Barcelona executive Joan Sentelles has confirmed the club are hopeful of playing their first game in the renovated Camp Nou when Athletic Club come to town on Nov. 22.
Having already been granted permission to return with a drastically reduced capacity, Barcelona are awaiting the award of license 1B, which will allow them to open up another stand and host 45,401 fans—similar to the capacity of their temporary home, Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
In their bid to secure that license, Barcelona held a public training session at Camp Nou on Friday, hosting 23,000 fans in what was the first real test of the stadium. If those assessing the renovation works are satisfied, permission to open up more of the ground could soon follow.
“Our goal is to have it ready in time for the match against Athletic Club,” Sentelles, who is overseeing the renovations, confirmed to .
“As soon as we obtain the 1B license, we’ll open the Lateral Stand, which will already give us a capacity similar to the Olympic Stadium. At that point, it wouldn’t make sense to continue playing there—all our matches will be here.”
As far as the long-term goal for the future, Sentelles added: “The goal is to have the entire stadium open to 62,000 spectators before the end of the year.”
