Club Facilities

Camp Nou

The home of FC Barcelona

Capacity	98600
First match at the Camp Nou	24.09.1957 ( FC Barcelona - Legia Warsaw, 4-2)
First goalscorer at the Camp Nou	Eulogio Martínez
Architect	Francesc Mitjans Miró

The Background (1948-1954)
Even though the first voices to call for the construction of a new stadium were heard in 1948, it was the huge expectation surrounding the arrival of Hungarian star Ladislau Kubala (June 1950) that suggested that Barca had outgrown the Les Corts stadium. The Old Ground had been founded back in 1922, and after several extensions, was able to hold 60,000 spectators, a figure that was practically impossible to increase any more. So, on September 19, 1950, FC Barcelonas Board of Directors, presided by Agusti Montal Galobart, purchased a plot of land next to the Maternitat, fairly close to the site of the old Les Corts ground.

A troublesome period followed, when the new stadiums commission (February 9, 1951) changed their minds about the site of the project, opting for an area at the top of the Diagonal. Negotiations with the Administrators bore little fruit and never reached a definitive agreement. The issue was left on hold until Francesc Miro-Sans was elected president of FC Barcelona (November 14, 1953). The new president was particularly insistent that the project for a new stadium should go ahead immediately and one of the first things he did after coming to power (February 18, 1954) was to situate the new site on the land purchased in 1950 and not at the top of the Diagonal. So it was that, on March 28, in front of 60,000 fans, he laid the first stone of the Camp Nou, watched by the president of the Civil Government, Felipe Acedo Colunga, and blessed by the Archbishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego.

The Construction (1954-1957)
The project for the new stadium was entrusted to the architects Francesc Mitjans Miro, Miro-Sans cousin, and Josep Soteras Mauri, under collaboration with Lorenzo Garciá Barbon. More than a year later, on July 11, 1955, the Club handed the construction rights to INGAR SA, who put forward an estimate for 66,620,000 pesetas for completion of the building in 18 months. However, the eventual cost was considerably higher than the original proposal, reaching 288 million pesetas, a figure that had to met by successive emissions of obligatory mortgages (100 million pesetas) and bank loans (60 million pesetas). This was enough to finance the construction of the stadium, but the Club would be repaying that debt for several years afterwards.

The Inauguration (1957)
The date for the inauguration of the Estadi was set at September 24, 1957. An organising committee was formed to plan a special opening ceremony, which was presided by two people: Aleix Buxeres (public relations) and Nicolau Casaus (organisation). On September 21 in the Barcelona Councils Assembly Room, José Maria de Cossío, a member of the Real Academia Española, read the proclamation that officially opened the celebrations of the inauguration of the new stadium. That September weekend, members of different sections of the Club appeared in a series of international sports meetings at the Les Corts stadium and the Palau Municipal dEsports. Those important events were enough to inspire the renowned poet Josep M. de Sagarra to write a sonnet entitled Blau Grana, and the creation of the FC Barcelona Stadiums hymn with lyrics by Josep Badia to the music of Adolf Cabané.

On that day of the Mercè festival in 1957, the city was clothed in the colours of the Club. The inauguration began with a solemn mass and the blessing of the stadium by the Archbishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego. Immediately after, the Gracienc Choir sung Händel`s Hallelujah and enthroned the image of the Mother of God of Montserrat. Several dignitaries from the worlds of sports and politics sat in the presidents box alongside Francesc Miró-Sans, including José Solís Ruiz, general secretary for the Ministry of Movement; José Antonio Elola Olaso, president of the National Sports Delegation; Felipe Acedo, Barcelonas civil governor, and Josep M. de Porcioles, mayor of Barcelona.

The terraces of the Camp Nou, still not quite complete, were opened to more than 90,000 people, as representatives of all of the football clubs of Catalonia paraded across the field, along with members of the sections of the Club, Barcelona fan clubs and different teams belonging to the Club. The aforementioned hymn was then sung, followed, at four thirty in the afternoon, by the inaugural match. FC Barcelona played a Polish team from Warsaw. The Barcelona line-up in the new stadium was formed by: Ramallets, Olivella, Brugué, Segarra, Vergés, Gensana, Basora, Villaverde, Martínez, Kubala and Tejada. In the second half the Barcelona eleven was the following: Ramallets, Segarra, Brugué, Gràcia, Flotats, Bosch, Hermes, Ribelles, Tejada, Sampedro and Evaristo. The game ended with Barcelona winning 4-2 with goals from Eulogio Martínez (who, in the 11th minute scored the first ever goal at the Camp Nou), Tejada, Sampedro and Evaristo. During the break, 1,500 members of the Agrupació Cultural Folklòrica de Barcelona danced an enormous sardana and 10,000 doves were set free. And so began a new era in the history of FC Barcelona.

Car Insurance | Personal Loans | Lingerie | Credit Cards | Remortgages