Leaked footage shows shocking state of Barcelona's Nou Camp as club ‘consider delaying new stadium opening'
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The Nou Camp's pitch looks far from match ready in new leaked footage
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The seats appear to the the only part of the stadium near completion
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The pitch-side area features mostly barren concrete, missing key features such as furnished dugouts
But now the club are being forced to consider beginning yet another La Liga season at their makeshift home, according to reports from
The club had previously put forward plans to return to their home by November of last year to mark their 125th anniversary.
When that deadline was missed, a target for
That date was also quickly blown through, with Barcelona forced to finish the season at their makeshift home.
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Their
The video shows a dry husk of a pitch area without grass, surrounded by exposed concrete.
There are with key features missing such as the dugout furniture.
Deeper in the stadium, wiring hangs from ceilings and building materials litter the halls.
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Empty concourses are far from finished, and bathrooms seem to have had barely any work done at all.
It is hard to imagine the bustling atmosphere amid the colours of the Blaugrana that fans were initially promised would be ready months ago.
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Exposed tubing can be seen next to the pitch, seemingly not yet connected to a wider system
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Unattached wiring hangs from the ceilings while materials are strewn about the halls
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The barren staircases feel a million miles from the bustling home of one of football's biggest giants
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Even the bathrooms seem to have made very little progress in the years since Barcelona moved out
Man Utd's Marcus Rashford 'may not be able to play for Barcelona due to registration issues'
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Dark corridors have wiring spilling from the walls
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The concourses have a skeletal, bare bones appearance
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The Irish Sun
18 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Shanghai Masters SUSPENDED mid-match with Kyren Wilson and Zhao Xintong leaving arena
THE SECOND semi-final of the Shanghai Masters was delayed by up to seven minutes after the arena scoreboard broke down. The first prestigious tournament of the new snooker season descended into farcical scenes when 3 Kyren Wilson locked horns with world champion Zhao Xintong in the second Shanghai Masters semi-final Credit: GETTY 3 Their clash was briefly suspended and both players left the arena Credit: GETTY 3 Play was suspended fans in attendance at home couldn't see the live scoreboard Credit: DISCOVERY It occurred in frame ten in the evening session in front of a packed house at the Luwan Gymnasium. Xintong, the reigning world champion, had just missed the black off its spot with the score 23-0 in his favour – he was also 5-4 up in the contest – and this forced the home fans to gasp in surprise. But as he returned to his chair, The 2024 world champion, 33, called out: 'Zhao, can we wait? Can we wait, yeah?' READ MORE IN SNOOKER When the female referee came over for a chat, the Warrior said: 'It's no good. 'I would rather wait for the scoring (to return). It's not good for the fans because the fans can't see the score.' Shall we say how long it takes?' The Chinese ref said that because the match was being broadcast on live TV it was not a given that the players could simply wait around. She then spoke to the tournament director and it was decided the two cueists would be allowed to go backstage for a quick break. Most read in Snooker SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET £50 BONUS WHEN YOU JOIN List of all-time Snooker World Champions BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year. The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport. The first World Championships ran from 1927 - with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport. Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period. 1969 - John Spencer 1970 - 1971 - John Spencer 1972 - Alex Higgins 1973 - Ray Reardon (2) 1974 - Ray Reardon (3) 1975 - Ray Reardon (4) 1976 - Ray Reardon (5) 1977 - John Spencer (2) 1978 - Ray Reardon (6) 1979 - Terry Griffiths 1980 - Cliff Thorburn 1981 - 1982 - Alex Higgins (2) 1983 - Steve Davis (2) 1984 - Steve Davis (3) 1985 - 1986 - Joe Johnson 1987 - Steve Davis (4) 1988 - Steve Davis (5) 1989 - Steve Davis (6) 1990 - 1991 - John Parrott 1992 - Stephen Hendry (2) 1993 - Stephen Hendry (3) 1994 - Stephen Hendry (4) 1995 - Stephen Hendry (5) 1996 - Stephen Hendry (6) 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - Stephen Hendry (7) 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - Mark Williams (2) 2004 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) 2005 - Shaun Murphy 2006 - Graeme Dott 2007 - John Higgins (2) 2008 