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The Camp Nou, the mythic Barcelona stadium

If you like soccer, you should know it; if not, telling you FC Barcelona or Messi ??? Still not, so you are not a football fan. The Camp Nou (New Field) is the stadium of the Fútbol Club Barcelona, the team in which Ronaldinho, Maradona... were members.

In fact, FC Barcelona represents not only the football team but also different ones like basket ball, handball, hockey… and the stadium is their headquarters. The Camp Nou was built to replace the old field of Les Corts which was inaugurated in 1922.

It took 2 years for the architects Francesc Mitjans Miró and Josep Soteras Mauri to finish the new stadium with

the help of Lorenzo García Barbón, made of cement and iron, and it was inaugurated on September 24, 1957. At this time, the construction cost in total 288 millions of pesetas, the old spanish money, something like 1.73 millions of euros.

At the beginning of the project in 1950, there was a doubt about where it would be built, it was not sure to do it on the Maternidad area (where it is situated actually) or on the top area of the diagonal avenue.

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Due to this incapacity to resolve the place, it was paralyzed until 1954 when Francesc Miró-Sans, president of the FC Barcelona elected in 1953, decided for the Maternidad area and on march 28, the first stone of the Camp Nou was put.

The first game for the inauguration was a match between the Barcelona and Warsaw teams and guess who won it ??? Barcelona of course, with the result of 4-2. And during the break, there was a show, the traditional catalan dance, called sardana, was performed by 1500 people and 10.000 doves were freed for the occasion.

Originally, it was called Estadi del FC Barcelona (Stadium of FC Barcelona) but due to a popular vote, the name has been changed officially to the actual one during the 2000/2001 season.

The Camp Nou owns a maximum of 48 meters high and a surface of 55.000 square meters (250 meters long by 220 meters width) with a game field of 105 meters by 68 meters according to the UEFA regulations. Since the 1998/1999 season, it was classified as a 5 stars stadium by the UEFA.

Although it is always full each time there is a soccer game, let me tell you that it has a capacity of 99.354 people, considering it as one of the biggest stadiums in Europe, and still, it is very hard to buy a ticket if you want to see a match, even trying to get one in advance.

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On the other hand, if you want only to visit the stadium and the museum, you won’t have this problem and you will find all the needed information directly to their official website (opening, price, group…).

To try your luck for a match, you have the choice between online:

The phone by calling:

  • at the number 902 189 900 (premium rate line) if you are in Spain
  • or (+34) 934 963 600 if you are out of Spain

The ticket offices of the stadium, I will recommend to go at least 1 hour before the opening:

  • the main one situated at the access number 14: monday to thursday from 9h to 17h. Friday from 9h to 14h30. Saturday (only when there is a match) from 9h to 13h30
  • the ones situated at the accesses 7/9: during high season from monday to saturday between 10h and 19h45 and during low season, from 10h to 18h15. Sunday from 10h to 14h15. Only game day from 11h until the beginning of the match
  • the ones situated at the Gol Norte and Gol Sur: only match day from 11h until the beginning of the game

And if really you don’t have luck, you can try to scalp tickets. For that, just go at least 1 hour before the beginning of the game and you will find people who will sell tickets. The point is that most of them will sell more expensive than the normal price and this practice is illegal so those people will not shout aloud. My advice is, once there, to ask people and someone will direct you to the right person.