How It Feels to Be a Barcelona Fan With No Home – “We Have to Trust Laporta”

Alright, Barcelona fans, you may have Lamine Yamal, but do you have a stadium?

Use this the next time someone claims the 18-year-old prodigy makes Barca the best in the world. It’s a time-sensitive dig, or at least, that’s what we hope so. Because seeing Barcelona away from the Camp Nou for over two years has been tough. As neutrals, watching Culers fill 99,000 seats was always a sight to behold.

Since 2023, Barcelona have been forced to play at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, 7km from the Camp Nou. But before the 2025-26 season kicked off, that ground was dropped from the plans, too. Joan Laporta, President of the defending La Liga champions, has promised a Camp Nou return countless times since work began. Each time, though, delays followed, frustrating sponsors and disappointing fans.

At Eleventh Minute, where we aim to make every fan’s voice heard, we reached out to one of our earliest followers, Arnesh Ghosh, a Barcelona fan since 2010. Back when the ‘Vuvuzelas’ of the South Africa World Cup blasted through his old TV, he watched what he still calls a Barcelona-dominated Spanish team. A random La Liga weekend, a few weeks later, gave him a glimpse of Messi, scoring alien-like numbers as if it were a joke.

For 13 years since, he’s tuned in to hear the iconic ‘Cant de Barça’ echo around the Camp Nou. So, when it was announced in 2022 that the iconic ground would be partially demolished and rebuilt into a futuristic marvel, he was cautiously excited. The last game at the old stadium, on May 28, 2023, against Mallorca, was an emotional watch.

“I knew it was going to be the same stadium, but for some reason, it felt like a part of Barcelona was changing forever on that day. I’m not saying I wasn’t happy for the future,” Arnesh said.

Camp Nou, Barcelona

Renovated stadiums look incredible. Ask Villareal fans about La Ceramica, or Real Madrid fans about the Santiago Bernabeu. They’ll claim it’s the best. But it never quite feels the same.

The New Camp Nou (fine, Spotify Camp Nou, just once, for the sponsors) promises plenty. Expanded capacity from 99,000 to 105,000, a full roof, a 360-degree screen, new hospitality lounges, and tourist attractions. Laporta couldn’t wait to show it off. Demolition began in May 2023, with the re-opening set for November 9, 2024, Barcelona’s 125th anniversary.

“I knew it was not going to happen; it felt too early,” Arnesh admitted. “But at the same time, we had to believe what Laporta said. It’s not easy to speed up a project as big as this, but they were trying.”

Meanwhile, Barcelona was killing it on the field. Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Yamal were scoring goals for fun, while an Inigo Martinez-led backline trolled attackers with a ridiculous offside trap. The 4-0 win at the Bernabeu and seven-goal routings against Valladolid and Valencia brought back the echoes of the Messi era. Except, of course, it was happening at a municipal stadium that never quite felt like home.

Asked about Montujic, Arnesh said bluntly, “It was good. Not bad, but the emotions weren’t the same. You keep telling yourself that yes, we’re returning to Camp Nou soon.”

Laporta understood the frustration, which is probably why he declared the Champions League knockouts would return to the Camp Nou, even if it meant opening the stands partially, like Madrid’s Bernabeu during construction. But once again, deadlines passed.

The broken promises piled up. First, the 2025 Joan Gamper Trophy in August was meant to be the reopening. Then, a La Liga match against Valencia. Both ended up being played at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, home to Barca’s women’s team, which has a capacity of 6,000.

As things stand, Barca look set to spend the 2025-26 season there, unless Montujic opens its doors again. Right now, scheduling conflicts and an expired deal prevent them from playing at the 55,000-capacity ground.

“We have to believe what Laporta tells us,” Arnesh said.

And most Barcelona fans do. After Bartomeu’s chaotic reign and humiliations like Eintracht Frankfurt fans ‘hijacking’ seats at the Camp Nou by scalping season tickets in a Europa League fixture, there is finally hope again. Between 2019 and 2024, Barca won the La Liga just once, saw Messi leave for PSG, and endured multiple European exits. To bounce back as Spain’s best team by some margin feels like a revival.

“To come from that and become the best team in Spain again was brilliant. Laporta got Flick, sold levers, and got us out of the immediate financial mess. What if he doesn’t deliver the stadium? We’ll get there at one point or another.”

Rumors are now circling around an October 2 return to the Camp Nou for Barca’s first UCL home fixture of the season against PSG. And footage from inside the ground seems to suggest that there’s good progress, at-least for a chunk of 25-30,000 fans to make their way into the game. Will that be the case, or are we about to see a gargantuan European clash played in front of just a few thousand fans?

“I just want us to win,” concluded Arnesh when asked that question.

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