A DAY LIKE TODAY...

All of us who follow soccer have heard this name, this is the name of the Real Madrid stadium that opened on December 14, 1946, but some may wonder why they named it that way? Who was this guy? Was he a striker? A porter? A DT? Well they came to the right place:

Who was Santiago Bernabéu?

Santiago Bernabéu Yeste was the President of Real Madrid and is recognized as the architect who made the club one of the most important in the world, he took office in 1943 until 1978, 35 years!

The gentleman was born in a town called Almansa in Albacete, but when he was very young he went to live in Madrid, at the age of 14 he joined Real Madrid where he became a lethal striker and symbolic captain, he played from 1912 to 1931 in club, after his retirement he stayed there and climbed all possible steps.

Real Madrid entered a crisis after the Spanish civil war of the 30s, many members of the board had died or were missing, including they say that some of the trophies they had won were stolen. Bernabéu began to dance, located players, managers and members of the club, all without the help of the government, thus rebuilding the team.

In 1943 there was an attempt at anger in a match between Real and Barcelona, ​​the government issued a solution that forced the presidents of both teams to resign their positions, this led to Santiago Bernabéu taking office. Things were difficult at first, Madrid did not have a good team and some like Atlético, Barça and Athletic de Bilbao were very strong.

Bernabéu took 3 measures that changed Real Madrid and world football forever:

1- Completely restructured the club, divided it by levels and assigned a team to each one, almost all teams use its system to date.

2- He ventured to build a stadium monster that was once the largest in Europe, at the time it was designated as 'a lot of stadium for very little club', he also created a training ground where players could practice without destroying the field (a common problem at the time).

3- He took an ambitious strategy of hiring the best players in the world (sound familiar?), Something also rare at that time, his most important signing: Alfredo Di Stéfano, since then Real Madrid has sought to bring the best talent to its ranks .

Bernabéu ended his presidency in 1978 during the World Cup in Argentina, the cause? His own death, FIFA dictated 3 days of mourning during the tournament.

*Birth:8 of June 1895,Almansa Spain
*Death:02 June 1978, Madrid.Spain

ON A DAY LIKE TODAY JUNE 02, COMMEMORATING THIS SYMBOLIC CAPTAIN "SANTIAGO BERNABEU". AFTER HIS DEATH, HE IS CONSIDERED AS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF REAL MADRID.