Latest news with #Aitana
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Real Madrid: The noise battle at the heart of the Bernabéu
Last year, tens of thousands of 'Swifties' - Taylor Swift fans - thronged Madrid to watch back-to-back concerts at the Spanish capital's famous Bernabéu stadium, home to Real Madrid, who won Europe's Champions League final less than 24 hours later, on 1 mega-concert was one of dozens of high-profile gigs staged at the newly renovated stadium in 2024 to boost the club's the project was short lived. In September all gigs were cancelled after residents living within earshot of the music filed a legal complaint over the nine months later, Spanish pop singer Aitana is the latest artist to switch venues from the Bernabéu to the Metropolitano Stadium – home to rivals Atletico Madrid – as the court case rumbles on."In every concert it is exactly the same," says Enrique Martínez de Azagra, president of the neighbours' association. He and other locals say the sound from concerts like Taylor Swift's has become too much."It is impossible to suffer this kind of noise and it affects our health, it affects migraines, insomnia and heart attacks and it is a criminal offence in our laws," adds Madrid, the noise levels measured by the neighbours exceeded 90 decibels regularly during the Marnane from the European Environment Agency says that in Europe any level of 55 decibels or above is considered to be harmful, and continued exposure can lead to increased blood pressure and cardiovascular disease such as strokes. There are also links between noise exposure and diabetes. Enrique says there is a significant difference between the noise from the concerts compared with that from football matches. He and most of his neighbours have lived in the area for decades. Many of them are life-long Real Madrid supporters and are on committees that represent the interests of the club."Football is a sport that lasts two hours, more or less. The noise is normal. Only when there is a goal, the passion surges," says Enrique. The problem he sees with the concerts is that they spew continuously high levels of noise for long periods of hours at a reduce their exposure to these high levels of noise, Enrique and his neighbours took Real Madrid to journalist Felippo Maria Ricci believes they have a strong case."The Bernabéu is right in the heart of Madrid. The neighbours who live there have good positions and know the right people," says Felippo. "This battle for the concerts can be quite long but at the moment Real Madrid is losing this battle."The neighbours say the city government is hesitant to resolve the issue as it benefits from the tourism and the money the concerts generate. According to local media reports, tourists coming for the Taylor Swift concerts alone spent about €25m (£21m; $28m).Filippo says that the £1.1bn renovation to make the stadium multi-purpose was supposed to provide a huge financial boost to Real also signed a contract with a US company selling the commercial rights to the stadium. "They spent a lot of money to develop a new system for the pitch, to take it off when they have the concerts," says Filippo. "Now all this new super system is quite useless, at the moment, all that money is gone."Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons and AC/DC are among the acts playing at the rival Atlético stadium this City Council, the Mayor's office and Real Madrid have not responded to requests for comment by the Madrid has previously said it is trying to sound proof the stadium. According to local reports the club hired a specialist company and windows were installed in the skywalk I put to the neighbours that Real Madrid is trying to soundproof the stadium, they chuckled. Enrique works as an engineer and thinks it is "quite impossible to soundproof the stadium".While the Bernabéu's roof can close, the stadium is never completely closed, as there is an open gap between the roof and the facade all the way around the neighbours say they are not against all concerts."We've had concerts in the past, but once a year," says Pablo Baschwitz, a lawyer and one of the neighbours campaigning for recalls concerts with music legends such as Frank Sinatra and Julio Iglesias at the Bernabéu - but says having 20 concerts scheduled per year is just too much. From the roof terrace of one of the neighbours' flats the proximity to the stadium is plain to point to a health centre that they say struggles to accurately measure patients' blood pressure at times because the sound waves from the concerts disturb the readings in their says the concerts aren't the only problem – there are also rehearsals and sound checks during the day which disturb the local community, including Jordana de Pozas lives right across from the stadium, and some of the noise measurements were taken on the outside and inside of his his terrace overlooking the Bernabéu, he explains how newly added metal plates on the stadium's exterior have amplified the sound, and shows me recorded videos of the "unbearable" Madrid, the facades of the houses around the stadium are lined with banners. Draped from their windows, balconies and terraces the neighbours put their protest posters on display, reading "conciertos no" (no concerts) and "ruído no" (no noise).For now, while the case is in court, the music has stopped.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
🗞️ Ancelotti, Modric and Barça women set for historic moment
