Can Barça’s homecoming stay on track?

With the Valencia clash looming on September 14, even that symbolic homecoming hangs in doubt.PHOTO: COURTEST: BARCELONA FC

Camp Nou, FC Barcelona’s storied fortress, stands half-finished, a monument to ambition and mismanagement.

The €1.5 billion Espai Barça project, meant to deliver a 105,000-seat cathedral of football, has stumbled through a litany of broken promises for partial reopening: November 2024, February 2025, May 2025, and August 2025—all missed.

Now, with the Valencia clash looming on September 14, even that symbolic homecoming hangs in doubt.

Inspectors from the Barcelona City Council flagged dozens of deficiencies in signage, safety, and lighting during their August 26 visit, despite the club having already filed a partial “certificate of completion of work.”

A decisive meeting on August 31, involving deputy mayor Laia Bonet, the Fire Department, Guàrdia Urbana, and Espai Barça officials, will determine if a partial reopening is viable.

Licensing battles and emergency alternatives

Without a full opening licence, Barcelona cannot legally host fans at Camp Nou.

Insiders say most issues are minor but numerous, requiring up to three weeks’ work—time Barça simply does not have.

The squeeze is brutal.

With Montjuïc booked for a Post Malone concert barely 48 hours before the Valencia clash, Barcelona have been forced to consider the Estadi Johan Cruyff, a reserve team ground with only 6,000 seats, as a fallback.

La Liga’s minimum 15,000-capacity requirement may well be waived, as it was for Eibar’s Ipurua, but the optics are stark: a global powerhouse scrambling for a venue.

Meanwhile, UEFA looks set to grant Barça’s request to debut away from home in the Champions League, giving the club more time to prepare their stadium for the second matchday at the end of September.

The Camp Nou will appear on UEFA’s website as the designated ground, but Montjuïc remains registered as Plan B and can be activated weeks before the first home game if the Lateral stand is not ready in time.

Despite a completed pitch, 39,000 seats installed, and numerous promises, the dream of a homecoming remains elusive.

Fans’ frustration and Laporta’s credibility at stake

PHOTO COURTESY: BARCELONA FC

To cut through the noise surrounding Espai Barça, I turned to Spanish football experts to gauge whether Barcelona’s long-awaited homecoming against Valencia is realistic—or just another false dawn.

Dermot Corrigan, Spanish football correspondent for The Athletic, struck a cautionary note:

"It is looking increasingly unlikely that Barca will be able to host Valencia at the Camp Nou on September 14. The club and the builders have not yet been able to provide the relevant documents to show the Barcelona city council that it will be possible to play the game securely in front of even a reduced number of fans. It's understandable really - given the size of the project, and the number of setbacks it has suffered over the last few years."

Similarly, Ruairidh Barlow, editor of Football Espana, weighed in on how the repeated delays at Camp Nou are shaping fans’ perceptions of Joan Laporta’s administration:

“It's always difficult to tell between the average Barcelona fan and the average Barcelona fan online. It's hard to imagine that the Camp Nou work has not weakened trust in both the club and President Joan Laporta's word. Barcelona have confidently put out that they were to return in November 2024, February 2025, May 2025, and then August 2025. September is the next one. It's hard to see what that was founded on, when in each case, they've been some way off a return.

This year, I can see frustration growing if Barcelona return to Camp Nou with 27,000 fans for a prolonged period - that means the majority of season ticket holders will miss out, and members looking to go to games will likely be dealing with sky-high prices.

With Montjuic, there seemed to be more apathy on the issue, and let's not forget that Barcelona have banned the most vocal section of their support for criticising the president.

It's a truism, but no less appropriate, to say that while Hansi Flick's side produce results on the pitch, the issues off it will be put to one side. Only when success slips away, do these issues tend to hold more weight when it comes to fan reaction and action.”

Limak, penalties, and the politics behind Espai Barça

Further commenting on the matter, Barlow also opined on whether the construction company in charge of the Camp Nou renovations, Limak, is actually going to be penalized for these delays:

“As is the case on registration issues, we're dealing with a democratic institution that has heavy influence on the local media, so it's hard to sort the truth from the club line at times. Based on the current situation, it's impossible to expect anything to be done earlier than with a year's delay.

Over the last four years, Barcelona have sacked, or seen around 35 senior people move on from their roles, and in many cases, complaining of impossible working conditions.

Several of those have been involved in the Camp Nou renovation or Espai Barca project as a whole, meaning that on some level, Barcelona have been improvising.

The decision to award the Camp Nou project to Limak made little sense other than based on the price they said they would do it for, much cheaper than their competitors.

Limak had a record of environmental abuses, and little in reputation outside of Turkiye.

The €1m clause was a manner of reassuring fans at the time that they were dealing with a legitimate firm.

It has been reported that they don't want to activate it to ensure that relations remain solid, and Limak do not rush the job, but if there had been any real intention of activating the fine in the first place, then Limak would surely have rushed the job anyway.

If they were to do so, Barcelona would now be looking at close to €275m in income, which would resolve significant financial pressure on the club.

Regardless of what the state of relations were, either the threat was not real, or Barcelona never had any intention of using it.”

This threat of the use of penalties against Limak might just have been another way to deceive the fans about the work being undertaken at their beloved stadium.

However, this affair could easily be swept to the sidelines as the bigger issue remains the completion of work and reopening of the Camp Nou for the fans.

With all the delays, the unrealized deadlines, and broken promises with the fans, this project of the stadium’s renovation is proving to be a mess, and it remains to be seen whether it will politically benefit or cost Laporta in the next presidential elections of the club.

But for now, one can only hope that the stadium will be completed and reopened for the fans as soon as possible, even if not for the Valencia game.

The author is the Editor-in-Chief of Sempre Barça

The opinions expressed in this article are author's and do not refelct The ExpressTribune's.

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