Champions League football to return to Barcelona’s Camp Nou for Eintracht Frankfurt visit

Barcelona have announced they will host Champions League football at the Camp Nou for the first time in over three years with the visit of Eintracht Frankfurt on December 9.

The match could also be the first time away supporters visit the renovated stadium, with sources close to the club telling The Athletic that — per UEFA’s requirements — Frankfurt will be offered an allocation of 5 percent of the useable capacity (around 2,300), after adjustments are made to the stadium entrances.

The decision comes after the Catalan club confirmed on Monday they will return to Camp Nou for the first time to host Athletic Club in La Liga on Saturday. Both matches will see a reduced capacity of 45,401 spectators, under half of the 105,000 the stadium will hold when it is finished.

Barca’s last Champions League game at the Camp Nou was a 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the group stage in October 2022. They last hosted European football at the ground in February 2023, with a 2-2 draw against Manchester United in the first leg of the Europa League round-of-32.

The league match against Athletic Club will be their first at the home ground for 909 days after starting their €1.5billion (£1.3bn; $1.8bn) refurbishment project more than two years ago. The ground was opened to the public for the first time earlier this month for an open first-team training session in front of around 23,000 paying fans.

Since the project started, Barcelona have played their home games at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Montjuic over the course of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Their first two home matches of the 2025-26 La Liga season, however, were played at the 6,000-capacity Estadi Johan Cruyff at their training ground.

When construction company Limak was hired by Barca in January 2023, the refurbished Camp Nou was slated to be finished in June 2026.

More recently, Barca figures have mentioned the summer of 2027 as a target but it remains unclear when the ground will be finished.

The plan is to complete the stadium’s roof after the stadium is back to full capacity, with that installation now expected to be completed in the summer of 2028 at the earliest.