The Nou Camp is beginning to look increasingly like a building site with major work being done on the iconic stadium.
Barcelona's 99,354-seater cathedral, which is Europe's largest stadium, will be vacated for the foreseeable future as the Catalan giants look to revamp their ground and align themselves with the modern stadia around the continent. They left as LaLiga champions following a hugely successful year and will now move to the Olympic Stadium across the city.
Several cranes have made themselves at home at the Nou Camp with the pitch almost completely dug up, as seen on a photo posted on the club's Twitter. Major work is also being done outside the stadium which Barcelona set to spend a season at their temporary home in the area of Montjuic.
Next season will be the first time the Catalans have spent the season away from the Nou Camp since the 1950s after The Espai Barca project was approved by the club's board and will see the stadium and its surrounding facilities improved in a £1.3billion renovation project. The plans are backed by US investment firms Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, who are set to be partners.
In March 2022, Barcelona reached a “long-term” sponsorship deal with streaming service Spotify to rename their stadium to the ‘Spotify Camp Nou’. The stadium is set to take on a new look once the team return with the Swedish company retaining their connection.
Arch rivals Real Madrid have recently renovated their Bernabeu stadium, which meant they had to play away from their usual home. That was during the Covid period as they took up home at the club's training base.
Barcelona though, whose average attendance last season was 83,497, will have to make do with considerably less next term, when they will also be in the Champions League. Their temporary 55,000-seater stadium was previously the main arena for the 1992 Olympics and has been home to the city's other major outfit, Espanyol.
Xavi, who oversaw a 3-0 win over Real Mallorca in the final game at the Nou Camp, admits the switch across the city will not be easy as he called on the fans to play their part. "Camp Nou feels like my home," he said. "But it is for a good cause, to have an even better stadium where the fans will feel even better. It's for the common good.
"My feeling is it won't be easy in Montjuic. We have to move to a new ground and we will need the fans with us. That atmosphere that's been generated since I have been in charge, we will need that in Montjuic. The fans need to know that we are going to need them a lot there."
