1 April 2020 – The Santiago Bernabeu, Centenario and Maracana hosted FIFA World Cup Finals; The stadiums are now helping to fight COVID-19; One will transform into a makeshift hospital.
They hosted some epic FIFA World Cup™ deciders, but now the Bernabeu, Centenario and Maracana are coming together in the fight against COVID-19.
The Madrid venue (Bernabeu), which staged Italy’s 3-1 victory over West Germany at Spain 1982, will be turned into a storage and distribution centre for medical materials.
“The Santiago Bernabeu stadium will be turned into an adapted space used to store donations of medical supplies in the fight against the pandemic,” read a Real Madrid statement.
“All of this material will be given to the Spanish health authorities, who are under the authority of the government, in order that the resources be used optimally and efficiently, which is necessary given the current emergency.
“The club will also allow entities and businesses, especially those linked to sport, the possibly to make donations, either economic or in the form of materials required by the Ministry of Health.”
The Centenario , which hosted the inaugural World Cup in 1930, including two 6-1 semi-finals and Uruguay’s toppling of Argentina in the Final, will host homeless people with various problems due to the threat of COVID-19.
Across the border, the Maracana, which staged Uruguay’s clinching of the crown at Brazil 1950 and Germany’s conquering of Argentina at Brazil 2014, will be transformed into an emergency hospital.
“The logistics are at an advanced stage and should be ready within 15 days, maximum,” said Wilson Witsel, the governor of Rio de Janeiro.
Some things are more important than football.