The women’s Barça do not yet know where they will play next year’s Champions League

2023-06-16 18:00:05

BarcelonaThe third world attendance record for a women’s football match achieved by Barça (which is now set by the 91,648 spectators who attended the Camp Nou against Wolfsburg in 2022) will have to wait, at least, until the Blaugrana stadium be completely remodeled. The first women’s and men’s teams will not be able to play there, at least, for a year and a half due to the remodeling works that have already started. Meanwhile, the men’s team will play all competitions at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium and the women’s will play the League and the Queen’s Cup at the Johan Cruyff Stadium. The doubt is where he will face the Champions League matches as a local on the way to defend the title won in Eindhoven.

“No one has ruled out even if the matches are played in Montjuïc, but the fact that it is not its own stadium and is subject to a lease means that you cannot do everything you want like in the Camp Nou and the Johan Cruyff Stadium and you consider alternatives,” an official club source tells ARA. Regarding the alternatives, which as reported by Catalunya Ràdio could be stadiums in other Catalan cities such as Montilivi (14,500 spectators) in Girona or the Nou Estadi Costa Daurada (also 14,500) in Tarragona, from the Blaugrana entity ‘he assures that “there is nothing new”.

Conversations with Girona

On the other hand, a source from Arístides Maillol’s offices explains to this newspaper that, from Barcelona City Council, Barça are not allowed to do “much in Montjuïc” and admits that the alternative of going to play in other stadiums “it’s still very green”. Sources from Girona also report that they have “spoken about this option” with Barça, “but there is still nothing”. On the other hand, from Nàstic they say that, “for now”, there has been no contact with the Blaugrana organization regarding this matter.

The club chaired by Joan Laporta will not have the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys rented every day of the time period it will play there, but will have it available for use only on the specific days it needs it. That is to say that Barcelona Serveis Municipals (BSM), the public company in charge of its management, has the option of renting it out for other types of events the rest of the days.

The ARA has asked official sources from the City Council about the possible use of the Olympic Stadium by the Barça women’s team and the answer was limited to recalling the press release that was made public a year ago, on June 2022. It said this: “The Barcelona Football Club will be able to use the Stadium between August 2023 and May 2024. The transfer will be for match days of the men’s first team and preparations before and after the days. You will also be able to use the Stadium, on a timely basis, for training and other sporting events, including, also, the needs that the women’s team may have.”

Capacity limited to the Olympic ring

The total capacity of the Anella Olímpica, according to Barça sources, is around 60,000 spectators, although official BSM sources point out that “the generic mobility plan is being worked on and, until it is defined, no we can talk about numbers”. The limit means that, at the same time, among the various facilities that are there, this number cannot be exceeded, especially taking into account the sum of the two star venues: the Olympic Stadium and the Palau Sant Jordi. The first, during Barça matches, will have a capacity of 49,472 spectators and the second, has a maximum capacity of 17,960. Therefore, it is incompatible to organize simultaneous events there.

In the last edition of the Champions League, the women’s Barça played all the matches as a home team at the Camp Nou except for the first of the group stage, against Benfica, because the following day the men’s Barça played a league match there and the regulations of the competition say that the organizing body must have the stadium at its disposal 24 hours before. The previous season, 2021-2022, was the first in which the current generation of players played at the Camp Nou in front of an audience, and they made history in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League by winning by two times the attendance record.

Since then, it is evidence that the Johan Cruyff Stadium, with 6,000 spectators, has become small for these types of matches. In addition, it has the same deficiency as the Nou Estadi de Tarragona: it does not have VAR, an indispensable requirement for UEFA from the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

The World Cup gives Barça more scope

Although we are already in the middle of June, Barça has more room than usual to solve the situation thanks to the fact that the World Cup dispute this summer, which will begin on July 20, will cause the group phase of the next edition of the Champions League, for which the team of Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí is already qualified, has the first day set for November 14 and 15, two months later than usual. The draw will take place on October 20 in Nyon, and the final on May 24, 25 or 26 at the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao.