Accommodation near Camp Nou Barcelona

Camp Nou

Camp Nou (Catalan pronunciation: [kamˈnɔw], New Field, often referred to as The Nou Camp in English) is a football stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, which has been the home of Futbol Club Barcelona since 1957.

The Camp Nou holds 99,786 people, and thus is the largest stadium in Europe and the 4th largest association football stadium in the world in terms of capacity. It has hosted numerous international matches at a senior level, including two UEFA Champions League finals and the football competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

History

The construction of Camp Nou started on 28 March 1954 as Barcelona's previous stadium, Camp de Les Corts, had no room for expansion. Although originally planned to be called Estadi del FC Barcelona, the more popular name Camp Nou was used. The June 1950 signing of László Kubala, regarded as one of Barcelona's greatest players, provided further impetus to the construction of a larger stadium.

Construction of Camp Nou began on 28 March 1954 before a crowd of 60,000 Barça fans. The civil governor of Barcelona, Felipe Acedo Colunga, presided at the laying in place of the first stone, with a blessing from the Archbishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego. Construction took three years, going 336% over budget for a final cost of 288 million pesetas. The stadium was officially opened on 24 September 1957. Handel's Messiah was performed at the opening of the stadium. Barcelona then defeated Legia Warsaw 4-2 in a friendly match.