Four games into the new LaLiga season and Barcelona remain homeless as the wait to return to Camp Nou, which is still undergoing a €1.5 billion refurbishment, drags on.
They announced this week, with five days' notice, that Valencia's visit on Sunday (stream LIVE at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+), their first home game of the new campaign after three away matches, will take place at the 6,000-capacity Estadi Johan Cruyff next to the club's training ground on the outskirts of the Catalan city in Sant Joan Despí.
The Estadi Johan Cruyff is the venue where Barça's women's team and the men's reserve side -- who compete in the Spanish fourth tier -- play their matches. This weekend, as an emergency measure, it will also become the home for the men's team.
The decision was taken on Tuesday as Barça were once again forced to postpone their return to Camp Nou, the stadium they had originally said they would be back playing games at in November 2024, coinciding with the club's 125th anniversary.
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Meanwhile, a Post Malone concert means they cannot play at the Olympic Stadium in the Montjuïc area of the city this weekend, the ground they have called home since 2023, when extensive and expensive renovation work began on Camp Nou.
Barça -- and, perhaps more importantly, their supporters -- still don't know where they will be playing a week later, on Sept. 21, when they are due to host Getafe. Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain follow soon after in LaLiga and the UEFA Champions League, respectively.
It's a remarkable situation for one of Europe's biggest clubs. ESPN looks at how it came to this, whether an imminent Camp Nou return is achievable, the financial consequences of not playing and home and the €100 million deal driving the rush.
Why did they leave Camp Nou?
The shutters came down on Camp Nou in May 2023 when Barça beat Mallorca in the penultimate LaLiga game of the season. Grand plans had long since been announced to redevelop the impressive but decaying stadium, which held up to 99,000 supporters. Barça president Joan Laporta has regularly boasted the revamp will leave the club with "the best ground in the world."
In the meantime, Barça secured a lease to play at the Olympic Stadium, which staged the Summer Games in 1992. Previously used by local rivals Espanyol, it has a capacity of over 50,000 and stunning views over the city -- even if getting up the hill where it's located wasn't to everyone's taste.
When were they meant to return?
This weekend's Valencia game was the latest in a string of dates and games slated to herald Barça's Camp Nou homecoming which has now been missed.
The plan was, and still is, for a phased return, with work ongoing between matches and a capped capacity of 50,000-60,000 (although that will now drop as low as 27,000). That capacity will then gradually increase until the redevelopment is completely finished and a modernised Camp Nou is ready to welcome 105,000 fans every week.
Barça originally pencilled in a return last November to mark the club's 125th anniversary. That date came and passed without it ever really seeming realistic.
Half-season tickets were then released for Camp Nou with the implication of a return earlier this year, but Barça confirmed in January they would not be back before May, leaving just a sliver of a chance that they could finish the LaLiga campaign, including games against Villarreal and the Clásico against Real Madrid, at Camp Nou. That was, in part, because the lease at the Olympic Stadium expired at the end of April, but Barça acquired an extension and finished the season Montjuïc.
In June, they then announced the Joan Gamper Trophy match -- the club's annual preseason curtain-raiser -- against Serie A side Como would be hosted by Camp Nou on Aug. 10 in "a historic moment for the club and its supporters." That fixture was moved to the Estadi Johan Cruyff, though, as Barça did not receive the necessary permits to play it at Camp Nou.
Why the latest setback?
After missing the Como deadline, Barça had over a month to press on with the redevelopment work and to acquire the necessary permits and licenses from the local council to have the stadium ready to host LaLiga matches by September. But they still don't have them.
Sources insist to ESPN that the pitch, the facilities for the players and a good amount of seats are all ready -- and images released by the club suggest that is the case -- but that is not the major issue. Visiting the ground this month, it's striking not just how many workers are coming and going as work continues more or less around the clock (when local authorities allow), but also how much of a building site the stadium remains. That is relevant in terms of health and safety and getting supporters in, with no time for test events as Barça push to get matches back inside as soon as possible.
As the Valencia game drew nearer and it became increasingly obvious Camp Nou would not be available, Barça sought other options, sources told ESPN, but most were either not possible or never got off the ground. The Olympic Stadium was off the table due to U.S. musician Post Malone's concert there on Friday, reversing the fixture was not possible and Girona's Montilivi -- 60 or so miles away in the nearby Catalan city -- was never properly considered.
