With more than one hundred years of history, it can safely be said that Real Madrid is one of the world’s most important sporting clubs of all times. Since the 1950s, when the club emerged as a main player in European and intercontinental competition, it has been one of the best and best-known emblems of the city, the Region of Madrid, and even of Spain as a whole.
Atlético de Madrid is the capital’s second club in terms of fans. Passions boil over when these two teams come head to head.
The third Madrid club is Getafe, from the south of the Region, which went up to the Spanish Premier Division in 2004.
Nine-times European champion
Real Madrid’s seventh European victory had been decades in coming. Nevertheless, in recent years the club has returned to European domination and with nine championships to its name, is now far out of reach of other teams, including Italy’s Milan and English side Liverpool.
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium was inaugurated 14 December 1947, for a game between Real Madrid and Portuguese club Os Belenenses. At that time it was considered one of the best and most modern stadiums in existence. Then, in 1954 it was extended for the first time, becoming the biggest too.
The stadium’s history has progressed alongside the stunning growth of a winning team that managed to live up to the grandeur of its setting with numerous trophies. They were the golden years that fill the dreams of every Real Madrid fan: the best team, in the best stadium. At this point, we should mention the role of one person, at the very core of Real Madrid’s spirit, who, with a faith and vision way ahead of his time, took the helm of that immense project and lead it safely home: Santiago Bernabéu, in whose honour the coliseum of Real Madrid was named.
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium has hosted an endless array of sporting and social events, including the following: the final of the 2nd European Cup (clubs), won by Real Madrid (1957); the Final of the European Cup (national teams) (1964); commemorative acts for the stadium’s 25th anniversary (1972); commemorative acts for the 75th anniversary of Real Madrid (1977); World Cup Final, Spain (1982); Pope John Paul II’s meeting with the youth of Spain (1982). What is more, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium has also hosted various Spanish Cup Finals.
Nine-times League-winners
Atlético de Madrid is the capital’s other great football club. Its stadium, the Vicente Calderón, is located on the banks of the Manzanares River. Although it is considered one of the greats of the Spanish league – they have won the title 9 times, the last one in the 1995-1996 season – they do not have as many titles and trophies as Real Madrid. Nevertheless, the passion felt by fans of the club is just as strong. The club celebrated its centenary in 2003.
The Vicente Calderón Stadium
This was the first all-seater stadium in Europe. It was built to replace the legendary Meropolitano, because this stadium had become to small to cope with the large crowds going to Atlético games. It was inaugurated in 1966, when the M-30 motorway that now runs along the bank of the Manzanares River, where the stadium is set, still did not exist. When the motorway was subsequently built, the famous tunnel that exists to this day was built underneath the Main Stand.
Nowadays, this stadium can be considered one of the best in Europe for its exterior appearance, with marble and tinted glass, for its interior layout and furnishings (the whole ground has individual, numbered seats in red, white and blue plastic – the main advantage is that you can see the whole pitch perfectly from any seat), for its services (restaurant and bar, fast food restaurants, WCs, shopping arcades, polyclinic, gym, function rooms, VIP boxes in various different areas, public telephones, lifts, car park, etc.), for its security facilities, and for the pitch itself, which is large and in a perfect state of repair.
The stadium seats approximately 56,000 spectators, with an area for disabled persons, private boxes and grandstands.
