Barcelona board approves loan for Espai project

Barcelona’s board members have approved the €1.5 billion loan for the Espai Barcelona project that plans to renovate and expand the capacity of Camp Nou. 

“This is a historic opportunity, we have to take advantage and we’ll do it well,” Laporta told members before the vote.

“I don’t want to be apocalyptic, I’m just putting you up to date,” he said.

“Risk? The risk is very calculated and members will be punctually informed of all movements.”

405 members of the Barcelona board voted in favour of the project, while 21 voted against it. Joan Laporta’s board has a clear majority and are going ahead with the project to go ahead and rebuild the current stadium to make it possible to hold more people. 

The meeting was suspended midway and was resumed yesterday, with the votes mostly in favour of the motion at the end of the meeting. The president plans on moving 12,000 first-tier members to the third tier. He also explained that work had already been done to redo 5% of the project. 

The president also highlighted how their rivals have made upgrades to their stadium, which has resulted in them faring better off. Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu is the most recent example of that very fact. 

Barcelona will host their arch-rivals Real Madrid today at Camp Nou, and the game will be attended by fans for the first time in over a year.