction of the roof. While this is being done, the pitch is occupied. The process takes four months at best. A very tight deadline to complete it by the summer of 2026. Therefore, if the first half of the 2025-26 season doesn't take place at Camp Nou, the workers could have time to install the majestic roof and leave the access points practically finished. For now, it's just a proposal, although it's gaining traction.

In the statement, the club clarifies that this delay in reopening does not affect the repayment schedule for the recently refinanced Espai Barça loan. On the other hand, the 100 million seats were also up in the air. VIP that the auditor had left in standby, necessary to close the season in the black and return to the 1:1 rule on transfers. Official club sources clarify that the auditor required these facilities to be built, and that it wasn't essential to play any matches to validate them. Therefore, they maintain that Crowe will count them as a stadium asset and that they will be included in the auditor's report for August.