DUBAI: Spain's Real Madrid football club has announced that it will develop a 4.6 million square foot resort island in the United Arab Emirates. The club showed plans on Thursday for the luxury facility. It will include a number of sporting facilities, a marina, luxury hotels and villas, an amusement park, a club museum and a 10,000-seat stadium, with one of the sides open to the sea. It is an impressive, $1 billion operation, the club said. “It is a decisive and strategic step that will strengthen our institution in the Middle East and Asia,” said Real president Florentino Perez. The project is a joint venture partnership with the government of the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah and is expected to attract at least one million visitors in its first year of operation. The prospects already have sports fans in the UAE excited over having one of the world's most prestigious clubs so close to home. Abdullah, a Dubai-based banker an avid football fan, told Bikyamasr.com that he hopes they hold exhibition matches at the stadium. “It's going to be so wonderful and hopefully the costs for people to go will not be too expensive. The museum and all that history in the UAE, I can't wait,” he said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/72QE6 Tags: Club, Island, Ras al Khaima, Real Madrid, Resort, UAE Section: Business, Football, Gulf, Latest News, United Arab Emirates
