Camp Nou
Camp Nou is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. And it is the home stadium of FC Barcelona. Opened in 1957 and with a capacity of 99,354, it is the largest stadium in Europe and the second largest football stadium in the world.
The construction of the stadium lasted 3 years and it cost 1.73 billion euros. Barcelona moved from their previous 60,000 seater Camp de Les Corts which had no more room for expansion into new 93,053 capacity Camp Nou designed by architects Francesc Mitjans and Josep Soteras. It was first called Estadi del FC Barcelona, but got soon referred to as Camp Nou. The opening fixture took place on 24th September 1957 and pitted Barca against Legia Warsaw in a friendly which ended 4-2 for Barcelona.
In 1964 the stadium, together with Santiago Bernabeu, hosted the European Championship. It hosted the semi-final between the Soviet Union and Denmark, and the match for third place between Hungary and Denmark.
In May 1972, Camp Nou hosted its first European Cup Winners’ Cup final between Rangers and Dynamo Moscow and a second final a decade later between Barcelona and Standard Liège which Barcelona won 2-1.
The stadium underwent an expansion in 1980, in anticipation of the 1982 FIFA World Cup, which added boxes, VIP lounges, a new press area, new markers and the construction of the third tier, taking the total stadium capacity to 121,401. Camp Nou was one of several stadiums used throughout the 1982 World Cup, hosting the opening ceremony on the 13 June. It also hosted more matches than any of the other 16 stadiums, including the opening match and semi-final. Two years later in 1984 the Club Museum was added to the stadium.
The record attendance is 120,000 in the match between Barcelona and Juventus in 1986 European Cup Quarter Final on March 5th. Three years later in 1989 the stadium hosted it’s first European Cup final between AC Milan and Steaua București on May 24th, with the Italian club winning 4–0. In 1992 Camp Nou hosted part of the football competition, including the final, at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
In 1994 more work was carried out as the pitch was lowered by 2.5 metres to allow the lower seating area to be expanded, the conversion of standing areas behind the goals into seated areas and the removal of the moat from around the pitch.
Camp Nou also hosted it’s second UEFA Champions League final in 1999 between Manchester United and Bayern Munich which United won 2-1 with two injury time goals and it’s regarded as one of the greatest Champions League finals in history.
Before the end of the century the standing areas were turned into seating thus reducing the stadium’s capacity to its present day figure of 99,000.
Apart from hosting FC Barcelona, Camp Nou is also home to the Catalan national football team.
In the last couple of years Barcelona planed to expand the Camp Nou to 105,000 capacity, but the works were delayed year after year. But it looks like the works could start in the summer of 2021 with the projected inauguration of the stadium in 2025.
