Spanish LaLiga football club Barcelona has broken ground on its new training stadium, which will be named after legendary player and manager, Johan Cruyff.
The Johan Cruyff Stadium will serve as the centrepiece of Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva training complex. The facility is expected to be built within 14 months.
To mark the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday (Thursday), a clear plastic time capsule filled with a range of objects was placed in the ground on the stadium site. Objects included a signed football from the current first team and a small statue of Cruyff.
As well as being a training base for the first team, the stadium will serve as the home of Barcelona B, the Barcelona women’s team and the U19 side.
The club announced in March that the stadium would be named after Cruyff, who passed away last year following a battle with lung cancer.
Yesterday’s ceremony was attended by Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as members of Cruyff’s family, including his widow, Danny.
The laying of the first stone on the stadium site was marked with a video depicting what the stadium will look like. Bartomeu said the date of the ceremony – 14/9/17 – was chosen in homage to Cruyff, who wore the number 14 and 9 jerseys during his playing career.
Jordi Moix, commissioner of the Espai Barca complex, said: “It is a special moment. The Johan Cruyff Stadium will have a capacity of 6,000 and will cost €12m. It will be inaugurated in 14 months. We would have liked it to be quicker but building a stadium is a long and laborious process. The stadium is an example of the work we have put in in the last few years and I invite you all to take part.
“There are a lot of us blaugranas and we have had differences but there is a common line which has made us strong. We have a strong heritage that links us to the land and it has allowed us to create the club we have today. The Johan Cruyff Stadium is an example of this.”
Barcelona hosts this year’s TheStadiumBusiness Design & Development Summit 2017 (27-28-29 November). Tour the new Johan Cruyff Stadium as part of our exclusive Espai Barça project briefing on 27 November. More details here.
IMAGE: FC Barcelona/ Nationaal Archief
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