MADRID — Barcelona will have home advantage for its Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao after Spain’s football federation voted on Wednesday for the Camp Nou as the venue.
Both finalists had originally asked to play the May 30 decider at Real Madrid’s 81,000-seater Bernabeu stadium. However, the venue for Copa finals must be offered voluntarily and Madrid made no such offer.
After two hours of talks failed to resolve the issue, the federation’s executive committee took a vote from four stadium options: Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia and Sevilla.
The Camp Nou, with its maximum capacity of 98,700, was chosen ahead of Bilbao’s 53,300-capacity San Mames stadium in the final round of voting.
