The
Camp Nou ("new field", ), often erroneously called the
Nou Camp (in both
Spanish and
English) is a football stadium in
Barcelona,
Spain. The stadium has been the home of
FC Barcelona since its construction in 1957. It is a
UEFA 5-star rated stadium, and has hosted numerous international matches at senior level, and
UEFA Champions League finals, the most recent being in
1999. It has a capacity of 98,787, making it
the largest stadium in Europe, and the
eleventh largest in the world. Its official name was
Estadi del FC Barcelona (FC Barcelona Stadium) until 2000, when the club membership voted to change the official name to the popular nickname,
Camp Nou.
Across Camp Nou is the
Palau Blaugrana, the stadium for indoor sports and adjacent is the Ice Rink, the stadium for ice-based sports. Just behind the complex is the
Mini Estadi, the stadium where
FC Barcelona Atlètic play their games.
History
By the early 1950s, Barcelona had outgrown its old stadium,
Camp de Les Corts which had held 60,000 supporters. The Camp Nou, built between 1954 and 1957, was designed by architects Francesc Mitjans-Miró, Lorenzo García Barbon and Josep Soteras Mauri. FC Barcelona won their first game at Camp Nou in impressive fashion, a 4-2 victory against
Legia Warsaw, with
Eulogio Martínez scoring the first goal at the new stadium. Over 90,000 fans were present at this momentous occasion.
The stadium capacity has varied, opening at 106,146, but growing to 121,749 for the
1982 FIFA World Cup. With the outlawing of standing sections at the stadium in the late 1990s, its capacity settled to just below 116,000.
thumb|right|The outside of the Camp Nouthumb|right|The future Camp Nouthumb|right|One of the stands displaying Barcelona's motto, Més que un club meaning More than a club.thumb|right|ExteriorThe facilities include a memorabilia shop, mini pitches for training matches, and a chapel for players. The stadium also houses the most visited museum in Catalonia,
El Museu del Barça, which receives about 1,200,000 visits a year. The museum was inaugurated in 1984 under the presidency of
Josep Lluís Nuñez. The museum shows 1,420 pieces of
FC Barcelona's history, of which 420 are trophies. The inauguration ceremony of the
1982 World Cup was held on June 13. In front of a 100,000-strong crowd,
Belgium beat
Argentina 1-0.
Camp Nou also hosted musical performances and other non-football events. Artists who have performed at the stadium include:
Pope John Paul II celebrated
mass with a
congregation of over 120,000 at Camp Nou on November 17, 1982.
Future
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the stadium, the club issued an international tender to re-model the stadium. The objective was to turn the stadium into an integrated and highly visible urban environment. The club seeks to increase the
seating capacity by 13,500 seats making it the world's largest football stadium. The plan must accommodate a minimum of 50% of seats to be under cover.
On September 18, 2007,
British architect Norman Foster and his company were selected to "restructure" the Camp Nou. The plans include an extra 10,000 seats to be added and the estimated cost is €250 million.
Recent and historical significant matches
Bibliography
Josep Maria Casanovas,
La Catedral del Barça, with a dvd, Sport, Barcelona, 2007.
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