Barcelona aiming to make €160m from VIP boxes of revamped Camp Nou

FC Barcelona has put 62 VIP boxes up for sale in the Camp Nou stadium, which is being renovated in time for the start of the 2026-2027 season, with the club aiming to make €160m (£138m/$173m).

Despite the later completion date the planned 105,000-seat stadium, an upgrade on the current 98,000, is scheduled to open in November 2025 and operate at 60% capacity.

It will have 115 VIP boxes, with 62 of those on sale for companies while the other 53 will be for special events.

The club has put up the 62 for sale for the next ten years and are said to have already found buyers for some.

It is aiming to make €100m from first payments this July and another €60m next summer. The money could reportedly be used to help continue to finance the stadium’s renovation.

Barcelona has been facing deep financial problems for several years but since Joan Laporta returned for a second spell as club president in March 2021, the club has been using creative solutions to balance the books while remaining competitive on the pitch.

These have been known as “levers” and the pricy VIP boxes are the latest of these.

The club’s most recent accounts, for the 2022-23 season, claim a net profit of €304m even after the summer of 2022 brought a 39 per cent annual increase in staffing costs. This raised the wage bill to €639m – the biggest in world football.

The profit was made possible by including a €400m deal with investment firm Sixth Street which, as a non-transfer source of income, should not be reported according to UEFA’s club financial control body.

In November last year, Turkish construction company Limak Construction received a €1m bonus after completing the first phase of the Camp Nou revamp ahead of schedule.