Barcelona to leave from Nou Camp for full year while iconic stadium is renovated
Barcelona will spend an entire season away from their Nou Camp home while it is renovated with president Joan Laporta announcing that the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium will be their temporary home.
The Catalan giants will move five kilometres down the road to the City Council of Barcelona owned ground that hosted rivals Espanyol between 1997 and 2009, having been built back in 1927 and revamped for the 1992 Summer Olympics.
The stadium has a capacity of 60,713 compared to the Nou Camp's 99,354, and will host Barcelona for the entirety of the 2023/24 season including both La Liga and cup competition fixtures.
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Laporta said in a statement: "FC Barcelona will play at this stadium in the 23/24 season, while work is being done on the Espai Barca, for which the City Council recently granted the license.
"At Barca we are grateful to the city for helping us so much with the negotiations.
"FC Barcelona is committed to adapting the Olympic facilities and ensuring the comfort of our members and fans on match day. We will modernise various services and auxiliary spaces such as the press room, changing rooms and the indoor parking area.
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"We estimate that the transfer to Montjuic will cost Barca between 15-20 million euros (£13m – £17m).
"We are talking about the iconic venue of the Barcelona Olympics. We are talking about an international symbol of the city and we would like our season here, 2023-24, to make this stadium the epicentre of Barca supporters, shared with this great city that is Barcelona.
"All members and season ticket holders who want to come to the stadium will be able to do so by means of a democratic system on a rotation basis so that as many people as possible get the chance to be here at the Olympic Stadium."
The Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium is the fifth biggest stadium in Spain, and Barcelona will use it while their home is extended to 110,000 seats.
Plans are also in place to install a new roof that will incorporate a cooling system, with Barcelona following in the footsteps of Real Madrid in a making temporary move.
Los Blancos played at their reserve Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano stadium during the 2020/21 campaign before returning to a reduced capacity Santiago Bernabeu.
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