Real Madrid unveil plans for ‘best stadium in the world’

The new Santiago Bernabeu will be the “best stadium in the world” and help Real Madrid and the city, says club president Florentino Perez.

The idea for the redevelopment started in 2011 and will be the biggest since December 14, 1947.

Perez told those at the unveiling event, reported by the club website: “It will become an avant-garde and universal icon, one of the great future projects for Real Madrid.

“Located in the heart of Madrid, it will be the best stadium in the world.

“We are facing one of the great projects of the future for Real Madrid, and, of course, it will be also for the city of Madrid.

“The new Santiago Bernabeu stadium will entail an important improvement for the club, but also for its surroundings.

“And it will allow Real Madrid to remain competitive in an increasingly difficult international football scenario.”

The complex, reportedly scheduled for completion by 2023, will extend over 66,000 square metres and feature leisure and entertainment facilities.

The new stadium is set to include a retractable roof and a 360-degree video scoreboard as well as a surround ‘skin’ of steel bands to allow images to be projected onto the surface of the stadium.

“We want, in short, to be the great digital stadium of the future,” Perez added.