Barcelona Face New Questions Around Camp Nou Timeline

Barcelona has suffered another setback regarding their highly anticipated return to the renovated Spotify Camp Nou.

It was recently announced that due to construction delays, the stadium would not be ready to host the Joan Gamper Trophy match this Sunday as planned.

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Now, the club has been informed they will not have the desired capacity for their first La Liga home game on September 14th, according to Marca.

The club has applied to the city council for a permit to open the first phase of the renovated stadium, which would allow 30,000 spectators for the match against Valencia.

The application covers the first two home games, so the match against Getafe a week later would also be played at this reduced capacity.

The plan is to then move to the second phase, increasing the stadium capacity to 45,000. This would be in place for subsequent La Liga matches and Champions League fixtures. A response from the city council is expected next week.

The issue is that the first round of the Champions League will be played between September 16th and 18th – right after La Liga kicks off.

If Barcelona are drawn to host a match in this opening round, they will have to play in front of only 30,000 fans.

The Catalan club has reportedly tried to persuade UEFA, as they did with La Liga, to avoid being assigned a home game in the first round. There's been no response to this request yet.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has recently admitted that he has no idea when Barcelona can move back to the Spotify Camp Nou, which is a bit scary – not only because plans are very much behind schedule, but also because the stadium will assist in bringing much-needed revenue, which the club desperately needs given its desperate financial predicament.