Europe’s most successful football team, Real Madrid, has agreed a deal with Cisco which it claims will make the club’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium one of the most technologically-advanced sporting venues in the world.

The agreement will see the San Jose-based technology conglomerate overhaul the technical capabilities of the La Liga leaders’ Bernabéu stadium, which is in the process of a full refurbishment. Construction is expected to be fully completed at the end of 2022.

The 13-time European Cup winners’ 85,000 capacity stadium will host the largest Wi-Fi 6 stadium network in Europe. Cisco claimed they will outfit the Bernabéu with an end-to-end technology deployment built on a single, converged network.

More than 1,200 Wi-Fi 6 access points in the stadium will deliver faster speeds for what the duo described as “more immersive experience applications”, as well as more bandwidth and higher reliability than the previous Wi-Fi standard used at the Bernabéu. 

Cisco’s end-to-end IPTV solution, which combines high-definition video delivery with state-of-the art digital signage, will be employed across more than 1,000 screens to be installed at the stadium.

Emilio Butragueño, director of institutional relations at Real Madrid, said: “Thanks to this collaboration agreement with Cisco, a leader in connectivity and content management, the new Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ensures that it can take data, voice and video to any point and thus guarantee the widest range of services and an unrivalled spectacle in the world of football.”

The installation of the Wi-Fi 6 network at the Bernabéu builds on the duo’s existing technology partnership and similar networks installed by Cisco at Los Angeles Rams’ SoFi Stadium and venues for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

“Real Madrid is one of the crown jewels of football,” said Wendy Mars, EMEAR president at Cisco. “We are thrilled to add a club with such a rich history to Cisco’s global portfolio of sports partnerships and look forward to uniting the collective power of our two global brands to drive a more connected and inclusive future for this sport.”