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) 2009 - John Higgins (3) 2010 - Neil Robertson 2011 - John Higgins (4) 2012 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (4) 2013 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - Mark Selby (2) 2017 - Mark Selby (3) 2018 - Mark Williams (3) 2019 - 2020 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (6) 2021 - Mark Selby (4) 2022 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (7) 2023 - 2024 - 2025 - Most World Titles (modern era) 7 - Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 - Ray Reardon, Steve Davis 4 - John Higgins, Mark Selby 3 - John Spencer, Mark Williams 2 - Alex Higgins In the end, there were six-and-a-half minutes between the missed shot played by Xintong and then Wilson's attempt at a red, which he potted. As the break began, David Hendon, the respected discovery+ snooker commentator, said: 'It's no good this, is it? Let's be honest. Kyren Wilson rolls his eyes at World Snooker Championship announcer live on BBC as 'curse' is instantly brought up 'This is a big, big match, the players just want to play it. Now they are going off. 'The thing is this, it's not between frames, there has been a session that has been finished. So why isn't the scoreboard working for the next session? 'I don't think it is unreasonable to ask that. For now the players have gone off. "Hopefully, the delay won't be too long. We are looking forward to seeing how this session pans out.' Alan McManus, the former Masters champion, who was working on co-comms duty, suggested that they could continue with the ref verbally relaying the scores. Zhao, can we wait? Can we wait, yeah?" Kyren Wilson to Zhao Xintong The Scotsman, 54, said: 'It's far from ideal. You can have a contingency. 'I must confess, it's easy sitting here. I would say that whichever player has a visit, you tell them 'you are 16-0 behind'. 'And we call the break as you go. So it's easier to compute. It's not ideal.' There was then the bizarre scene of 11 red balls being scattered around the table but with two empty chairs as the issue was being looked into. During the delay, discovery+ TV producers played a montage of the top 10 shots of 2025 as they waited for the Chinese administrators to sort it out.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Marcus Rashford arrives at Barcelona with the club teetering on the edge
Dani Olmo was Barça 's marquee signing last summer, coming off the back of his role helping Spain win the Euro 2024 championship. In January, his temporary licence to play for Barça – along with the registration of another summer signing, Pau Víctor – was revoked because the club contravened La Liga's financial rules. It meant Olmo missed Barça's Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Athletic Bilbao. An extraordinary intervention by the Spanish government, however, overturned La Liga's ruling, and Olmo was permitted to play out the remainder of the season. Olmo and Víctor's ordeal spooked their team-mates. When quizzed, Raphinha, the team's Brazilian forward, captured the feeling in the dressingroom: 'Seeing the situation with Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor, if I were at another club I would think twice about signing for Barça.' Six months later, and it looks like Marcus Rashford hasn't paid heed. Rashford has left Manchester United and signed for Barça on a one-year loan deal, with an option to buy. He has not, though, been licensed by La Liga to play. Barça must clear out several players from its wage bill, or generate more income, to find space for him to register and play next season. Nico Williams (23) was Barça's preferred option to beef up their attack this summer. Williams got cold feet, though, and pulled out of a deal at the 11th hour. Personal terms were agreed. Barça were ready to pay a €58 million transfer fee, but they refused to insert an exit clause in the player's contract, at the behest of his agent, Félix Tainta, in case Barça couldn't register him. Williams signed a 10-year renewal deal with Athletic Bilbao in early July instead, leaving Rashford to step into the breach. READ MORE Since Joan Laporta returned to Barça as president in 2021, the club has played Russian roulette with La Liga's strict financial fair play regulations, pulling numerous stunts to get players registered for the start of the season. In the summer of 2021, with Lionel Messi bidding a tearful goodbye as he was shoved out the door on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, his old team-mate Gerard Piqué agreed to a pay cut so several new players, including Eric Garcia and Sergio Agüero, could be registered. There was more drama in 2022 (Ferran Torres, Jules Koundé), 2023 (Gavi, İlkay Gündoğan) and for the 2024-25 season with the high farce involving Olmo and Víctor. Each year, Barça found a way, but Laporta is running out of lives. He manages by the seat of his pants. Everything is improvised, left to the last minute. Laporta is a populist leader, who defends Barça's interests defiantly like an ultra , or he tries to disarm critics with his charm. In mid-July, for example, there was a furore over the club's new icon, Lamine Yamal, and his 18th birthday party. It drew criticism because of the presence of dwarf entertainers. Also, a Spanish model, Claudia Calvo, posted on social media claiming