The Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, has been let slip the new name of club’s revamped Bernabeu stadium.
Real last month unveiled a commercial deal with the Abu Dhabi fund International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) that will help finance a planned stadium overhaul costing around €400m (£320m) and is expected to be completed by 2017.
Pérez was overheard at a Microsoft sponsorship event on Tuesday saying: “We are going to put IPIC Bernabéu or whatever they want … or CEPSA Bernabéu.”
The project will add a new retracting roof and exterior to the current structure and include a hotel and a shopping centre.
However, before building work can commence a legal dispute involving the club and the Madrid council will have to be settled. A Madrid court ruled earlier this year that a deal between Real and the Madrid council, which would allow land adjacent to the stadium to be incorporated into the work, should be suspended because it may constitute illegal state aid.
Pérez did not reveal what the revamped stadium would be called when the IPIC deal was announced but said the agreement marked “the start of a long journey and the beginning of a strong partnership”.
