Spanish football club Barcelona will return to the rebuilt Camp Nou on November 22 for their La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao, the club announced on Monday. This will be their first game at the stadium in more than two years.Camp Nou was closed at the end of the 2022/23 season, and Barcelona have since played their home matches mainly at the Olympic Stadium on Montjuic.More than 20,000 people paid to watch the team practice at the Camp Nou on Nov. 7.Work began on upgrading the stadium in June 2023 to expand capacity in Europe’s largest soccer venue that previously stood at 99,000. The reconstruction project, worth 1.5 billion euros ($1.75 billion), faced delays and is reopening a year later than planned.For now, the stadium will operate with a temporary capacity of 45,401. When the top tier is finished, it will hold 105,000 spectators. As part of the reopening process, Barcelona allowed 23,000 fans to attend a training session earlier in November.The club is also waiting for UEFA approval to host Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou on December 9 in the Champions League.At the start of this season, Barcelona had to play two matches at the 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium after they did not receive the required safety permit for Camp Nou.Barcelona plan to install a roof on the new stadium in the summer of 2027, a year later than originally planned.
