CF Real Madrid - Madrid, Spain
Around 2012 I had the possibility of being able to visit this club and its facilities, and I definitely didn't let that opportunity slide, even being dead broke & jobless at the time.
It really was always a dream of mine to be able to visit this mystical place, even beyond my preference for the Blaugrana squad growing up. One of my all time favorite players, Fernando Redondo, did play on the squad so surely that might have had some influence.
Regardless of which club team you support I think anyone with a slight appreciation for the sport can go and feel the same sensations that I felt visiting. Apart from all the history the club has & represents on a global scale we've also got to admit that defending this badge also means to have reached the pinnacle of club football. If a group of people were to be asked to relate words to the club I wouldn't be surprised if the common denominator would be "prestigious", "elegance", & other like words. The kind of respect & reputation gained just over a century.
There's a phrase that goes something like "No matter how hard you try, (or work)there's always going to be someone or something better." It's a popular phrase, but I think there are very few occasions to which this phrase can not be applied, and one is Real Madrid. (Take it with a grain of salt)
Formerly known as the millionaire club, Real Madrid has always insisted in being the N.1 football club. As the years went by and times changed that desire later included not just match results but also sales & merchandising, transfer market records for most expensive transfers in history and broke it's own record time to time. This later transcended to an attempt at building the best brand in the world, which to this day is an important goal for the club. Times have changed but Real Madrid seems to understand and keep up with those changes.
The tour and infrastructure surrounding the whole club are also of top level and is demonstrated as soon as I left the subway station Santiago Bernabeu without even treading the stadium.
Everything starts with purchasing the entrance to the museum at the box offices below. From there you begin to climb up the stairs to reach the top of the stadium, where you have a pretty impressive panoramic view of the stadium. You have signs indicating the way and security everywhere for any query. Upon starting the tour you find yourself in the highest point of the stadium with a really cool view. From outside of the stadium you really don't realize how big the stadium is & walking by it you imagine how can that stadium possibly have capacity for over 85 thousand people?!
Well, once your inside from this view you can tell its partly under the surface from where you bought your ticket. if you have vertigo looking down may not be the best idea.
From there you work you way down to see the stadium, the stands, and the field up close. The pitch is amazingly soft and leveled as it should be considering its worth more than the apartment I rent at just over 160 thousand euros. Maintenance not included. From there you can sit on the subs bench & by bench, of course I mean individual Recaro leather seats with their Audi sponsor logo. Directly across the bench, the name Real Madrid is spelled out with white seats on the stand, a cool backdrop for a FB cover photo. The tour continues through the mouth of the players entrance to the locker rooms where you can enter the visitors side and see it's installations. The local locker room is usually locked seeing that most players leave personal items there. After seeing the stadium, the tour continues to the museum, not a small one at that.
Pretty much all the trophies a club can possibly win are on display, including individual player trophies. The first thing you bump into is a mock up with clay figures of the president Santiago Bernabeu & the Argentine Alfredo Di Stefano, the clubs most emblematic player signing his tie with "Los blancos". Two people that the club owe lots of their reputation too.
Formerly known as the Chamartín Stadium due to the location in Chamartín de la Rosa. When the new and current Santiago Bernabeu stadium was inaugurated many called it the new Chamartín stadium. Now named in honor of one of its presidents, the same who achieved the most important player recruitment in its history, Alfredo Di Stefano. With this player they won several titles both nationally and internationally. It can be argued that today Real Madrid is what it is institutionally and performance wise due to this era.
You can also see the exclusive press room that hosts hundreds of journalists almost religiously every weekend.
They also have a hotel, a 5 star restaurant and a 3 story store that sells anything from a pencil sharpener to your most current adidas jersey.
If you have the possibility to visit don't let it up.
I'll post some more photos of the tour to complete the story & some relevant info below. Until next time!
- CF Real Madrid
Santiago Bernabeu
Madrid Spain
Relevant data
Foundation: 06/03/1902
Inauguration of Stadium: 12/14/1947
Capacity: 85,454
Club members: 93,267
Rivals: Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona FC
Fernando Redondo
Individual player trophies
