Real Madrid announce €400-million Santiago Bernabeu redevelopment

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

Fiorentino Perez the President of Real Madrid has unveiled the plans for the redevelopment of Santiago Bernabeu and wants to make it “the best stadium in the world”.

The revamp will be led by German architects GMP, along with international firm L-35 and Catalan firm Ribas & Ribas, following an international tender process and is set to cost the Spanish club an estimated €400million (£328million).

The redevelopment includes a new exterior, while a retractable roof will also be constructed, which is set to take around three years to complete.

Perez at the unveiling said: “It’s time to face another challenge has come, we want to make the Santiago Bernabeu is the best stadium in the world.”

“Our commitment is to continue increasing the heritage of our club, thus gain in economic strength, so we can continue to lead in an environment of increasing competition.”

“We believe in a project that will enhance our image, brand and city that we also feel proud of.”

Volkwin Marg, the owner of GMP said: “(We aim to) transform the Bernabeu into the most advanced and developed stadium of the 21st century. This building is undoubtedly the most important project of our careers.”

The building work will be suspended during the home matches, which will be played as normal, with the redevelopment set to finish by 2017. The construction is set to start after the end of the sesason.

However, it remains to be seen if Coca-Cola or Microsoft, both of whom are interested in sponsoring this new project, will strike a deal with Real Madrid to name the stadium. Coca-Cola were prepared to pay the €80m (£66m) per year price to have their name on the stadium.

Coca-Cola are also the official sponsors of Madrid, but the club have ruled out naming their ground “The Coca-Cola Santiago Bernabeu”.

Here’s the video:

http://youtu.be/ci–X4cCJ2c

Florentino Pérez: “Queremos que el nuevo estadio sea un icono, un símbolo mundial” http://t.co/sBlpxsGxXL pic.twitter.com/GhMYrl4cuu
— Real Madrid C. F. (@realmadrid) January 31, 2014