The Santiago Bernabéu will soon be renamed the Abu Dhabi Bernabéu, according to various reports emanating from Spain. The Bernabeu is, of course, home to Real Madrid the reigning Club World Cup and European champions.
In November, club president Florentino Perez was overheard by a television company saying: “We’ll call it IPIC Bernabéu or whatever they want…or Cespa Bernabéu.” Perez was referring to the sponsorship deal that had been completed with the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) at the end of October. IPIC owns the Spanish petrol company Cespa and is in turn owned by the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Officially, Real Madrid have not said that the stadium will be renamed although Perez has stated that the Bernabéu might be given a surname.
According to the Spanish publication AS, the IPIC Bernabéu has been rejected by the Madrid club and the stadium will be called the Abu Dhabi Bernabéu.
Abu Dhabi will finance a percentage of the 500 million euros (£374 million) which will be spent remodeling the stadium, paying an annual cost of 20 million euros (£15 million) per season to Real Madrid.
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