He Barcelona has failed again a season further away from the Spotify Camp Nou. In its second season occupying the Olympic stadium in Montjuicthe Barça club has grown in number of subscribers, but is still very far from the head of the EA Sports League. In fact, it is the eleventh Spanish team in season tickets distributed for the current football campaign, with a figure of 22,600.
Furthermore, if we include in this classification of subscribers by club the Second Divisionhe Barça It is the fifteenth team with the most subscribers in Spain. Some surreal figures for the second largest football power in our country. The setback of last season’s 16,000 seats is behind us, but with this small increase it is clear that the loss of social mass is not explained only by the lower capacity of Montjuic (49,000 seats).
Despite having 50,000 fewer seats than its usual stadium, the Lluís Companys It is the fifth with the most capacity Firstjust below Santiago Bernabéu, Metropolitan, Benito Villamarin and San Mames. Furthermore, it so happens that the only ones it surpasses are teams whose capacity in their stadium is much smaller than that of Montjuic.
The culé partner has left his team aside for obvious reasons and the main one is sports. And the fact is that Barcelona has stopped having that squad that reigned in Spain and that has been able to raise up to four Champions League in the 21st century. Now, to find the most recent success you have to go back to the 2023 League.
A critical situation
This decrease in the number of subscribers temporarily coincides with the economic drought of a club that barely has the resources to register its only signing of the summer, Dani Olmowhich they could lose starting in January if they do not comply with the 1:1 rule. Filling Montjuic was not easy last year, but the current ticket price doesn’t help either, since the cheapest price for matches like the one played on matchday 2 against Athletic Club It was 102 euros and in a background where visibility is quite poor.
It is true that Joan Laporta He has had the difficult task of leading that transfer to Montjuic, but the results have ended up being much worse than expected. The hobbies of real Madrid (60,707), Atlético de Madrid (60,285), Betis (50,741), Athletic (43,649), Seville (39,500), Royal Society (38,000), Valencia (37,000), Spanish (26,032) and Valladolid (24,000) have gained more loyalty than Barça, which has understandably turned its back on its team in a critical situation.
The advantage for those who have renewed their subscription or for new registrations is that they will have priority when Barcelona returns to the Spotify Camp Nou, something that, seeing the real state of the works, seems quite distant. Although the club estimates that the return will take place at the end of the year, the appearance of the Blaugrana fiefdom does not offer any guarantee that this deadline will be met.
In a good football situation, with four out of four at the start of the league, Laporta continues to have many open fronts. And the decrease in the social mass could end up being a very heavy burden facing the end of his mandate, which we remember ends in 2025 after proclaiming himself president of Barça for the second time in March 2021.
Reason for opposition against Laporta
His main opponent in those elections, Victor Fontcharged against the current board for this same reason in an appearance before the media that took place this Monday: «Barça is the 11th team in subscribers. We have to The Palms and Spanish past. The rocks, broken. And no will to fix this. For those of us who work in the football environment, the weight of institutions has plummeted. “We have an unacceptable situation.”
Even so, the club wants to use the return to the Spotify Camp Nou as a lifeline and they plan to do so in about three months. Barcelona wants to play there against Atalantaon January 29, a date for which it seems that it will be impossible for them to move to their traditional stadium. Added to this is the impediment of UEFAwhich does not allow the change of venue during the same phase of the maximum continental competition, except for very justified exceptions.
Barcelona wants to return to its stadium as soon as possible
In its article 25.08 of the regulations of the Champions League 2024-25, the UEFA is very clear regarding playing home games in different stadiums: «In the group stage, a club must, in principle, play all its competition matches in the same stadium. Additionally, any change of stadium between the qualifiers and the group stage must be agreed in advance with UEFA.
Therefore, Barça, according to the regulations, must play the four games of the league phase that it plays at home (Young Boys, Bayern Munich, Stade de Brest and Atalanta) in Montjuic. It would be in view of the qualifiers, which would begin at the earliest between February 11 and 12, with the dispute of the play off of access to the round of 16, when they could already negotiate with UEFA the change of stadium.
