March 28th 1954, as Camp de Les corts had no room of expansion FC Barcelona decided to lay the first brick of this wonderful and iconic colosseum known as the Camp Nou.
Camp Nou was built between 1954 and 1957, and officially opened on the 24th of September 1957 with a match between FC Barcelona and a selection of players from the city of Warsaw.
It was first called Estadi del FC Barcelona, but got soon referred to as Camp Nou.
Ladislau Kubala, one of the finest players ever to appear for FC Barcelona, was one of the main reason for the establishment of Camp Nou. It is often said that his signing finally convinced the board that there was no other option than the construction of a new ground. Kabula attracted masses and acted as an impetus to the construction of a larger stadium.
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Construction Of Camp Nou
The architects were Francesc Mitjans and Josep Soteras, with the collaboration of Lorenzo García-Barbón.
In May 1972, Camp Nou hosted its first European Cup Winners Cup final between Rangers and Dynamo Moscow.
The 1970s marked a turning point for Barcelona with the signing of a new player, Johan Cruyff, in 1973. Electronic scoreboards were installed in the stadium two years later.
In anticipation of the 1982 FIFA World Cup the stadium underwent another expansion.
The expansion took the total seating capacity to 71,731, and the standing capacity to 49,670, taking the total capacity to 121,401. On March 5th 1986 FC Barcelona’s record attendance was set of 120,000. It’s the second largest stadium of the world. Camp Nou is also the home ground for the Catalan nation team.
Camp Nou hosted its first game on 24th September, 1957 with 90,000 spectators. But neither the club nor the fans thought that it would become the seat of Catalan football in the future. Since then it has hosted some matches in the last couple of decades that will remain etched in footballing history forever.
Some of them are as follows-
Some Memorable Matches In Camp Nou
Barcelona 4-0 AC Milan, Camp Nou, March 12, 2013
Barcelona have a habit of making history at the Camp Nou. They became the first team to overturn a four goal deficit in the Champions League era. Messi hitting two in the first-half before David Villa and Jordi Alba struck one apiece to progress to the quarter-finals.
Manchester United 2-1 Bayern Munich, Camp Nou, May 26, 1999
When even a referee enjoys a match, you know it has been good. Pierluigi Collina considers this one of the most memorable he ever refereed. Bayern Munich led until the 91st minute. What happened next went down in football history. A curling corner came in from David Beckham. Ryan Giggs shot was poor but then it fell to Teddy Sheringham, who converted. Less than 30 seconds after the restart, United won another corner. This time it was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer poked the ball home, confirming a sensational comeback.
Barcelona 3-2 Valencia, Camp Nou, June 17, 2001
There are moments when it seems the footballing gods are simply on your side. Barcelona looked like they were on the cusp of missing out on Champions League football in 2001. Then Rivaldo intervened. His hat-trick against Valencia was sublime. It proved to be his last game for Barca. Not a bad way to bow out from Camp Nou.
Barcelona 6-1 PSG, Camp Nou, March 8, 2017
The epic to end all epics. The script of Barcelona vs PSG had so many twist and turns. The 4-0 lead from the first-leg seemed insurmountable. Edinson Cavani’s goal seemed to kill any hope of a comeback. Not to worry – Neymar curled a free-kick into the net, slammed in a penalty and set up the winner, all in the space of seven minutes. Football has probably never seen a game like this before.