Bernabéu

Formerly: Nuevo Estadio Chamartín

bernabeu.realmadrid.com

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain. Carlos Delgado · CC BY-SA 3.0

Aspecto del Estadio Santiago Bernabéu de Madrid en la previa del partido de vuelta de semifinales de la UEFA Champions League, disputado entre el Real Madrid y el Bayern de Múnich. Zoser · CC BY 4.0

Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain Ank Kumar · CC BY-SA 4.0

The old fascia used to read Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in full; since the 2019–2024 rebuild wrapped up, the west stand carries just the single word Bernabéu beside the club crest.

Under the surface, literally, the grass is a hybrid — Mixto Hybrid, natural turf reinforced with synthetic fibre.

The naming story has a near-miss in it. In 2014 talks opened with the Abu Dhabi-based IPIC over naming rights, a deal reportedly worth some 500 million euros that would have put "Abu Dhabi Bernabéu" on the building. It never went through, and the ground kept the name it had carried since 4 January 1955, when the club's board voted to honour club president Santiago Bernabéu.

The first match was played on 14 December 1947, Real Madrid against the Portuguese side Belenenses, under the stadium's original name, Nuevo Estadio Chamartín. The attendance record dates from much later: 129,690 packed in on 19 April 1956 for a European Cup semi-final against Milan, which Real Madrid won 4–2.