Top facts about Camp Nou, the largest venue of the Spaniards

Barcelona's Camp Nou is a football stadium located in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Since its completion in 1957, it has served as FC Barcelona's home stadium.

The first fact of

top facts about Camp Nou

is that it is the largest stadium in Spain and Europe, putting 

 behind, and the fourth largest association football stadium in the world, with a seating capacity of 99,354.

In 1989 and 1999, it held two European Cup/Champions League finals, two European Cup Winners' Cup finals, four Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final games, five UEFA Super Cup games, four Copa del Rey final games, two Copa de la Liga final games, and twenty-one Supercopa de Espaa final games.

A top tier tour of top facts about Camp Nou, the largest venue of the Spaniards

In this article of top facts about Camp Nou, we aim to provide you with overall information about this amazing stadium, that is why we will first start by its history then explore the structure itself and its different facilities.

We will also talk about the transportation means of this field in the upcoming sections of top facts about Camp Nou. Now without further ado let us get to the main parts of this article and learn something new.

Camp Nou history

We will try to keep it as brief as possible just to deliver the message effectively in this section of top facts about Camp Nou.

's previous stadium, Camp de Les Corts, had little capacity for expansion, therefore building on Camp Nou began on March 28, 1954. The initial name for the stadium was Estadi del FC Barcelona, but the more famous moniker Camp Nou was chosen.

The addition of László Kubala, widely considered as one of Barcelona's finest players, in June 1950 added fuel to the fire for a larger stadium.

The stadium is near the Cementiri and the Maternitat, at the end of Travessera de Les Corts. In February 1951, the project's council proposed a different location. Two years later, the official acquisition was made.

On November 14, 1953, Francesc Miró-Sans was appointed president of FC Barcelona, and the project was relaunched. Miró-Sans decided in favor of the site bought in 1950 in February of the following year, and the first stone of the stadium was set on March 28, 1954. The club handed the construction to the building business Ingar SA a year later, and the project was finished one year later.

Camp Nou was launched on September 24, 1957. The Hallelujah from Handel's Messiah was preceded by a solemn ceremony presided over by the archbishop, who greeted the finished stadium.

Early development

In 1980, the stadium was expanded in preparation for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, with the addition of boxes, VIP lounges, a new press area, new markers, and the building of the third tier, which was 6 meters shorter than the original plan (46.60 meters compared to the original design of 52.50 meters).

The stadium's expansion included 22,150 extra seats, bringing the overall seating capacity to 71,731, and the standing capacity to 49,670, bringing the total stadium capacity to 121,401 (seated and standing combined).

FC Barcelona set a new attendance record on March 5, 1986, when they played

in a European Cup quarter-final in front of 120,000 fans, only 1,401 short of the stadium's maximum.

Camp Nou was one of the

, and it hosted the opening ceremony on June 13th. It also held more matches in the tournament than any of the other 16 stadiums around Spain, including the first match, which featured the usual opening ceremony (including the releasing of a dove).

The stadium's capacity has fluctuated dramatically throughout the years, starting with 106,146 for the 1982 FIFA World Cup and rising to 121,401 for the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

Except for the construction of the club museum in 1984, Camp Nou remained mostly unchanged after 1982. In 1993–94, the stadium was refurbished, with the field being reduced by 2.5 meters (8 feet), the security gap between the grass and the galleries being removed, and the standing room being replaced with individual seats.

In preparation for the 1998–99 season, a new press box, renovations to the presidential grandstand and boxes, new parking beneath the main grandstand, and new lighting and sound systems were completed. For its services and functionality, UEFA awarded Camp Nou a five-star rating in 1998–99.

Later development

As we talked about the old days of this stadium, many facts were leftover and this section of top facts about Camp Nou is all about those missing pieces.

To commemorate the stadium's fiftieth anniversary, the club published an international tender to rebuild it. The goal was to create an integrated and highly visible urban setting for the facility.

The club aimed to enhance seating capacity by 13,500 people, with at least half of the seats covered. The goal was to make it the world's third-largest stadium in terms of seating capacity, behind North Korea's Rungrado 1st of May Stadium (114,000 capacity) and India's Narendra Modi Stadium (110,000 capacity).

The British architect Norman Foster and his firm were chosen to "restructure" Camp Nou on September 18, 2007. Due to budgetary restrictions, Barcelona's board of directors rejected the prospect of building a new stadium in January 2014, opting instead to refurbish the Camp Nou to increase capacity to 105,000.

With a budget of roughly £495 million (€600 million), the project was projected to run from 2017 to early 2021, making it one of the most costly expansions per seat. In May 2015, a revised proposal was presented, which included ideas for a canopy over the stands as well as more detailed seating extension plans.

Construction was set to begin in summer 2020 and be finished in 2024, according to plans released in 2019.

Camp Nou museum

The museum of this stadium has been mentioned before in the previous parts of

top facts about Camp Nou

, however, it is necessary that we talk about it in detail.

At Camp Nou, a museum devoted to

opened in 1984. On Joan Gaspart's proposal, it was renamed "President Nez Museum" in 2000, in honor of his predecessor Josep Llus Nez, who served as president of the club from 1978 to 2000 and was the driving force behind the museum's development.

There are displays of trophies won by different sections of the club, numerous shirts and

, and the history of FC Barcelona is described across an area of more than 3,500 square meters.

