体坛英语新闻：Barca fans vote in support of redevelopment of Camp Nou

MADRID, April 5 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona supporters voted in favor of the remodeling of their World famous Camp Nou Stadium to increase its capacity to 105,000 on Saturday.

The vote saw 118,000 club members given the option to vote 'yes' or 'no' on the proposal to remodel the stadium over a four-year period between 2017-2012, which will cost around 600 million euros (822 million US dollars).

The polling booths outside the Camp Nou stadium opened at 9am and were open for 12 hours, closing at 9pm, an hour after Barca's 3-1 victory at home to Betis.

A total of 37,535 fans took the opportunity to cast their vote (31.65 percent of those electorate and of those 37,535, 27,161 (72.36 percent) cast their vote in favor of the development of the ground, with 9,589 (25,55 percent) voting against the plan, while 751 blank votes were cast.

The fans also gave their support to the possibility that the Camp Nou could also carry the name of a sponsor, opening the possibility to the club selling those rights for an estimated extra 150 million euros.

"In 2012 the Camp Nou will be our pride," said Barca president, Josep Maria Bartomeu. "It would be a step forward in the excellence of our club. On days like this people all around the world see what our club stands for," said Bartomeu, who has had a difficult week following FIFA's announcement that the club will not be able to make any signings until June 2015 as punishment for breaking rules regarding the signing of under-age players.