Barca's Camp Nou return held up again by licence issue

Barcelona will have to delay their return to the renovated Camp Nou after the local council rejected their application for a key permit on Tuesday.

The La Liga champions had planned to welcome Real Sociedad at the venue this Sunday with attendance limited to 27,000 fans.

Instead the Catalan club will play the match at the Olympic stadium on Montjuic hill in the city, which served as their temporary home for the last two seasons while renovations took place at Camp Nou.

"The club remains committed to securing the required administrative approvals to open Spotify Camp Nou in the weeks ahead," Barcelona stated.

"At present the club is addressing the latest modifications outlined by the council today."

The municipal fire service highlighted concerns over evacuation paths and various other safety matters.

"We fully support the club's wish to resume playing there promptly, yet this council has a duty to ensure the wellbeing of all stadium visitors, that remains our top concern," explained Laia Bonet, the deputy mayor of Barcelona.

"We offer our full cooperation to the club in tackling the remaining concerns.

"We shall not delay by a month or even a moment beyond what is required to issue the initial occupancy licence once everything is in order."

"The fact that it is not yet complete does not imply it lacks safety," commented Joan Sentelles, Barcelona's operations director, to journalists on Tuesday while showing them around the ground.

He further noted that the roof installation is now scheduled for summer 2027, delayed by a year from initial projections. The stadium had been due to reopen in November 2024, though that target has shifted multiple times.

Hansi Flick's team competed away for the opening three matches of the campaign to allow extra preparation time for the venue.

Subsequently they entertained Valencia and Getafe at the 6,000-seat Johan Cruyff arena next to their training facility, pending approval to access Camp Nou.

Reports suggest Barcelona's expenditure on the Camp Nou reconstruction totals around 1.5 billion euros ($1.75 billion).