Spanish media: Camp Nou renovation has cost €1.163 billion, Barcelona need to take on more debt

To complete the Camp Nou project, the financial structure will require further borrowing.

The financial progress of the Camp Nou renovation project continues to draw close market attention. According to the latest financial update submitted to Spain's National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the relevant data covers the period up to the end of the first half of 2026. The securitization fund Espai Barça, FT, established with investment from multiple investors and arranged by Goldman Sachs, has invested €1.16289 billion into the project, but the construction is currently only about halfway complete.

The stadium has reopened with the first two tiers of renovated stands completed, but the third tier still needs to be rebuilt, and that part of the work must start from scratch; the roof of the entire stadium has also not yet been installed. This means Barcelona will move back to Montjuïc again at the start of the new season. Another key part of the new Camp Nou project, the new Palau Blaugrana arena, has also seen no further progress since the club released renderings before the March election.

Compared with the previous figures as of December 31, the project's cumulative investment of €1.163 billion has increased by €153.6 million, showing that spending has remained steady as construction advances. The same update, which is available online for free, also shows that the fund's available liquidity fell from €240.03 million in December 2025 to €141.2 million, a decrease of nearly €100 million.

The reason the decline did not fully match the €153.6 million investment amount is mainly because the fund used a temporary withdrawal of €74.4 million to avoid its cash reserves being nearly exhausted. As a result, the fund paid €153.6 million in construction costs while its immediate cash decreased by only €988,200. These payments were made in installments after the relevant works were completed and certified.

As of June 30, the Espai Barça fund still had €141.2 million on its balance sheet, but the project was not yet finished. However, the project's total spending goes far beyond that amount. Since investors did not release committed capital all at once and instead provided funds gradually based on certification of completed works, Barcelona had to use its regular budget to cover funding gaps and prevent the renovation from stopping. Ferran Olivé, the financial officer of Joan Laporta's board, also acknowledged this in an interview with ARA.

With the two categories of spending combined, the project's overspending amount has approached €400 million, and the club urgently needs to take on more debt to complete the work. Camp Nou is a core asset that Barcelona expects to use to generate revenue both now and in the future. At the next members' assembly expected to be held at the end of this month, the club will ask members to approve an additional €500 million in debt, including €210 million to be issued in the form of bonds.

The new Camp Nou has contributed €56 million toward interest payments. At present, the €1.474 billion raised through the securitization fund since 2023 is no longer enough by itself to complete the stadium construction. The first issuance at the end of May 2023 injected €987 million, followed by an additional €424 million in nominal funding and €84 million in subordinated loans.

Total financing is close to €1.5 billion, of which €1.163 billion has already been used to pay certified construction costs, accounting for 78.9% of total financing; €141.2 million remains on hand, accounting for 9.6%; another €42.49 million remains in other assets and receivables, accounting for 2.9%; and €127.52 million has been used for interest payments, fees, foreign exchange differences and setup costs, accounting for 8.6%. As of mid-2026, Espai Barça's debt and asset structure corresponds precisely to these proportions.

CNMV documents also show that the fund's debt repayment performance is normal. As of the end of June 2026, overdue rates, doubtful asset rates and bad debt rates were all 0%, meaning Barcelona is repaying according to the established plan. Liquidity is continuously being converted into construction spending, while income generated from securitized assets—the fund records them as future receivables related to the stadium's future operations—is used to cover the costs of issued debt.

The fund has recovered €55.93 million in such asset income from the club, exceeding the €45.52 million in interest payments made during the same period. In other words, since reopening, Camp Nou has contributed nearly €56 million toward servicing debt interest. However, regarding the principal, the club has not repaid a single euro so far.