Camp Nou – FC Barcelona’s stadium is one of the most iconic and historic stadiums in the world. Camp Nou is located in Catalonia, Spain. It was opened in 1957. Here are the 10 facts about the Nou Camp.
Construction
Camp Nou was built after FC Barcelona’s previous stadium Les Corts had become too small. Camp Nou which is translated as “New Stadium” was built to host more fans. This name was given when FC Barcelona moved to their new stadium from the previous one.
Biggest stadium in Europe
Camp Nou is the biggest stadium in Europe. This gigantic and humongous stadium has a capacity of 99,354, which makes it the 2nd largest football stadium in the world.
Date of completion
The construction of Camp Nou was started on 28 March 1954 and it was completed three years later. The official opening of this newly built stadium took place on September 24, 1957.
Need for a new stadium
The need for a new stadium was felt when Barcelona signed Hungarian Laszlo Kubala. This player has the same impact on the fans as Lionel Messi has today. The fans wanted to see Laszlo play but the stadium wasn’t big enough to host more than 60,000 fans so FC Barcelona’s management decided to build a new stadium – today known as Camp Nou.
Cost
Indeed, the construction of a stadium costs a lot and the clubs face economic crises afterwards. The same thing happened when Camp Nou was built. The stadium cost the club 2 Million Dollars and that too was in the 1950s era when this amount was too much. The club had to face serious debts after the construction was completed.
Previous names
Camp Nou wasn’t the original name of this stadium, it was “Estadi del FC Barcelona” but the name Camp Nou became highly popular so in the 2000/01 season the name was changed from Estadi del FC Barcelona to Camp Nou by official voting. 68.25% of fans were in favour of changing the stadium’s name.
First official match
The first official match played by Barca in Camp Nou was on 6 October 1957 where Barca thrashed Jaén by 6-1. The start of a beautiful era started beautifully.
Always changing grass
The grass of Camp Nou is always changed due to no sunlight reaching the grass because of the huge roof. In 2016, Barca installed hybrid grass – a combination of natural grass and hybrid grass for optimum stability.
Tiki-Taka
The famous Tiki-Taka style introduced by Johann Cruyff was mastered in Camp Nou. Following his legacy, many coaches started playing Tiki-Taka style which eventually helped Spain in winning the 2010 World Cup.
Camp Nou’s ownership
One of the most interesting and weird facts about Camp Nou is that it is not owned by an organization or by a trust. This stadium is owned by a group of individuals called Barca Socios or Barca Members which are almost 140,000.