The Estadi Johan Cruyff does not meet LaLiga's minimum 8,000-capacity rule, but a LaLiga source told ESPN an exception was granted due to "architectural reasons," per the competition's regulations. Still, they have had to carry out work at the ground to ensure it meets various other league requirements, notably related to the implementation of VAR and semi-automated offside technology.
The decision has understandably not been met positively by supporters. Only members -- known as socios -- who had season tickets for each of the last two years at the Olympic Stadium (around 16,000) were allowed to enter the lottery for tickets, which started from €42 -- season ticket holders paid around €15 per game last season. Meanwhile, VIP tickets were being sold on the club's website to non-socios for up to €1,500.
"This is proof of bad management and disrespect for the socios," club member and journalist Xavier Bosch wrote in Mundo Deportivo. "Promises of a return were false and communication was cold. Illusion was sold, but reality shows chaos and improvisation."
When will they return?
The next goal is Getafe on Sept. 21, but club vice-president Elena Fort says she can't guarantee that game will be played at Camp Nou. Neither can Laporta, who limited himself to saying on Thursday: "The club is working hard to ensure a return as soon as possible."
One source suggests Real Sociedad on Sept. 28 may be more realistic, with PSG to follow in the Champions League on Oct. 1 after UEFA allowed Barça to play their first European game, at Newcastle United on Sept. 18, away from home. But the short answer is no one at the club can actually be sure given that the final decision on the permits is out of their hands.
If it is to be as soon as the La Real game, the Getafe fixture would likely be played at the Estadi Johan Cruyff to avoid having to rent and pay the costs to get the Olympic Stadium ready for just one game. If the wait is longer, Barça could yet return to the Olympic Stadium, where they have an option to renew the lease until February.
The Champions League slightly complicates matters. Per UEFA's regulations, Barça must "in principle" (so perhaps with some room for manoeuvre) commit to playing the league phase in the same stadium, with changes only allowed in-between the league phase and the knockout rounds. That makes the venue for the PSG game especially interesting. There are no such rules in LaLiga.
All this, of course, is just to return with a capped attendance, likely as low as 27,000. The work to finish the stadium will go on. It was initially due to be completely finished for the start of next season.
Paris Saint Germain manager Luis Enrique has revealed he has mixed emotions about facing former club Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League this season.
How much is all this costing them?
Barça initially said playing at the Olympic Stadium would cost them around €90m per season in comparison to being at Camp Nou. In their 2022-23 financial report, that estimation dropped to €78m, while Fort later revised the amount again, suggesting it was more like €55m. In the end, it cost them over €100m in 2023-24 (the full figures for their second season away are not yet public).
On top of the lease fees -- reported as being around €15m annually by local media -- Barça were losing at least €1m, likely much more, in matchday revenue every game. In their first season in Montjuïc, they averaged €2m per match, with that amount rising to €2.8m in the second year due to the team's improved performances and the use of dynamic pricing. That figure was largely boosted by over €13m being brought in from the title-deciding win over Madrid in May.
In comparison, Barça made €229m from "stadium operations," per their own financial report, in 2022-23, their last at Camp Nou. According to one ESPN source, of that figure as much as €190m was from matchday revenue, which across 25 home games equates to more than €7m per match. In their first season at the Olympic Stadium, Barça raised €126m from stadium operations, a drop of €103m. Considering those figures, playing at the Estadi Johan Cruyff instead of Camp Nou will cost them millions per matchday.
There are also other factors to consider, such as the impact on sponsors -- Spotify purchased the naming rights to Camp Nou just as it was closing -- and knock-on effects on museum visits, stadium tours and spending in the on-site club shop on non-matchdays.
However, one source said that those losses were anticipated and that the real question is not how much this is costing Barça, but how much it could cost them if they don't get back. Of course it will allow for matchday revenue to increase, although maybe not so much with a 27,000 capacity, but more importantly it should finally allow for LaLiga to recognise a deal worth €100m for the sale of VIP seats at the revamped Camp Nou.
Last January, Barça announced the advance sale of 475 VIP seats for "a maximum of 30 years to two investors from the Middle East." However, for various reasons, that deal did not pass LaLiga's audit. It also won't register as income for the league while Barcelona continue to play away from Camp Nou.
One source says that is a significant reason for the rush to return, when delaying and returning to the Olympic Stadium would at the very least ease some of the uncertainty for now. If Barça can get that deal on the books for LaLiga, it will provide a significant boost to their revenue and, as a result, to their league-imposed spending limit, which would allow them to operate more freely in the transfer market in January if reinforcements are needed. Whether they will be back in their iconic home ground by then remains to be seen.