Barcelona’s return to the Camp Nou stadium has been postponed once again after the Spanish champions announced on Thursday that the stadium will not be ready to host their upcoming UEFA Champions League match against Greek side Olympiacos.

The Catalan giants had hoped to obtain city council approval in time for their third Champions League match scheduled for October 21, but failed to do so. Consequently, the match will be held at the Olympic Stadium, where Barcelona lost 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in the continental competition on Wednesday.

Barcelona stated, “The club continues to work on obtaining the necessary administrative permits to open Camp Nou in the coming days.”

After more than two years of renovation work, the famous stadium is still not ready to host matches, even with a reduced capacity.

The final expected capacity of Camp Nou is 105,000 spectators. It was originally scheduled to open in November 2024, but the work has been delayed several times.

The city fire department reported that there are still issues with evacuation routes, along with other safety concerns.

The team, coached by German Hansie Flick, played its away matches during the first three weeks of the La Liga season to allow enough time to prepare the stadium for reopening. Then Valencia and Getafe hosted matches at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, which holds six thousand spectators, next to their training ground.

Barcelona estimates the cost of rebuilding Camp Nou at 1.5 billion euros (1.75 billion dollars).