MADRID
The Spanish Football Association has announced that the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao will be played at the Nou Camp Stadium on May 30.
Four clubs' (Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia) stadiums had been candidates for the final.
It is reported that Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao fans will be given equal number of tickets for the clash.
Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona had applied to the football authorities for the final to have been played in Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium but Real Madrid rejected the request.
Sensitivities have been raised that fans of Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona may protest against Spanish monarch King Felipe VI – who will be presenting the trophy to the cup winner - or boo the Spanish national anthem.
Athletic Bilbao is from the autonomous Basque Country in the north while Barcelona is the symbolic team of independence-minded Catalonia.
