Article updated: 07/12/2025
The history of the Estadi Olímpic can be divided into two distinct periods. The first ran from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, and a second, more familiar phase began with the redevelopment of the site in the late 1980s for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. But to start with, we are going back around 100 years to a Spain under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, which was vying for a more prominent position on the international stage. Spain’s reputation had taken one hell of a beating with the loss of Cuba and the Philippines, its last significant colonies, in the Spanish-American War. The hosting of the 1929 International Exposition at Parc Montjuic was an ideal opportunity to show the World that the country was back on its feet and a serious player on the international stage once again.
Every Expo has its centrepiece, but the city of Barcelona upped the ante with two, the stunning Palau Nacional and the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuic. Designed by Pere Domènech i Roura, the stadium was also the focal point for Barcelona’s unsuccessful bid to host the 1936 Olympiad. It featured a host of essential items that any self-respecting monumental stadium of that era should include: Palatial Facade – Check, Bell Tower – Check, Central Cupola – Check, Over-sized Marathon Gate… oh, you get the picture. It had a capacity of 55,000 spread out over two tiers, and a Grandstand with a propped roof over the west side. Its first football match took place on 20 May 1929, when a Catalan XI beat Bolton Wanderers 4-0. However, with no resident team, the venue was struggling to find viable attractions once the Expo had closed its doors.
The start of the first professional league in Spain saw the stadium host 3 matches featuring Barcelona, Espanyol & Europa. It also hosted two international friendlies, when Spain played Czechoslovakia (1930) and the Republic of Ireland (1931), but in truth, Montjuic continued to see little action, particularly following the rise of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931. Whilst to many, it was seen as inextricably linked to Rivera’s dictatorship, it did stage three finals of the Copa del Rey in the early 1930s. The Spanish national side returned in February 1936, in an unlikely friendly against Germany. I say unlikely, as little over 3 months later, the stadium was pencilled in to stage the People’s Olympiad, a protest event against fascism following the rise of the Nazi government in Germany. The games were due to take place just before the start of the Berlin Olympics. This was hastily cancelled, however, on the eve of the event due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
After the war and with Franco in power, the stadium enjoyed a short spell as the premier venue in Spain, hosting a further four finals of the Copa del Rey, including Sevilla’s 6-2 victory over Racing Ferrol (Franco’s hometown club). It also hosted the occasional Espanyol-Barça derby in the Copa and two further visits by La Selección (Republic of Ireland in 1948 and Belgium a year later). However, even the Generalissimo could not halt the stadium’s decline, and from the late 1940s, the hosting of significant sporting events began to dry up. The stadium did host the Mediterranean Games in 1955 and received one last footballing hurrah in 1957 when Barcelona beat Espanyol 1-0 in the final of the Copa del Rey. In 1969, sport returned to Montjuic when the Spanish Grand Prix was held around the roads of the Montjuic park. The stadium, however, had the ignominy of being a makeshift paddock and car park. The Formula 1 circus moved away from Montjuic in 1975, and the stadium was mothballed, with the pitch the only part of the enclosure that received any regular use.
Roll forward to 18 October 1986, and Barcelona had just beaten perennial runners-up Paris to win the right to host the 1992 Summer Olympics. Central to the bid was the crumbling old stadium at Montjuic and its 8500 million peseta re-fit. Under the direction of Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti, the interior of the stadium would be transformed, with the pitch being lowered 11 metres, two new tiers holding 67,007 spectators constructed and a new cantilevered roof erected over the west side. The palatial façade of Montjuic would, however, remain intact, creating a stunning fusion of old and new. The renovation was completed in 1989, in time to host the Athletics World Cup. Come the big day in 1992, few would disagree that Montjuic was the jewel in the crown of the most successful Olympiad to date.
A great deal of talking took place after the games, but like its previous incarnation in the 1930s, the new Montjuic did not see a lot of sporting action. Sure, it hosted the omnipresent music concerts; in fact, the Rolling Stones have performed at the remodelled Montjuic on six occasions, to La Selección’s three, but then they appear to have been around for just as long! The only football it saw was when UE Sant Andreu played eight matches there in the 1991-92 season, when their own Narcis Sala stadium was undergoing renovation. During the mid-1990s, Espanyol came under increasing pressure to move to Montjuic, and after initial resistance, their debts became too great to ignore the municipality’s offer. On 6 September 1997, the stadium hosted its first Primera match for over 45 years when Espanyol drew 1-1 with Celta Vigo.
I think the pictures speak for themselves, Montjuic is architecturally stunning and a great athletics stadium, but it doesn’t work as a football ground. The stadium had its capacity reduced to 55,926, but even then, Espanyol took to closing the ends of the stadium and draping huge banners over the empty seats, so that the fans who had paid to watch were as close to the pitch as possible. Even a sell-out crowd at Montjuic could not generate half the atmosphere of the cauldron that was Sarrià. Ironically, Espanyol enjoyed one of their most successful periods on the pitch whilst resident at Montjuic, winning the Copa del Rey in 2000 & 2006 and reaching the final of the UEFA Cup in 2007. Unfortunately, they lost on penalties, just as they had on their previous appearance in the final in 1988. Notwithstanding the club’s upturn in fortunes, Espanyol’s fans will tell you that their success was despite Montjuic, not because of it.
The stadium was renamed Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in 2001, after the lawyer and former president of Catalunya, who was executed by Franco’s regime at Montjuic Castle in October 1940. In 2004, the Copa del Rey Final returned to the stadium when Real Zaragoza upset the form book and beat Real Madrid 3-2. Two years earlier, Espanyol had paid 360,000 euros for 18 acres of old industrial land in Cornella-El Prat and set about the sometimes tortuous process of building a football stadium. Finally, on 31 May 2009, Espanyol’s tenure at the stadium came to an end. A 3-0 regulation victory over Málaga was a low-key affair, as the club and its fans had always viewed their stay as a temporary solution, albeit one that lasted for 12 years.
Back to scratching around for events, the stadium hosted the European Athletics Championships in 2010 and got a spanking new blue athletics track to boot. Still, the combination of its limited appeal as a host and the prohibitive cost of staging sporting events saw Montjuic once again mothballed. For much of the 2010s, the stadium had been mentioned as a potential host for Barcelona when the redevelopment of the Camp Nou got underway. Barça’s prevarication finally came to an end in August 2023, when the club relocated from their home stadium and set up residency at Montjuic. An agreement with the City Council to play at the stadium for the 2023-24 season cost Barça around €20m, but when you add an estimated €150m loss in season ticket and match day revenue, coupled with the delays in renovating the Camp Nou, each match played at Montjuic beyond the end of the 2023-24 season would further damage Barça’s already fractured finances.
As the delays at the Camp Nou continued, Barcelona played their home matches at Montjuic for the entire 2024-25 season, as well as a handful of games at the start of the 2025-26 season. Barça also had to relocate some fixtures to their 5,000-seat Estadi Johan Cruyff due to concerts being hosted at the stadium. Their temporary residency came to an end on 2 November 2025 with a 3-1 victory over Elche CF. Montjuic now finds itself on the sporting shelf once more, only to be dusted off every so often and paraded like some relic from a bygone era. Rather fitting, don’t you think?
Estadios de España 