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here. Today, the covers of the sports press carpet the newsstands of Spain with the faces of legends. Because today Modric and Ancelotti bid farewell to Madridismo, and because Barça, led by Aitana and Alexia, could lift their fourth Champions League in five years. 📸 GLYN KIRK
Forbes
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
FC Barcelona Reach Fifth Successive Women's Champions League Final
European champions FC Barcelona saw off the challenge of Chelsea for the third successive season to reach a record-equalling fifth Women's Champions League final in a row. Leading 4-1 from the first leg played last Sunday in Spain, Barcelona increased their advantage today at Stamford Bridge to reach their sixth Champions League final in seven seasons. Despite a forceful start by the home side, they failed to make the crucial early breakthrough which they required to overturn the aggregate scoreline. Barcelona made them pay on the counter-attack. In the 25th minute, the Ballon D'Or winner Aitana Bomatí raced half the length of the field before smashing the ball past England goalkeeper at her near post. Aitana had incredibly scored at the same end of the same ground on the same day of 2024. That goal also came in the second leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final. Then, it brought Barcelona back into the tie after they had lost the first leg at home, now it effectively killed the tie. The goal was Aitana's 26th in the UEFA Women's Champions League, moving her level with her former team-mate Jenni Hermoso as Spain's leading goalscorer in the history of the competition. Sixteen minutes later, Caroline Graham Hansen danced her way to the touchline before squaring the ball across the six yard area for Ewa Pajor to tap in. Pajor has now scored 33 Champions League goals, moving her into 15th position on the all-time list of scorers. Chelsea barely had time to regroup before the competition's top scorer, Claudia Pina curled a majestic effort into the top corner of Hampton's goal. It was the forward's 10th goal in the competiton this season. Not always a starter in the side, Pina's 10 goals have come in eight matches at an incredible average of a goal every 42 minutes. Having also won the competition in 2021 and lost the final in 2022, Barcelona have now reached a fifth consecutive final. This has only previously been achieved by Real Madrid men's team (1956-60) and Olympique Lyonnais women's team (2016-2020). Both of those teams won each of those five finals, something Barcelona cannot achieve this season. However, they could join another elite group of teams if they retain the Champions League title. Winners of the competition for the past two seasons, FC Barcelona will aim to win a third consecutive title in next month's final in Lisbon, joining a rare groups of teams in the history of the sport - Real Madrid, Ajax, FC Bayern in the men's game and Olympique Lyonnais in the women's. Chelsea, now led by former Lyon head coach Sonia Bompastor, are on the brink of securing a sixth consecutive English league title and remain unbetaen in the Women's Super League. Having already won the Women's League Cup and reaching the final of the Women's FA Cup, they, like Barcelona, had been on course to win all four competitions they had entered this season - the so-called quadruple. That dream is now over. They have gone out of the only competition the club has never before won at the semi-final stage for the fourth time - and the third year in a row against Barcelona. Indeed, having also lost the 2022 final to the Catalan side, Barcelona has now ended Chelsea's Champions League hopes in four of the past five seasons.
New York Times
18-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Camp Nou delays might force Barcelona to ask La Liga to start 2025-26 season with away games
Barcelona are considering making a request to play their opening games of next season's La Liga away from home in order to give them more time for the Camp Nou to be ready to host matches. Sources at the club, speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect their jobs, said they now expect the club to return to the Camp Nou in September this year, meaning any league games before then would have to be played elsewhere. Advertisement If that is the case it would mean a 10-month delay to Barcelona's initial plans. They had hoped to be back in their revamped home in November 2024, for the club's 125th anniversary. The delays have already meant the club has extended their lease with the city council to use Estadi Lluis Companys (also referred to as Montjuic) for a second full season. Montjuic will not be available in 2025-26, with the current agreement between the city council and Barcelona ending in May. The stadium has already been booked to host non-football events from June onwards. Artists such as Aitana, Guns N' Roses, Black Pink and Post Malone have scheduled concerts at the stadium between June and September. It would not be the first time that La Liga has been asked to be flexible when scheduling fixtures. This season (2024-25), Barcelona were granted permission to play more home league games in the second half of the season because they were expected to be back at the Camp Nou. In 2022, Real Madrid were allowed to play their first three La Liga games away from home because the club were finalising the rebuilding works of the Santiago Bernabeu, which were also delayed. The first games at the new Camp Nou will still be played at a reduced capacity. Barcelona and the construction company Limak have agreed a date of June 2026 for the ground to be completed — with current costs for the project at €900million ($1billion). This summer is