The arrangement will enable Real Madrid to convert the Bernabéu stadium into the best sporting venue in the world.
Real Madrid have agreed a long-term strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) which it expects will strengthen the club’s status as the world’s richest and also help fund a planned stadium overhaul.
Real chose a design led by German architects GMP for the remodeling of the Bernabéu, which was opened in the 1950s and holds just over 80,000 spectators, at an estimated cost of 400 million euros.
The club hopes the work, which would see a striking new roof and exterior added to the current structure and include a hotel and a shopping center, can be completed by 2017.
Both parties have agreed not to divulge the length or the value of the deal, IPIC said. Real Madrid last year agreed a five-year shirt sponsorship deal with Dubai-based airline Emirates that Spanish media reported was worth 30 million euros a season.
Photo: Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez (left), shakes hands with Khadem Al Qubaisi, Managing Director of IPIC