World Sports: UEFA approves the Champions League match between Barcelona and Eintracht Frankfurt to be played at Camp Nou

It has been 1,140 days since the 0-3 defeat against Bayern on October 26, 2022. The Champions League will return to the Nou Camp. According to Mundo Deportivo, UEFA has given Barcelona the green light to play Frankfurt at the Camp Nou instead of the Olympic Stadium.

Previously, there was still suspense about the venue for this Champions League, because Article 25.08 of the competition rules prohibited the change of stadiums during the "group stage". However, UEFA approved Barcelona's application: Barcelona said that the team did not want to gain an advantage by choosing a stadium larger than its regular home stadium. This time it was just returning to its home stadium after a period of absence due to force majeure factors such as renovation projects.

Relevant mediation was launched several months ago. The good relationship between Laporta and UEFA president Ceferin has previously led to a permission: UEFA agreed that Barcelona would play away games at the beginning of this season's Champions League to buy an extra two weeks to renovate the Olympic Stadium after the summer concert, although Barcelona's original goal was to start the Champions League campaign at the Nou Camp.

Now, Camp Nou is qualified to host Champions League matches after the City Hall granted a "first game occupancy permit" for Phase 1 B on Monday (allowing Barcelona's side stands to open for the game against Bilbao).

UEFA has required that spectators must be present in the TV broadcast area and that an area must be reserved for visiting team fans (accounting for 5% of the total capacity). UEFA has approved the request after receiving documents submitted by Barcelona. According to reports, UEFA inspectors will visit the Nou Camp Stadium on November 29 to conduct an on-site inspection of Barcelona’s match against Alaves, and conduct an on-site inspection of all on-site operations of this second La Liga match at the Nou Camp Stadium.