Barcelona Attractions

Camp Nou Barcelona

The Camp Nou is better known to all football fans as the Nou Camp Stadium, home of FC Barcelona. The capacity of the stadium today is 98,772 making it Europe's largest stadium. The capacity has varied however at the Nou Camp, and in 1982 when Spain hosted the World Cup the ground capacity was 120,000.

Camp Nou has been given a 5 star UEFA rating, which allows International games, and Champion League finals to be held at the stadium. The most recent final was in 1999 when Manchester United won, in the last dramatic minutes of the game.

FC Barcelona has not always played at the Camp Nou, they moved from the Camp de Les Corts in 1957. The club had decided that in the 1950s they had out grown their old stadium. The previous ground had a capacity of 60,000 and the clubs membership had outgrown this number. A decision was made to move, and increase the new stadiums capacity.

The club employed the Spanish architects Francesc Mitjans-Miro, Lorenzo Garcia Barbon and Josep Soteras Mauri. Work on the new stadium began in the year 1954 and was finished by 1957.

The first game to be played in the Camp Nou was, against Polish opposition in the form of Legia Warsaw. In front of a crowd of just over 90,000 FC Barcelona won the game 4-2 in a impressive fashion. Many fans wept as they realised, that this was a momentous occasion, for them and Europe. The Camp Nou is seen in many football fans eyes, as one, if not the greatest of Europe's football stadia.

The stadium today is a major part of a tourist, things to see when visiting Barcelona.Within the stadium facilities include a shop, training pitches, chapel for the players, museum El Del Barca.

The museum was opened in 1984, and receives over 1 million visitors a year. Within the museum fans can see over 1,420 pieces of memorabilia regarding the history of FC Barcelona. The stadium also holds in the summer major concerts, and events. Those who have been lucky enough to play at this fabulous venue include Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra and Spains Julio Iglesias.

The stadiums most celebrated visitor however, came in November of 1982, when John Paul II celebrated mass in front of a congregation of 120,000 worshippers. The Camp Nou is more than just a great football stadium, and should be visited when you are next in Barcelona.