Barcelona Announce Camp Nou Will Be World's First Football Stadium With 5G Technology

Barcelona announced plans this week to incorporate 5G mobile technology into the Espai Barça redevelopment project of their Camp Nou stadium and surrounding facilities.

Camp Nou will become the first football stadium in the world to offer dedicated standard 5G coverage. The technology promises to 'enable the exploration of new and more immersive ways of enjoying sports events from home as if actually being in the stadium.'

One part of that is the planned placement of 360 degree cameras in different places that will allow an 'immersive experience' to any home viewer using virtual reality glasses.

Viewers will be able to watch games as if they were in the directors' box, behind the goal, by the benches and numerous other viewpoints of their choosing.

Barça explain that 5G will take existing stadium technology 'to the next level', while the mobile aspect means there will be no concern over communication cables.

"At FC Barcelona it makes us very proud that the Camp Nou is the first football stadium in Europe with internal 5G coverage," read a statement from preside Josep Maria Bartomeu.

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"The Camp Nou is the largest stadium in Europe. It holds more than 90,000 spectators and when Espai Barça is finished the capacity will rise to 105,000. Thanks to this agreement between FC Barcelona and GSMA, in partnership with Telefónica, we have made the Camp Nou a laboratory for innovation in the most advanced technology in mobile telephony, 5G."

The Espai Barça project is expected to be fully completed by 2024.