she was approached by the party organisers to help gather 12 women for the party, and that their criteria focused 'mainly on breast size or hair colour, whether they were blonde'. In an interview with Mundo Deportivo , Laporta was given an open goal to join in some moral outrage but purposefully rifled his shot into the stands: 'For me, he threw an 18th birthday party, and what I regret is not having gone.' Barcelona's team president Joan Laporta celebrates with the trophy after winning the Spanish Super Cup final. Photograph: Haitham Al-Shukairi/AFP via Getty Laporta cannot, however, use attempts at humour to distract from Barça's economic woes. The club's financial problems are well publicised, but the scale of their mounting debt – in comparison to other top clubs – defies belief. As it stands, Barça, according to Football Benchmark, carries the biggest debt of any club in football – €1.26 billion, ahead of Real Madrid (€1.05 billion) and Tottenham Hotspur (€937 million), although Spurs debt is long-term, owing to stadium repayments, and it's at favourable interest rates. Barça's stadium rebuild has yet to be added to its debt figure. The project was budgeted at €1.5 billion, but, according to Diego Torres at El País , it has ballooned to €2.8 billion, putting the club's total debt north of €4 billion. This is a staggering sum, about 35 times the debt it carried before the Covid pandemic, which was €112 million in 2019. This excludes the economic 'levers' Barça pulled in 2022 when it sold off assets to fund a squad rebuild, including the sale, for instance, of 25 per cent of its La Liga television income for the next 25 years to an American investment firm, Sixth Street, for €552 million, meaning its down €40 million a season in TV revenues. Barça's immediate problem is that it's leaking €100 million a season, by conservative estimates, while exiled at the city's Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc, where the team has played since 2023. Some analysts suggest Barça's matchday income is down €180 million a season from its glory days with Messi at the Camp Nou. (Real Madrid's president, Florentino Pérez, bemoans the fact that Real Madrid and Barça are no longer as attractive to commercial sponsors as they were during the days of peak Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo rivalry.) Barca's return to the Camp Nou – in keeping with Laporta's chaotic leadership style – keeps getting postponed. Originally, it was due to be in November 2024, to coincide with the club's 125th anniversary celebrations. Then May 2025, at the time of Barça's clásico match against Real Madrid, was touted. Then mid-September – at 60 per cent capacity – when the 2025-26 Champions League group stages kick off. Now it seems it will be pushed back to the new year, at the earliest. It's a ticking bomb – a debt of €4 billion, mounting interest, scrambling to refinance payments, further matchday income losses, with the 2028-29 season earmarked to close the Camp Nou stadium so its new roof can be put on, to shelter patrons from the rain, in Spain. FC Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates during preseason match. Photograph: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty With the recklessness of a gambler hanging on to the rails, Laporta is spending like there's no tomorrow. La Liga is shocked by the contract renewals Barça has unveiled over the last several months, including bumper long-term deals for Pedri, Gavi, Koundé and Lamine Yamal, whose salary has increased tenfold to approximately €40 million a season. Barça also spent €25 million in June on Joan García, the first player to cross the city's great divide from rivals Espanyol in 31 years. He's the most expensive goalkeeper signing in Barça's history, and a key personality in a simmering soap opera. Barça's plan is that García will unseat club captain, Marc André ter Stegen, who missed most of last season through injury, but Ter Stegen isn't playing ball. Ter Stegen is keen to fight for his place and is determined to play for Germany in next summer's World Cup finals, but after playing two games for Germany in the Nations League in June, he returned to preseason training in July with a repeat back injury that required surgery. Conscious that Barça were trying to nudge him towards the exit door – as the club has signed a deal with Wojciech Szczęsny, who excelled last season, as a backup goalkeeper for next season – Ter Stegen published an open letter online to Barça fans maintaining his operation will require three months of recovery time. It was seen as an act of retaliation, knowing that if he is out for four months or more, La Liga rules allow Barça to use 50-80 per cent of his salary to register other players, including García. It's a dirty war. Barça have leaked press stories about Ter Stegen refusing to travel to Milan in May for Barça's Champions League semi-final defeat to Inter because he wasn't included in the squad, and that a decision about whether to strip him of his captaincy will be made when the club returns from a preseason Asian tour. Marc-Andre ter Stegen of FC Barcelona. Photograph: Alex Caparros/Getty Barça are desperate to get Ter Stegen (33) off their books. They owe him approximately €42 million in salary payments until his contract expires in 2028. Ter Stegen, with