Santiago Bernabeau Stadium

The Santiago Bernabéu is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. It is the home stadium of Real Madrid. Work on the grounds started on October 27, 1944. Originally called Estadio Chamartín, after Madrid's previous stadium, was inaugurated in December 1947. Real Madrid officially adopted the present name, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, on January 4, 1955 in honor of club president Santiago Bernabéu.

The capacity has changed frequently, peaking at 120,000 after a 1953 expansion. Since then there have been a number of reductions due to modernisations (the last standing places went in 1998/99 in response to UEFA regulations which forbids standing at matches in UEFA competitions), countered to some extent by expansions. The last change was an increase of about five thousand to 80,354 in 2003. A plan to add a retractable roof has been announced.

The Bernabéu is one of the world's most famous football venues, along with a handful of others such as Hampden Park in Scotland, Wembley in London or Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. It hosted a number of major games such as the European Cup finals in 1957 and 1980, the 1964 European Championship final, and the 1982 World Cup final. The Bernabéu is one of the UEFA 5 star stadiums since its last remodelation in 2003.

Santiago Bernabéu stadium has its own Madrid Metro station called Santiago Bernabéu at the line 10.

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