Santiago Bernabéu· built byUuser-e8a0f3

Santiago Bernabéu 31

• 1944 The land is bought Madrid, Spain Santiago Bernabéu, three years into his presidency, funded the purchase of a plot on the Castellana through a bond issue subscribed by the club's own members.
• 1947 Santiago Bernabéu opens Madrid, Spain Real Madrid's home, named after the club president who drove its construction. A radical rebuild completed in 2024 wrapped it in a steel lattice skin and added a retractable pitch. Capacity 83,186.
• 1953 Di Stéfano arrives Madrid, Spain The signing of Alfredo Di Stéfano, after a contested transfer that split Spanish football, gave the new stadium the player it would be built around.
• 1954 Expansion past 120,000 Madrid, Spain A third tier on the eastern side raised capacity to around 125,000, making it one of the largest grounds in Europe.
• 1955 Renamed for Santiago Bernabéu Madrid, Spain The club renamed the ground after the president who had played for, managed and then rebuilt Real Madrid, while he was still in office.
• 1956 Real Madrid win the first European Cup Madrid, Spain The trophy Bernabéu had helped to create came to Madrid in its first season, the start of five consecutive wins.
• 1957 First European Cup final at the ground Madrid, Spain Real Madrid beat Fiorentina 2–0 in front of 124,000, winning the second of five consecutive European Cups.
• 1960 Intercontinental Cup Madrid, Spain Real Madrid beat Peñarol 5–1 to add the world club title to their fifth straight European Cup, in front of a full house.
• 1964 Spain win the European Nations' Cup Madrid, Spain Spain beat the Soviet Union 2–1 in the final, a fixture loaded with politics under Franco, who had refused to let Spain play the USSR four years earlier.
• 1969 European Cup final Madrid, Spain Milan beat Ajax 4–1, ending the first European final appearance by the Ajax side that would go on to win three in a row.
• 1970 The stadium gets its floodlight pylons Madrid, Spain Four lighting towers were added, giving the ground the silhouette it kept for the next three decades.
• 1980 European Cup final Madrid, Spain Nottingham Forest beat Hamburg 1–0 to retain the trophy, a result that remains one of the great oddities of European football.
• 1982 Rebuilt for the World Cup Madrid, Spain Capacity was cut to 90,000 and an all-seater conversion begun in preparation for hosting the final.
• 1982 World Cup final Madrid, Spain Italy beat West Germany 3–1, with Dino Zoff lifting the trophy at 40 — still the oldest player to win a World Cup.
• 1998 Real Madrid win a seventh European Cup Madrid, Spain A 32-year wait ended in Amsterdam, and the trophy was paraded at the Bernabéu in front of a full stadium.
• 2000 Florentino Pérez and the Galácticos Madrid, Spain Pérez won the presidency on a promise to sign Luís Figo from Barcelona, and did so, beginning a policy of one world-record signing a year.
• 2002 The club's centenary Madrid, Spain Real Madrid marked 100 years, and were later named FIFA's club of the 20th century.
• 2002 The pig's head Madrid, Spain On Figo's return with Barcelona, objects rained down from the stands including a severed pig's head, and the match had to be suspended.
• 2007 UEFA elite stadium status Madrid, Spain The Bernabéu was rated in the top category of European grounds, qualifying it to host finals.
• 2009 Cristiano Ronaldo is presented to 80,000 people Madrid, Spain The world-record signing was unveiled to a full stadium, an event staged as a spectacle in itself with no football played.
• 2010 Champions League final Madrid, Spain Internazionale beat Bayern Munich 2–0 to complete a treble under José Mourinho, who joined Real Madrid days later.
• 2014 La Décima is celebrated at the ground Madrid, Spain The tenth European title, won in Lisbon, was brought back to a packed Bernabéu the following night.
• 2016 Two European titles in three years Madrid, Spain The second of Real Madrid's run of Champions League wins under Zidane was paraded here, on the way to three in a row.
• 2018 Copa Libertadores final Madrid, Spain The second leg of River Plate against Boca Juniors was moved 10,000 kilometres from Buenos Aires to Madrid after crowd violence, the first Libertadores final played outside South America.
• 2019 Building work begins Madrid, Spain A €1 billion redevelopment started around a stadium that kept staging matches throughout, with the roof and facade built over the existing bowl.
• 2020 Real Madrid leave for the training ground Madrid, Spain During the pandemic and the heaviest phase of construction, the club played home matches at the 6,000-seat Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium in Valdebebas.
• 2022 The comeback season Madrid, Spain The Bernabéu staged three successive knockout comebacks against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City on the way to a fourteenth European Cup.
• 2023 The retractable pitch is installed Madrid, Spain The playing surface was engineered to split into six sections and lower into an underground chamber, freeing the bowl for concerts and other events.
• 2024 Concerts and complaints Madrid, Spain The reopened stadium began hosting large concerts, prompting noise complaints from residents and a temporary suspension of music events.
• 2024 The rebuilt stadium is completed Madrid, Spain A four-year renovation wrapped the ground in a curved steel lattice, added a retractable roof and a pitch that lowers into an underground store in six sections.
• 2025 The NFL comes to Madrid Madrid, Spain The Bernabéu staged a regular season NFL game, part of the commercial programme the rebuild was designed to make possible.