justification, is miffed because the reason his salary is so high is because he agreed to defer payments in previous years, in a typical kicking-the-can-down-the-road manoeuvre by the club's accountants. Meanwhile, Rashford, who is on the same salary scale as Ter Stegen, is waiting in the wings. The mood music in Barcelona about Rashford has an optimistic beat. He is box office, part of a recent wave of English imports to Spain, including Jude Bellingham – who had a sensational first season at the Bernabéu – and Trent Alexander-Arnold at Real Madrid. Barça fans think of Rashford as a bet largely without risk – a season on loan, with a cheap option to buy at €30 million, a joker in the pack who could be a viable alternative, if he hits form, to the ageing Robert Lewandowski. For Rashford (27) it's a last chance saloon to prove himself in the big time, an opportunity to resurrect his career. At a personal level, it's a dream move, somewhere sunny to find his mojo again away from Manchester United's haunted house, provided he's registered to play. Brits at Barça Remarkably, Marcus Rashford is the first British player to sign for Barça since the 1980s. When he signed for Barça in 1984, Steve Archibald had the cojones to take Diego Maradona's vacant number 10 jersey because his team-mates felt, in Archibald's words, like it was 'infected'. The jersey fit – he scored on his league debut against Real Madrid in a 3-0 win that propelled the Catalan club to its first La Liga title in 11 years. Barcelona striker Gary Lineker gets in a shot as Hugo Sanchez of Real Madrid looks on. Photograph: Simon Bruty/Allsport/Getty Archibald, a fan favourite at the Camp Nou who still lives in Catalonia, got the nickname Archigoles . Mark Hughes – who joined in 1986, increasing his salary ninefold by leaving Manchester United – was called El Toro because of his bullish style of play but failed to assimilate. After scoring only four goals in 28 league games, he left through the back door on loan to Bayern Munich before returning to Old Trafford. Gary Lineker signed for Barça the same summer as Hughes but fared much better over three seasons – he learned the language, worked on his tan and loved the long lunches. It helped, too, that he hit the ground running, scoring twice on his league debut, and, memorably, a hat-trick later that first season in a gripping 3-2 win against Real Madrid's Quinta del Buitre side in front of 120,000 ecstatic Catalans at the Camp Nou.
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Man Utd in grave danger of breaking 4,321 game record dating back to before World War 2 in first Premier League match
MANCHESTER UNITED could be in danger of bringing a near 88-year record to an end this season. Advertisement 7 Ruben Amorim could be the first manager to end a near 88-year-old record at Manchester United Credit: Getty 7 United have named at least one player who has come through their academy in every first team squad since October 1937 Credit: Getty Since October 1937, United have named at least one player who has come through their academy in every first team squad. That's an unbelievable run of 4,321 GAMES . It's a point of pride for many at the club, and a tradition that has proved fruitful in years gone by with 18 of United's 20 league titles coming in that time and three European Cups. However, with things taking a turn at Old Trafford after a dismal season last term, Advertisement READ MORE IN FOOTBALL United's academy graduates are dropping like flies, with Marcus Rashford leaving for Barcelona, Jonny Evans calling time on his career and Alejandro Garnacho seemingly surplus to requirements. Meanwhile last summer saw Of course, the shining light of the academy, However, should Mainoo pick up an injury or a suspension - having misses 17 matches last season - then Amorim may find himself struggling to keep up the tradition. Advertisement Most read in Football 7 Kobbie Mainoo is the only first-team regular to have graduated from the academy Credit: Getty 7 Marcus Rashford has joined Barcelona Credit: Getty 7 Alejandro Garnacho appears set for an exit this summer Credit: Getty CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Advertisement However, naming a 39-year-old third choice goalkeeper who spent most of his career away from United in every squad may not exactly be in the spirit of the tradition. Amorim refuses to guarantee Hojlund Man Utd future amid Sesko transfer push United fans will be hoping that the emergence of youngsters like Off the back of last season, Ruben Amorim will know that his priorities are getting results and bouncing back from what was one of the worst campaigns in the club's modern history. Advertisement Relying on unproven youth prospects won't be on top of his list. United have been used to setting new record rather than bringing old ones to an end in recent times. Last season saw them They cemented a worst league campaign since the 1973-74 season - a season in which they were relegated from the top flight. Advertisement While they also equalled their record for home losses in a season, losing NINE TIMES at Old Trafford. And they also registered their worst ever 7 United fans will be banking on a new batch of youngsters such as Tyler Frediscson (left) and Harry Amass (right) to keep the tradition alive Credit: Getty 7 Advertisement
