European Court of Justice makes ruling on Real Madrid land case

Wednesday morning saw Real Madrid receive a verdict on their case with the European Court of Justice, directly relating to the issue of a deal signed with Madrid City Council back in 2011.

Los Blancos sold the land of their old sporting complex to the city government as part of a land-swap which saw them granted land next to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

The initial plan was for the old sporting complex to be swapped for a piece of land in Las Tablas, yet in 2011 a list of urbanisation regulations ensured that Los Merengues couldn't receive the land.

This provoked the move to hand the club land in front of their own stadium, and it's this area where the construction of a shopping centre and a hotel will form part of the major redevelopment of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

In 2016 the European champions were ordered to pay back 18 million euros to the Madrid government, with the land-swap being viewed as irregular state aid, however an appeal process was undertaken and has reached its conclusion in 2019.

According to the court, the commission 'couldn't satisfactorily prove Real Madrid received irregular state aid'.

Real Madrid were adjudged to have highlighted the difference in values between the different plots of land that were transferred under the agreement, and that the commission hadn't previously taken this into account.