Barcelona Will Have to Leave Camp Nou Again in 2027 to Finish the Roof

Here we go again with the suitcases. Barcelona now knows that at some point in 2027 it will have to leave Camp Nou just when it seemed the club had finally settled back into its own home. The reason: the roof of the renovated stadium still needs to go up, and that means another temporary move, this time to the Olympic Stadium.

The club returned to Camp Nou this past November after two years playing at Montjuic, so the move back to the Olympic Stadium will feel familiar to fans. According to treasurer Ferran Olivé, who laid out the plan at the club's general assembly, the idea is to finish the current season at Camp Nou and start the 2027-28 campaign already settled at the Olympic Stadium. Then, in January 2028, the team would move back to its own stadium to play out the second half of that season.

Right now, Camp Nou's capacity is capped at 62,000 spectators, with only two of the three tiers open. But Olivé was clear that capacity will rise to 75,000 before the end of the current season as the third tier gradually opens up. By the time the team returns in 2028, the stadium should already be around 95,000 seats, with the final jump coming before the start of the 2028-29 season, when the work is expected to be fully finished and capacity will reach 105,000.

The schedule doesn't leave much room for error. UEFA confirmed just a week ago that Camp Nou will host the 2029 Champions League final, the first time the Barcelona stadium has hosted a final in 30 years. With that date already locked in, any further delay carries extra weight.

A Project Whose Cost Keeps Climbing

Delays, in fact, are something this project knows all too well. The renovation began in 2023 and has been racking up setbacks ever since, setbacks that have also turned into a financial headache. That's why, over the weekend, Barcelona's members had to approve a new financing package of 510 million euros ($585 million) to, as the club put it in a statement, "cover the economic impact caused by delays in the execution of the project." With this latest injection, the total cost of the work is now close to 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion).

The club explained that the operation is split into two parts. The first is 300 million euros ($344 million) earmarked to finish Camp Nou, a project that, according to Barcelona, "has significantly expanded its scope beyond the original plans" by adding new facilities, services and technological solutions. The second part is 210 million euros ($241 million), to be raised through two Media Notes issuances of 105 million euros ($120 million) each: the first was already issued in July 2026, and the second is planned for October or November of that same year.

According to the club, both issuances carry maturities of up to 10 years, a fixed interest rate, and are backed by the future audiovisual revenue the team generates in La Liga and UEFA competitions.

In the end, everything points in the same direction: Barcelona needs the work finished so the stadium can start generating the money the club has projected. The organization expects revenue to grow significantly thanks to what it calls "additional stadium related income," which includes ticket sales, VIP boxes, the museum and other activities tied to the team's permanent return home.