Barcelona will play their first home match of the season at the 6,000-capacity Estadi Johan Cruyff stadium where their reserve and women’s teams play, with the club’s return to the Camp Nou once again put on hold.
The announcement comes just five days before their La Liga fixture against Valencia amid delays and uncertainty around the reconstruction project at their iconic stadium.
Barca had hoped to have returned to the Camp Nou before the start of the 2025/26 season with plans put in place to open the ground at a reduced capacity of around 27,000 in time for Sunday’s match.
However, they still do not have the necessary permits from the Barcelona city council to open the venue, and nor have any test events been held. Barca have not played at the Camp Nou since starting a €1.5billion refurbishment of the ground and surrounding area in June 2023, hosting games at the 55,000-capacity Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, a short distance across the city of Montjuic, over the past two seasons.
In theory, the ground does not actually meet the criteria required to host La Liga games. Ordinarily the competition body requires grounds to have a minimum capacity of 8,000. Nor is the stadium — which is adjacent to Barca’s training ground in Sant Joan Despi — equipped with the technology La Liga requires for VAR to function.
However, La Liga’s rulebook allows an exception regarding their capacity standards. According to article XIII in the competition’s rules, “La Liga’s Comision Delegada (Delegate Comission) will be entitled to, following demographic, architectural, technical or historical reasons within the club, to accept the reduction of their minimum capacity required”.
La Liga already allowed Barca to play their first three matches of the season — victories over Mallorca and Levante and a draw at Rayo Vallecano — away from home after the Catalan club’s request to do so.
The Camp Nou rebuild, which will raise capacity to 105,000, is currently scheduled to be completed in June 2026, but Barca have long planned to return to the ground at a reduced capacity.
They first planned to get back there in November 2024, in time for the club’s 125th anniversary celebrations, before eventually deciding to continue playing in Montjuic.
Earlier this summer Barca said they would hold their traditional season-opening friendly match, the Joan Gamper Trophy, at the ground on August 10, but that target was also missed — with the match eventually held at the Estadi Johan Cruyff.
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