Santiago Bernabéu
Overview
Santiago Bernabéu is Real Madrid’s home stadium, opened in 1947 as the Nuevo Chamartín and renamed in honour of club president Santiago Bernabéu in 1955.
Key facts
- City
- Madrid
History
Real Madrid built the Nuevo Chamartín after president Santiago Bernabéu pushed for a much larger modern stadium to serve the club’s growing support. The ground opened on 14 December 1947 with a friendly against Belenenses. Expansion work in the early 1950s dramatically increased capacity, and in 1955 club members voted to rename the stadium after Bernabéu. The stadium became one of the central venues of European football, staging European Cup finals, the 1964 European Nations’ Cup final and the 1982 World Cup final. Repeated modernisation projects transformed the building while keeping it on the same historic site. Footballopedia links the Bernabéu to Real Madrid, European Cup and Champions League history, El Clásico, the 1982 World Cup and players from Di Stéfano to Cristiano Ronaldo.