Girona, by winning their last league match 4:2 against FC Barcelona, secured their appearance in the upcoming, reformed Champions League. However, ahead of their European Cup debut, the Blanc-i-vermells were faced with a choice that is problematic for them, as well as for their most passionate supporters. What did the Catalan club authorities, led by president Pere Guardiola, choose?

Without additional stands

In 2017, Girona were promoted to LaLiga for the first time in their history. This summer, additional temporary rows of stands were added to the north and east sides, increasing capacity from 9282 to 13,500 spectators. The additional stands on the eastern side were partially fitted with a canopy. A year later, those on the south side were also added, increasing the capacity by an additional 1,000 seats. After relegation from LaLiga in 2019, the temporary stands behind both goals were removed, reducing the capacity to 11,200 spectators. After promotion back to LaLiga in 2022, additional rows were again added to the north stand, increasing the stadium's capacity to 13,400 spectators.

As for building new stands on the fly, this is currently impossible. Representatives of Emirati City Football Club were taken by surprise by the club's success in the 2023/24 season and were not prepared for the club to play in any European competition, even more so in the Champions League. Lluís Bosch of Penya Gironina stated that this was unlikely anyway through the shifting and unstable Catalan ground. Additionally, it was felt that the period between the last LaLiga game and the start of the first game of the new season would be too short. As a senior official of the entity said: in Girona we either do things well or we don't do them at all.

UEFA does not allow - in any of the three major European competitions it organises at club level - the use of extra stands, such as those behind the gates of the red and white stadium, to increase stadium capacity. Despite an already small facility on the scale of the Spanish giants, which is the smallest in LaLiga and would be one of the smaller ones in Segunda, the club's governing body will have to make a quick decision: stay at the trimmed Montilivi or look for a new venue for Champions League matches in the area.

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Home, sweet home

The club's position on this issue is clear. We are staying! Despite the fact that 9282 seats are so many that not even every club pass holder would enter the red-and-white stadium, the authorities see this as the best solution. Every game at Montilivi, in the Champions League, will be a celebration of the local supporters who, just two years ago, were fighting with Eibar and Tenerife in the bargaining for promotion.

Despite the limited number of seats, further reduced by 5% of seats for visiting supporters, the club authorities ensure that every club pass holder will see 3 of the 4 matches of the reformed Champions League, with the allocation of tickets to be determined by a draw. If we can't get the job done, we will adjust as best we can. Our priority is our ticket holders, we have people on a waiting list, and we think about it a lot. We'll never make a perfect plan, we know that. But it's a nice problem to have, they assume at Girona. Plan B is a move to Monjuic, but that is a distant prospect at the moment.

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Stade Brestois 29 casus

It turns out that playing at the small Montilivi may also have been an unrealistic option. What is known, in fact, is that the same problem is facing the Brittany-based club, which, according to the newspaper L'Équipe, has already been given the go-ahead to use Stade Francis- Le Ble with its seating capacity reduced from 15,000 to 5,000 excluding the two additional stands in use.

Following this line of thinking, a decision on a positive decision should come any minute now, despite Girona additionally trying to take advantage of an article in which UEFA can make an exception on the basis of certain structural criteria in cases of special difficulties, based on a reasonable request. UEFA was informed a few weeks ago that the red-and-whites were asking for a permission - 13,400-seats stadium for the tournament. The European football authority has yet to respond to the club, but the entity, chaired by Delfí Geli, is convinced that a solution would be unfavourable for the club.

In that case, the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi is likely to take over the reins from Bosuil Stadion in Antwerp, where local rival FC Barcelona played in December 2023, becoming the smallest arena in the Champions League for the 2024/25 season. Arena small, appetites big. It remains to be seen how far the northern Catalan side will go in their premier season in European cups.

© krani