Camp Nou
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Barcelona Camp Nou Stadium |
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Higher and higher, bigger and better, this could
have been the motto of the great Barcelona
Camp Nou stadium, which was opened on
September the 24th, 1957 and cost the
members of the club not a small sum of
money – 66 million pecets. Currently
it is the second largest stadium in the Europe.
Only Estadio da Lush, the stadium which
belongs to the Portuguese club Benfica,
is larger than Camp Nou. Someone said
that sport is the acceptable war substitute, and Barcelona,
the capital of Catalonia, has at all times been the cradle
of the eager Catalan nationalism. Founded in 1899,
Barcelona Football Club overgrew its old Les Corts
in 1940's and in 1957 it moved to the new stadium,
which was built among gardens and vegetable gardens
in the western part of the city. On the day of grand
opening, match between the hosts and Legia from
Warsaw took place. And at that time the club
already matured the idea of extending the capacity
of the stadium to 150.000 places. In 1971 adjoining
the Camp Nou covered gymnasium (Palau Blaugrana)
was opened. It was occupied by the club`s basketball,
handball and volleyball teams. In the neighbouring Ice Palace
hockey tournaments are held. There is one more smaller
stadium on the opposite from the main field side. One can
get there through the steep passage, hanging over street
like a bridge. This small stadium, opened in 1982,
is called Mini Estad (The Small Stadium). Barça`s
daughter team from the second Spanish division
and the best amateur club train and play here.
The first prominent reconstruction of the main
stadium took place in the beginning of 1980's.
The third circle of the stand was added, and
this allowed the capacity to be enlarged,
and by the beginning of the World Cup 1982 Camp Nou
could seat 120.000 spectators. 85.000 spectators witnessed
how Belgium offended the title holder – Argentina , winning
the opening match. (1:0).
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Camp Nou is a source of
immense pride to Barcelona’s
supporters not only because of the
sheer size of the stadium, but also due
to the architectural design. The modern
facilities available here make it by far
the best football venue in Europe. The
stadium is so well regarded that UEFA
gave it a five–star rating’ a category reserved for the very few.
Camp Nou Stadium of Barcelona
seems like the centre of the world. Climbing up the top, seeing the stadium
from there a person decided that any other team which
dares to meet Barça will repent to it when it goes out the
tunnel. The stadium is nearly as big as a city. The
capacity of it is exactly 120.000, which is exact
population of Norwich city that belongs to England.
Today even works of enlarging the stadium are
continued. “We sometimes understand that the
spectators watching the match at the top of
the stadium need for a telescope and at the
moment we have to be stopped the building
of the grandstands”, the authorities of the club
complain. According to Catalan nation, Camp Nou Stadium
is not just a football temple. It is also a single place
where a nation lived on for years.
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