Barcelona not considering ‘behind closed doors’ Camp Nou return for Valencia game | OneFootball

Barcelona find themselves scrambling for a venue to host their first home game of the 2025/26 La Liga season against Valencia.

The match, scheduled for the weekend of 13-14 September, was planned to be the return to Spotify Camp Nou after the failed move to host the Gamper Trophy match at the stadium.

But with still no First Occupancy Licence, Barcelona are starting to believe that a return to their hallowed ground for the Valencia game will be extremely difficult.

Amidst all the speculation surrounding the stadium and the plans, reports in the media have claimed that Barcelona are considering hosting the Valencia game at Spotify Camp Nou but without any fans present.

La Liga, for its part, will not pose any opposition to the idea of a ‘behind closed doors’ game as long as everything is in order for the required personnel to be present.

No game behind closed doors

However, now, according to Mundo Deportivo, despite speculation in the media, the idea of staging the match behind closed doors at Spotify Camp Nou has been dismissed by Barcelona.

Barcelona do not want to return to Camp Nou without fans. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

It would still require authorisation for several hundred operational staff, and the Catalans do not want their official return to Camp Nou to come with empty stands.

“It would be very sad,” sources within the club insist.

So, despite the circulating speculations, Barcelona are not entertaining the idea of returning to Camp Nou without any spectators for the Valencia game.

Instead, the three alternatives that Barça are considering are hosting it at Girona’s Estadi Montilivi, or playing it as an away fixture at Valencia’s Mestalla, or moving the Post Malone concert scheduled for 12 September at Montjuic, so that it can be used for the game.

The situation is far from ideal for the La Liga champions, although they still continue to hope against hope that they are able to play the game at Spotify Camp Nou.