Camp Nou (Catalan pronunciation: [kamˈnɔw], "New
Field"), sometimes called Nou Camp in English, is a football stadium in
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The stadium, located in the west of the city, has
been the home of FC Barcelona since its construction in 1957.
The Camp Nou seats 99,354[1], reduced to 96,336 in matches
organized by the UEFA,[2] making it the largest stadium in Europe and the
eleventh largest in the world in terms of capacity. It has hosted numerous
international matches at a senior level including two UEFA Champions League
finals, the most recent being in 1999. It also hosted several games, including
bronze- and gold-medal matches, for the football competition at the 1992 Summer
Olympics hosted by Barcelona. It held UEFA five-star status until 2006, when a
new rating system was introduced by UEFA.
Its official name was Estadi del FC Barcelona (FC Barcelona
Stadium) until 2000, when the club members voted to formally adopt the popular
nickname Camp Nou. Though opposed by current club president Sandro Rosell, FC
Barcelona initially approved the sale of its former training ground Mini Estadi
to remodel the stadium on its fiftieth anniversary and increase capacity to
104,000 in 2007. The plans are on hold because of the World financial crisis.
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