Many artifacts from Barça's history are on display there, including works on sports by Salvador Dali, Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, José Segrelles, and Josep Maria Subirachs. There is also a multimedia component with several audio and video materials depicting the people and major occasions in the club's history.

The museum also features a documentation center, as well as archives from the club press and other materials. It also enables the review of a large number of photos.

With approximately 1,200,000 visitors each year, the FC Barcelona Museum is the city's most popular attraction.

Camp Nou nearby facilities

Camp Nou was built in a location that later became the ground of many other facilities. What facilities you may ask? Let’s learn about them in this section of top facts about Camp Nou.

Camp Nou is surrounded by facilities utilized by FC Barcelona's many sports divisions. The " Palau Blaugrana " multisports hall is located just a few meters from the stadium and hosts basketball, handball, rink hockey, and futsal tournaments.

The Palau Blaugrana, like the Camp Nou, was founded in 1971 and

. Near the Camp Nou lies the "Palau de Gel," a 1971 ice rink where ice hockey and figure skating competitions take place.

A second stadium dedicated to football is also part of the sports complex. The " Mini Estadi ", which opened on September 23, 1982, has a seating capacity of 15,276 people. It has hosted matches for

teams and reserve, FC Barcelona Atlètic, since its inception. Finally, the club's training facility, La Masia, is close to Camp Nou.

Camp Nou records

The match between FC Barcelona and

drew 120,000 spectators on March 5, 1986.

The number of spectators continued to rise around the year 2010, especially because the time was profitable from a sporting standpoint. In 2011, FC Barcelona drew 650,970 people to its stadium in the first eight matches it had played at home (all competitions combined). In Europe, there is nothing comparable.

When comparing the attendance of these eight matches to that of the French Ligue 1, we can see that Barça has brought back the same number of fans as 35 matches in the French league (comparing with the average attendance of all clubs).

Over the first eight games, Barca achieved the milestone of attracting 81,371 people per home game. Statistics that have never been equaled in the Blaugrana's history.

Over the course of the year, an average of roughly 79,390 fans visited the stadium, up 2.7 percent from the previous season, with a record attendance of 98,255 for Barça's 5-0 hammering of Real Madrid. By way of comparison, Barça's average attendance is about equal to that of OM and

in France (50,979 + 28,701).

Here is another amazing fact of top facts about Camp Nou: The first eight matches played at the Camp Nou in 2012 drew a total of 90,565 fewer people than in 2011, a significant difference of 11,320 fans each match. The difference has shrunk since 2010, yet it is still large. This is an increase of 43,619 fans over the previous year or a difference of 5,453 spectators per match.

Camp Nou other uses

Apart from football, Camp Nou has been utilized for a variety of reasons, including holding large concerts. On November 17, 1982, Pope John Paul II was declared an honorary citizen of Barcelona and conducted mass for a crowd of approximately 121,500 people at Camp Nou.

Julio Iglesias gave two high-profile concerts at Camp Nou, on September 5, 1983, and September 8, 1988.  Michael Jackson performed in front of 95,000 spectators at the stadium on August 9, 1988, as part of his Bad World Tour.

On July 13, 1997, the Three Tenors — Josep Carreras, Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti - performed a concert. On the Tunnel of Love Express Tour, Bruce Springsteen performed in front of 90,000 people on August 3, 1988. On September 9, 1988, he returned to the Human Rights Now! tour, performing in front of another 90,000 people.

The first time U2 performed in the stadium was on August 7, 2005, as part of their Vertigo Tour, in front of a sold-out audience of 81,269 people.

The second and third concerts took place on June 30 and July 2, 2009, respectively, as part of their U2 360° Tour, in front of a total of 182,055 people. The music video for the song was shot during the encore performance of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" from the second 2009 show.

 The Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb, hosts the Top 14 final every year. The 2015 Rugby World Cup, however, led the 2015–16 French season to be pushed back several weeks, making the Stade de France unusable because it would be a prominent location for

.

The game drew a total of 99,124 spectators, breaking the previous record for attendance in a domestic rugby union event.

The inaugural Super League game was held in Spain on May 18, 2019, at Camp Nou, when Catalans Dragons defeated Wigan Warriors 33–16. With 31,555 spectators in attendance, this match established the Super League attendance record for a non-Magic Weekend regular-season match.

Camp Nou transportation

The club council always considers transportation when it comes to building a new stadium, thus it is expected that a stadium like this one was built on a ground that is close to the city's transportation system. Now let us talk about it in this section of top facts about Camp Nou.

The nearest L3 stations to Camp Nou are Palau Reial, Maria Cristina, and Les Corts; L5 stations Badal and Collblanc; and L5 or L9 stations Badal and Collblanc. Depending on which of the Camp Nou gates (accesses) is utilized, all are 500 to 1,000 meters from the Camp Nou. When there is a match, metro services are usually boosted, causing severe passenger congestion.

L9 and L10 will service a new station, Avinguda de Xile / Camp Nou, which is currently under development.

The Trambaix Avinguda de Xile station is situated around 680 meters from Camp Nou (lines T1, T2, and T3).

Several TMB bus lines, as well as an AMB line and four Nitbus services, serve Camp Nou. On match days, in addition to the usual routes, two special lines run to Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer Square and Catalunya Square.

El Prat International Airport is 13.7 km (8.5 mi) away from the stadium. It is connected to Collblanc, which is a short walk from the stadium, by L9, which runs immediately from the airport.

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top facts about Camp Nou

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