Santiago Bernabeu Stadium Renovation

Real Madrid didn’t build a new stadium. It rebuilt the one it had, around itself, while 80,000 fans kept showing up. The Santiago Bernabeu renovation wrapped the historic ground in a curved steel-and-glass skin, dropped in a retractable roof, and added a pitch that slides underground, all without the club leaving home for long. By mid-2025 the work was essentially complete, at a reported cost near EUR 1.35 billion.

Project Scope

The design, by gmp Architekten with L35 Arquitectos and Ribas & Ribas, encloses the old open bowl in a continuous lattice facade and a new roof built from 12 mobile trusses with PTFE-membrane cushions. The roof can close the stadium fully in under 20 minutes. Below the surface, a retractable pitch system slides the grass into climate-controlled storage beneath the stands, freeing the bowl for concerts and other events. Capacity sits above 83,000 after the upgrade.

FCC Construccion led the build, threading heavy structural surgery through an active match calendar. Real Madrid kept playing at the Bernabeu through most of the work, with the home schedule returning once the roof structure topped out in 2023.

Why It Matters

The Bernabeu is one of the most expensive stadium projects in history, and almost all of that spend went into a renovation rather than a clean-sheet build. That’s the harder problem. Working over a live, landmark venue in dense central Madrid meant sequencing demolition, steelwork and a moving roof around 80,000 spectators every other week. The result reframes the stadium as a year-round entertainment machine, and sets a template other clubs are already studying. For a new-build comparison on Exchange, see the New Highmark Stadium.

Project Team & Details