FIFA Inspectors visit the Camp Nou

01.09.2010 13:03

FIFA Inspectors visit the Camp Nou

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The Camp Nou is one of the main attractions in the joint Spain-Portugal bid to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals. A team of FIFA inspectors visited the stadium this Wednesday to check out the facilities.

Spain and Portugal have submitted a joint proposal to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals with the Camp Nou as one of the key stadiums. A FIFA team of six inspectors, headed by the president of the Chilean FA, Harold Mayne-Nicholls, visited the stadium on Wednesday morning accompanied by representatives of the Iberian Candidature to check whether the facilities meet the requirements of World football’s governing body.

The inspectors were shown round the Camp Nou by Barça Board members Javier Bordas and Josep Ramon Vidal-Abarca, Director of Football Raül Sanllehí, the Club’s representative to UEFA Amador Bernabeu and the president of the Catalan FA, Jordi Casals.

A thorough inspection

The visit lasted an hour and took in the entire stadium, finishing with a group photo in the Presidential Box. The inspectors all received a Barça shirt stamped with their own names.

A good impression

Josep Ramon Vidal-Abarca, Board member responsible for the stadium, told us that the inspectors had been impressed by what they had seen: “They seemed very pleased. They liked the facilities very much and were particularly impressed by the visitors’ changing rooms. They also paid special attention to the pitch. Hosting matches in the World Cup finals would be very important for the Club as it has a world-wide impact”.

Four stadiums in four cities

Apart from the Camp Nou, the FIFA inspectors are also visiting the Santiago Bernabeu (Madrid) the Do Dragao stadium (Porto) and the Estadio Do Sport (Lisbon). They are particularly keen to check out the capacity for both spectators and the media, safety features and the quality of the facilities.

In the addition to the stadiums themselves, the inspectors are also visiting key facilities in the host cities. In the case of Barcelona, they took in the Catalonia Palace of Congresses.