Camp de Les Corts (), commonly referred to as Les Corts, was a sports

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the home for FC Barcelona until the club moved to the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

in 1957. It was also the home of CD Condal for the club's entire history.

Overview

''Les Corts'' was built as a result of a long-term plan by the club president, Joan Gamper, to provide FC Barcelona with its own stadium. It replaced the Camp de la Indústria as the home of FC Barcelona. Inaugurated in 1922, the initial capacity was 20,000. The first game played at the ground was between FC Barcelona and St Mirren. On 13 May 1923 the stadium hosted the Copa del Rey final between

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

and CE Europa and on 21 December 1924 Les Corts hosted a game between Spain and Austria. On 24 June 1925 the stadium was the scene of an incident that saw it closed for six months. During a game, FC Barcelona fans jeered the

Spanish national anthem The (; "Royal March") is the national anthem of Spain. It is one of only four national anthems in the world – along with those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino and Kosovo – that have no official lyrics. Although it had lyrics in the p ...

and then applauded '' God Save the King'', performed by a visiting British Royal Marine band. The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera accused Joan Gamper of promoting

Catalan nationalism Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation. Intellectually, modern Catalan nationalism can be said to have commenced as a political philosophy in the unsuccessful attempts to establish a federal state i ...

. Les Corts was shut down and Gamper was expelled from Spain. The stadium was the home of FC Barcelona during two of its most successful eras. During the 1920s with coach

Jack Greenwell John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English football manager and former player. He is Barcelona's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as ...

and players such as Paulino Alcántara, Sagibarba, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Félix Sesúmaga and Franz Platko, the club dominated the Campionat de Catalunya and emerged as one of the top clubs in Spain. The club built on that success and also won the first ever La Liga while based at Les Corts. By the late 1940s, FC Barcelona had outgrown Les Corts. The stadium had been extended on several occasions, reaching a final capacity of 60,000. However, there was no room for further expansion and in 1950 the club began to make plans for a new stadium, the

. The club moved to its new stadium upon its inauguration on 24 September 1957. After the closure of Les Corts, the club began a long, ultimately successful, process to rezone the property to allow for residential and commercial use. Demolition of the old stadium began on 2 February 1966. Of the property, were then rebuilt as parks and sports facilities (basketball and hockey courts, swimming pools, etc.). Residential and commercial buildings were erected on the rest of the site.

External links

Estadios de España
FC Barcelona Football venues in Barcelona Defunct sports venues in Catalonia Defunct football venues in Spain Les Corts (district) Sports venues completed in 1922 Sports venues demolished in 1966 {{Spain-sports-venue-stub