The Santiago Bernabeu stadium houses the legendary Spanish team; Real Madrid. The Santiago Bernabeu has a current and total number of 85,454 seats and is the third largest stadium in Europe. It is located in the city of Madrid, Spain. This stadium was named and honored by Santiago Bernabeu Yesté who was one of the most prestigious sportsmen that lead the Real Madrid to what it is today. Before the Santiago Bernabeu was constructed, the Real Madrid team played in two small fields of only 25,000 people; Campo De O’Donnell and the Estadio de Chamartin. Two banks arranged a credit with Mr. Santiago Bernabeu and Rafael Salgado to purchase the land next to the Estadio Chamartin, meaning they would have to pay that money back to the banks. The construction began on October 27th 1944 under the orders of two architects named Manuel Muñoz and Luis Alemany. After a little over three years, the stadium was completed and named Nuevo Estadio Chamartin. It had a capacity of 75,145 spectators; 47,500 of them were for standing spectators and 27,645 spectators had seats.
This stadium has been re-modeled and expanded several times to become what it is today. On January 4th, 1955 the stadium was renamed after the president; Santiago Bernabeu. In 1982, they had expanded the stadium to 120,000 spectators; however they added roofs on all sides except the east, which reduced the capacity to 90,800. Again, the stadium went under construction which added seats and underground water pipes to keep the field from freezing in cold temperatures. Also, four different entrance towers were installed. This added to 110,000 spectators, but when Lorenzo Sans was president, he created an all seated arrangement which then again reduced the number to 75,328 spectators. Finally, when Florentino Perez was president of Real Madrid, he made the stadium what it is currently today. He modernized it completely, adding new VIP areas and boxes, a restaurant inside the stadium, tours inside the stadium, a Real Madrid Official Shop, modernized locker rooms, a press room and much more. The total cost of the stadium was €1,732,943. The actual pitch/field has dimensions of 107 by 72 m.
I have been in the Santiago Bernabeu only twice, the first time for the tour of the stadium, which took you inside the locker rooms and trophy rooms and on the actual pitch/field. The second time was for a game which was Real Madrid vs. Atletico de Madrid, with Real Madrid’s victory of 3-2. The feeling you get when you enter is of amazement, since the stadium is so massive and enormous.
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| View of stadium |
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| 4 towers on each corner |
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| View of the field from the restaurant |
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