Real hatch stadium plans

Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez is making plans to build a new Bernabeu stadium in order to meet demands for seats from the club's fans.

The new stadium would be built on land close to the club's future sporting village and would house 100,000 spectators, to match Barcelona's colossal Nou Camp. The old Chamartin stadium, renamed after legendary chairman Santiago Bernabeu, has a capacity of 73,000 - nowhere near enough to seat the club's 72,000 season tickets holders and fans from
visiting teams.

Perez hopes that the new five-star stadium will be ready for use between 2006 and 2008 and has even considered offering the ground to the city, should the capital be chosen for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Perez's aim is to make Real Madrid the best club in the world, having already completed his promises to sign Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and rid the club of a huge tax bill. On the horizon for next year will be the signings of Arsenal's
Patrick Vieira and Lazio's Alessandro Nesta, plus the first steps towards building the sporting village and new stadium.