'Loyalty that never ends': Barcelona opens the door to burial for its fans at the Camp Nou!

A press report revealed today, Thursday, a major surprise concerning the Camp Nou stadium, as Barcelona fans will be able to bury their dead at the heart of the Barça ground.

The Guardian reports that Barcelona fans will soon be able to support the club for life and beyond, remaining devoted even after death. Eternal loyalty, though, comes at a price.

As part of the Camp Nou development project, the club has opened the "Barcelona Memorial", a space for 26,000 urns where fans can rest their ashes once the final whistle sounds.

Backing the team from the next world costs 2,490 euros (2,082 pounds sterling) for 10 years or 6,000 euros for 50 years, with an annual maintenance fee of 70 euros.

Want to guarantee your eternal place? That will set you back 10,000 euros, plus another 490 euros for a commemorative plaque.

Maria Elena Fort, the club's vice-president for institutional affairs, unveiled the memorial with a personal story. "When my grandfather died many years ago, he said that the only thing he wanted was to be buried next to Barcelona's stadium so that he could hear the roar of the goals in the afterlife. Many fans dream of the same thing," she said.

Designed by the architect Kike Montoya, the memorial consists of four large illuminated squares. The commemorative plaques will sit on a glass wall backlit with LED lights.

Behind a mural marking the key moments of the club's 125-year history, the urns will be kept.

Rival Spanish clubs Atletico Madrid, Real Betis and Espanyol already have smaller collective graves at their stadiums.

Renovation of the stadium begins late next year, and the club says more than a thousand fans have already booked their places. Those contributions will go towards the eye-watering cost of redeveloping a ground that first opened in 1957.

Back in 2023, the club launched a plan to lift capacity from 99,354 to 105,000, 15,000 more than Wembley and enough to make it the second-largest football stadium in the world, behind only the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Initially pegged at 900 million euros, the cost now approaches two billion. Non-season ticket holders are footing much of it, having watched prices double in recent years.

Delays and labour disputes have dogged the project. In 2024, Barcelona admitted, among other things, that more than a thousand subcontractors had not been paid for overtime work.

The work is due to finish later this year, though the club will spend part of next season at the Olympic Stadium (capacity 55,926) while a roof is fitted at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona sit top of the Spanish league on 33 points, three clear of second-placed Real Madrid.