How Santiago Bernabéu transformed Real Madrid into a formidable world class football club
Writing the history of Real Madrid Football Club will not be apt without mentioning Santiago Bernabeu who gave more than five decades of his life to the club on and off the pitch.
According to records, Santiago Bernabéu was a Spanish striker who played for Madrid until 1926.
READ ALSO: Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium catches fire amid £600million renovation works (Video)
After retiring as a player, appointed club manager and even worked as a technical assistant.
The club was completely in ruins after the Spanish War which lasted for three years (1936 – 1939) and Bernabéu took it upon himself and started to rebuild the club from scratch.
In 1943, he was elected president, a position he held until his death on June 2, 1978.
Bernabéu was a visionary and at the Hotel Ambassador in Paris he mapped out a scheme that would see the big football clubs take off in a continental exhibition tournament and UEFA later became interested and designed a tournament called the European Champions Club Cup, which was later renamed League.
During his time as club president, Real Madrid won one Intercontinental Cup, six European Cups, 16 league titles, six Spanish Cups, two Latin Cups and an Eva Duarte Cup.
He breathed his last breath during the 1978 World Cup and FIFA decreed three days of mourning during the tournament.