Barcelona eye Sevilla clash as target to welcome 62,000 fans to Camp Nou

Barcelona have been forced to shelve plans to raise Spotify Camp Nou’s capacity to 62,000 for next week’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Atlético Madrid after the City Council was unable to issue the First Occupancy Licence (phase 1C) in time, club sources confirmed on Tuesday.

The administrative hold-up means the reigning cup holders will again be limited to 45,401 spectators when they attempt to overturn a daunting 4-0 deficit from the first leg at the Metropolitano. Club officials had lobbied intensively to have the North Stand cleared for the visit of Diego Simeone’s side, but procedural delays have pushed the approval beyond the 28 January deadline.

Barça’s stadium redevelopment team, working in tandem with municipal technicians, had targeted the Atlético fixture as the first high-profile test of an expanded arena. With that objective now missed, attention has shifted to the La Liga meeting with Sevilla, pencilled in for mid-March. Depending on Champions League scheduling, that match could be played on either Saturday or Sunday, and the club remain optimistic that the 62,000 threshold will be reached by then.

Parallel to the licensing process, the club are exploring ways to amplify the match-day atmosphere inside the ground. Negotiations with organised fan groups over the proposed Grada d’Animació in the lower tier of the South Stand are continuing, with the aim of clustering the most vocal supporters to generate maximum noise during the team’s pursuit of silverware on multiple fronts.