Catalan architect Emili Vidal has submitted plans for current European Champions FC Barcelona to play their future home matches in a brand new 150 000 capacity stadium on a man-made island in the Balearic sea. The artificial island is tentatively to be called ‘Illa Barcelona’.
FC Barcelona currently play their home matches at the Camp Nou which has a capacity of 98 000, but as one of – if not the biggest team in world football – demand to see them play is incredibly high. In 2007 FC Barcelona commissioned Norman Foster to re-design the Camp Nou, with the aim of increasing the capacity and modernizing the ageing stadium – however his designs were criticized for only increasing the capacity by 10 000.
‘Illa Barcelona’ would increase capacity for the reigning Spanish and European Champions to 150 000 and be as revolutionary as the team that would play in it. The idea of hosting sports and events at sea is not a new one however as anyone who has visited Singapore will tell you, where they have had a floating stadium since 2007.
