Camp Nou doubts: "Some things were done badly and quickly because of the rush, and they had to be redone."

With just a week to go until Barça-Valencia, Barça fans still don't know where the Catalans' first home game will be played . Joan Laporta's board of directors closed the transfer window with almost all of their players registered, but also without the coveted 1/1 rule established by the club's financial control regulations.

Or to put it another way, the Barça elite failed to achieve the two major goals it had promised its fans: a return to Camp Nou and economic "normality." In response to rumors of a final green light, LaLiga has come forward to categorically deny that it has approved the change of venue for the Barça-Valencia match on September 14.

According to sources from the management association, audits and technical reviews will be carried out this weekend and will continue until next week. Although the Estadi Johan Cruyff option is showing positive progress, final confirmation is pending verification of all the required conditions. The club already began the technical adaptation (especially regarding the placement of television cameras and VAR) required for the Estadi Johan Cruyff a few days ago... in case the Camp Nou fails (again).

Pressure on the City Council and workers

The stadium has a capacity of 6,000, not 15,000, as required by the football governing body, but the match will be played there, as the governing body will make an exception, as stipulated in its regulations. The Sant Joan Despí stadium is where the Barcelona reserve team, the women's team, plays, and has previously hosted the Joan Gamper Trophy against Como.

Without the Camp Nou Final Construction Certificate (CFO), a basic step toward obtaining the City Council's first occupancy permit , Barça is once again in a race against time. And fans still don't know the price of season tickets.

The opposition, with the 2026 Barça presidential elections looming, harshly criticized Laporta's board of directors for failing to meet the deadlines. Although Barça has tried to secure the final approval from City Council technicians, Jaume Collboni was blunt a few days ago about the safety requirements for reopening Camp Nou.

Project doubts

"We're all interested in the works progressing as quickly as possible, but with safety guarantees. All the decisions being made by the City Council are based on safety," a key aspect in obtaining the green light from the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police), the Fire Department, and the Urban Police. According to this newspaper, Limak and its subcontractors decided to hire more workers in late August to speed up the work... without the expected success.

" There were many access points lacking proper access and optimal workspace. There was a lot of work to be done , and although we had hoped to increase the number of workers to speed up the construction, we weren't able to add as many employees as we wanted ," said an insider working on the Camp Nou construction project . "There are many aspects of the project that were still unclear at the end of August."

Later than the competition?

"Among those doubts was the type of material, for example. For weeks, it was very clear that having the stadium ready to host 27,000 spectators against Valencia was unfeasible," explains this same source. "They told us that the priority was the VIP areas and the stairs, but the problem is that, due to excessive haste, things were done poorly and quickly , and they had to be redone," they say from inside the Camp Nou.

If Barça were unable to play the La Liga match against Valencia at Camp Nou, Limak would be singled out. "Our contractors' bid to build Camp Nou guaranteed that they could enter the stadium with 60,000 people in September 2025 , with guarantees , and with the roof completed in the summer of 2026. If they exceed that deadline, Limak will exceed what the competition promised. The culprit for the delay will not only be Barça due to the permits; the construction company Limak will be jointly responsible," says Lluís Moreno, president of the Chamber of Contractors of Works of Catalonia.