Stadium "Santiago Bernabéu": the past and today

Football is now the most popular sports game in the world, where players show all the best results, and fans are becoming more and more ardent fans of this sport. Of course, every person supports the club of his city or country, but, perhaps, there is not a single fan who does not admire the magnificent game of "Barcelona" or "Real". It is these two teams that gather a record number of spectators at the TV screens and, naturally, in the stands of the stadiums.

Now we will talk about the famous home arena of Madrid "Real" - "Santiago Bernabeu", a photo of which you will see below. It is recognized as one of the most comfortable and safe stadiums for the fans of the world. Interesting fact: according to many opinion polls, thousands of tourists, visiting Madrid on a business trip, immediately aspire to see the famous stadium, and only then other attractions.

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Santiago Bernabéu

For starters, you just need to mention the name of the person, thanks to which this football arena appeared, and "Real" became the "Royal Club". We think no one will be able to guess that his name is Santiago Bernabéu - a footballer of the club "Real Madrid" and his future president. Surprisingly, it is Bernabeu who is the record-holder for the number of goals scored, and not the glorified Pele, because he "threw" into the rival goal of 1250 (!) Goals, although the exact figure can not be named for the reason that counting the goals in those years (the beginning of the twentieth century ) No one was engaged, and the players scored not so much for the money, as for the glory of the club.

During his life (1895-1978), Santiago Bernabéu became one of the best football players in the world, took part in the war, where he received the medal, managed to restore the team and rebuild the stadium. Today he is the real legend of Spain!

History of stadium construction

Prior to 1940, Real Madrid hosted its guests at the Chamartin stadium, but places for an ever-increasing crowd of fans were sorely missed, so Santiago Bernabéu and Rafael Salgado began to seriously think about building a new stadium that would match the club's level. After receiving the loan in June 1944, the construction of a new football arena began, on which the famous architects Luis Soler and Manuel Monasterio worked. The construction was completed in 3 years: on December 14, 1947, celebrating this event with a football match between Real Madrid and the Portuguese Belenensiş. Further, the stadium was reconstructed more than once, which allowed increasing its capacity, as well as making it more comfortable for visitors. Artificial lighting was first realized in 1957. However, the most worthwhile improvements were realized only in the 2000s, when Florentino Perez became president of the club. He immediately invested $ 130 million in the stadium, thanks to which the eastern facade appeared, as well as numerous offices and convenient places for journalists. In these years, the capacity of the stadium "Santiago Bernabéu" was 80,354 people. This fact puts it on a par with the world famous stadiums "Maracana", "Camp Nou", "Wembley", "Signal Iduna Park", etc. In 2007, the stadium "Santiago Bernabeu" was awarded the title of "elite stadium" from UEFA.

The most important events

Having the highest category of UEFA, the stadium accepts matches of the most prestigious football competitions. So, the "Santiago Bernabéu" 4 times took the final of the Champions League (in 1957 - "Real" - "Fiorentina", in 1969 - "Milan" - "Ajax", in 1980 - Nottingham Forest - Hamburg, in 2010 - Bayern - Inter), 1 time European Championship (in 1964 - Spain-USSR), 1 time World Championship (in 1982 - Italy-Germany) and, finally, 2 times UEFA Cup Championship (in 1985 - "Real" - "Videoton", in 1986 - "Real" - "Cologne"). November 22, 2011 the match was "Real Madrid" - "Dinamo Zagreb", which became the 1500th game played at this stadium.

Cup of Santiago Bernabéu

Since 1979, friendly football matches have been held every year in honor of Santiago Bernabéu de Este, President of Real Madrid (1943-1978), and also one of the best players in the history of the club. As a rule, the tournament is held at the beginning of the season (in August-September). The tournament was won 24 times by Real Madrid, 3 times by Bayern Munich, 2 times by Milan and Inter, and by 1 time by Ajax, Hamburg, Dynamo Kiev and UNAM Pumas.

Infrastructure

As we mentioned earlier, "Santiago Bernabéu" is one of the most prestigious stadiums in Europe, and therefore the owners pay enough attention to its infrastructure. So, on the territory of the stadium there are a lot of mini-bars, cafes, points for the sale of fast food and the like. To increase the comfort of visitors in bars, 680 TV sets are installed, on which they can watch the match of their favorite team. In addition, in 2006, one of the world's largest sports stores was opened, where you can buy anything you like. Everyone can also visit the museum, which opens the entire history of the "Royal Club".

Do not forget here and about the VIP-clients at the disposal of which 3 smart restaurants where they can calmly relax, sipping cocktails, listening to pleasant music and, of course, eating various dishes from around the world. It is worth noting that at Santiago Bernabeu, in addition to football matches, there are many other events, including music concerts, various solemn events and the like. For the year the stadium brings 120 million euros profit, which is a very impressive figure. Today, there are also rumors that club president Florentino Perez decided to create a whole complex of "Real Madrid City", where will be located shopping centers, restaurants and a reconstructed arena that would accommodate 120,000 visitors.