expected to be critical for the progress of work at the stadium, after Barcelona's city council granted new working licences. Last week, the club confirmed they had received permission to keep work going around the clock from Monday morning to Friday night until April 30. Builders are allowed to start work at 8am on a Monday, and there can be workers on the site until midnight each Friday. On Saturdays, they are allowed to be working on the site from 10am until 8pm. The new routine has been allowed since the start of April, and Barcelona would like to maintain it throughout the summer. Before the end of the month, Barcelona and the city council will discuss if the license to work in special hours can be extended. Club sources say they have been satisfied with recent co-operation from the city council in that regard, in order to ensure refurbishment works can progress as fast as possible. The first time that Barcelona acknowledged the Camp Nou project was delayed was in October 2024, when the club said a return would be postponed 'until the second half of the season'. A month later, this was pushed back again, until February 2025 at least. Since then, the club has had to twice extend the rent agreement with the city council in order to keep playing at their temporary home at Montjuic. In January, Barcelona confirmed in an email to the club's socios (members) their agreement to stay at the stadium was extended until April 23, 2025. In March, following the same procedure, the club informed their socios they would not be returning to the Camp Nou this season, which finishes at the end of May. 📸 — CampNou Updates Live (@Obras_Camp_nou) April 9, 2025 The work to refurbish the Camp Nou and increase its capacity to 105,000 — making it the largest stadium in European football — began in June 2023. Barcelona have played at Montjuic, a 56,000-seater ground, for the past two seasons. There are still some big games to be played there, such as the next Clasico in La Liga, which will be critical for the title race. Barcelona have a four-point lead at the top of the table going into this weekend's round of games. The Catalan side will host Madrid at Montjuic on Sunday May 11 (4.15pm kick-off local time). Having the Camp Nou ready to host games won't just provide the club with a bigger source of income and put an end to the rent they pay to play at Montjuic — it will also have a direct impact on their capacity to sign and register new players next summer. The Catalans are currently above the salary limit that La Liga set for them, which means the competition forces them to offload current salaries before registering new ones. Advertisement The reason why they are above their salary cap is because Barcelona's latest asset sale — VIP seating at the revamped Camp Nou — could not be included in their current budget. Crowe, an audit company that currently works with Barcelona, assessed that the €100million the Catalans received from Middle Eastern investors for the sale of the VIP seats can't be counted as an asset because the actual seats have not been built yet. Club sources say that builders at the Camp Nou are focused on building all of those VIP seats before the end of summer. Laporta tested the new Camp Nou VIP seats with Limak's president, Nihat Özdemir! Looks Comfy 😁! — CampNou Updates Live (@Obras_Camp_nou) April 10, 2025 They believe that, as soon as the VIP seats are all built, then the auditor will allow the inclusion of that €100m in the club's accounting — and that would enable Barcelona to return to a stable financial position regarding their salary limit. (Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Atletico Madrid seal shirt sponsor deal until 2035
Atletico Madrid seal shirt sponsor deal until 2035 – income to double Atletico Madrid have been given a major financial boost by their latest sponsorship deal, which will see Nike continue as their kit-maker for the next decade. The American sportswear brand have been linked to Atletico since 2001, extending their relationship to 34 years by the end of the deal. Advertisement A significant catch for both firms, Diego Simeone's statement that Los Rojiblancos are in a state of 'pure growth' is no more clear than it is in their accounts. As Atletico continue to set records for income, the extension with Nike will be worth a total of €300m. It doubles their income from their previous deal with Nike, which saw Atletico take in around €15m per season, as reported by Marca. It continues a series of deals in recent years, as Atletico look to exploit their new-found status as a Champions League perennial. Qualifying for Europe's top competition in each of Diego Simeone's 13 seasons at the club, Los Colchoneros in the last two years have signed deals with Riyadh Air to sponsor their shirt and their stadium. More recently, they also penned a deal with Red Bull, beating out Barcelona in the process. While it is not clear how much the Austrian firm will bring in to their accounts, the Saudi airline contributes a total of around €40m to Atletico each season. Photo by El Desmarque While they are still a long way off being able to compete with the income of rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona, they have been making ground in recent years. With the Santiago Bernabeu currently banned from hosting concerts, the Metropolitano is currently the go-to venue for the top music artists visiting Madrid too, with the likes of Aitana, Lola Indigo and others shifting their concerts to the Metropolitano, something that has gone down well in the red and white section of the Spanish capital.
