FC Barcelona has teamed up with Telefónica to make the Nou Camp, FC Barcelona’s home ground, the first football stadium in Europe with dedicated 5G coverage. By bringing the next generation mobile network to the stands and the pitch, it opens the door for more immersive ways of fans experiencing the stadium from the comfort of their homes.

Using Telefónica’s commercial frequency band and a standard 3GPP network by Ericsson, FC Barcelona and Telefónica have been able to show live images from the Nou Camp at MWC19, as well as exclusive footage of a first team training session at Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper stadium, and a virtual tour of the stadium.

“For FC Barcelona it is a great pride that the Camp Nou is the first football stadium with 5G internal coverage,” said Josep Maria Bartomeu, FC Barcelona chairman. “Thanks to the agreement between FC Barcelona and GSMA, with the participation of Telefónica, we have set the Camp Nou as an innovation laboratory at the disposal of the most advanced technology in mobile telephony, the 5G.”

Wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset, and thanks to 360° cameras, viewers are able to select a location within the stadium to watch and listen to games as if they were in the ground. To show off this potential at MWC, Telefónica developed a VR app in partnership with VREstudio.

“Watching a world-class game of football live at the ground is a privilege that not everyone can enjoy, and this project allows us to dream of offering all our customers the chance to experience sporting events of this calibre right from the front row,” said Emilio Gayo, chairman of Telefónica España.