All the delays at Camp Nou: the timeline of the fiasco at Barça's stadium

The controversy surrounding FC Barcelona is constant, as has been seen in recent weeks. One of the most notorious sources of turbulence it currently faces is the renovation of its stadium, Spotify Camp Nou, following the example of Real Madrid. Unlike the relative ease of the work at the Merengue coliseum, the reconstruction of the blaugrana stadium is turning into a real nightmare.

It's not just because of the multiple changes, cuts, and modifications made to the original project, which was initially designed to "imitate" practically all the features now showcased by the renovated Santiago Bernabéu. It's also due to the constant delays in the progress of the work, which have led to several changes of plans over the past ten months.

Many Barça fans have anxiously experienced the journey toward the return of soccer to Spotify Camp Nou. When the project was officially announced, FC Barcelona's top executives stated that they would return to the Les Corts field "on November 29, 2024, which is also our 125th anniversary". Nothing could be further from the truth.

A month and a half before that date arrived, given the slow progress recorded in the stadium's reconstruction, the board of directors issued a new message. "We're working to have the stadium ready to return before the end of the year", declared vice president Elena Fort. In that same appearance, the Barça executive warned of "reasons and circumstances" that could change that return date to Spotify Camp Nou.

They still can't reach an agreement

The complications in the reconstruction of the blaugrana stadium, a project of greater dimensions than initially expected, prevented that return by the end of 2024. Joan Laporta, two weeks before the turn of the year, set a new deadline: "until the end of the first phase of the Champions" corresponding to the 24/25 season.

As on previous occasions, that original idea was disproved. Two months later, already in February 2025, a member of FC Barcelona's leadership hinted that "we'll be able to use Camp Nou before the end of the season". That promise was once again unfulfilled, proving a more cautious Elena Fort right: "It could be that this happens or doesn't happen".

By early March, Elena Fort herself left hanging in the air the possibility of playing the matches in May: the board of directors had to "assess" first that idea. In the same interview on Catalunya Ràdio, Fort stated that "Barça will start next season at Camp Nou". That future has come to nothing.

Not even the unfulfilled promise to hold the Joan Gamper trophy, a match played last August 10, has served to provide a clear return date to Spotify Camp Nou. "The reason lies in the impossibility of carrying out the work", changes that interfere with the development of soccer... and keep the team and Barça fans waiting for a return that is still far from becoming reality.