This money, which the team obtained from investors, will be used to rebuild the football stadium in addition to other facilities for the team.
FC Barcelona announced on Monday that it had secured 1.45 billion euros ($1.6 billion) to fund the Camp Nou redevelopment plan, with renovations to begin on June 1.
The club said in a statement that it had raised the money from deals with 20 investors who would receive compensation at intervals of between 5 and 24 years, adding that it would start repaying the loans upon completion of the work.
In addition to the football stadium, the plan called “Espai Barca” includes spending on other club facilities, including 420 million euros allocated to the “Palau Blaugrana”, the club’s stadium for the basketball and handball teams, and 20 million euros for the Johan Cruyff stadium, where the reserve team plays. Men’s and women’s teams.
The Catalan club said that it expects work on the Camp Nou to be completed by 2026. The first men’s team will play at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc before returning in the 2024-2025 season to the Camp Nou, which will not be at its full capacity yet.
Barcelona follows the example of rivals Real Madrid, who began renovating the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in 2019.
The club emerged from a financial crisis that led to losses amounting to 481 million euros in the 2020-21 season, which led to the departure of the historic top scorer for the Argentine club, Lionel Messi.
Last summer, the club raised around 750 million euros by selling 25 percent of the television rights to its La Liga matches for the next 25 years and 49 percent of Barcelona’s studios.
