(AP) — Barcelona will play its first home La Liga game of the season at a 6,000-capacity venue as it waits to get permits to reopen its renovated Camp Nou stadium.
Barcelona said late Tuesday it will use the Estadi Johan Cruyff, which typically hosts the Barcelona women’s team and men’s reserve and youth squads, when it plays Valencia on Sunday.
“The club is working intensively to obtain the necessary administrative permits for the opening of the Spotify Camp Nou in the coming weeks. For this reason, the match will instead be played at the Estadi Johan Cruyff,” the club said.
“FC Barcelona would like to thank its members and fans for their understanding and support during such a complex yet exciting process as the return to the new Spotify Camp Nou.”
Barcelona played the last two seasons at the city’s publicly owned Olympic Stadium.
It’s not the first time a Spanish giant has played at an unusually small stadium. Real Madrid used the similarly sized Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium at its training center in the 2020-21 season, when attendances were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and renovation work was underway at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Barcelona starts its Champions League campaign away to Newcastle on Sept. 18 and doesn’t have a home European game until defending champion Paris Saint-Germain visits Oct. 1.
