The Bernabeu, Centenario and Maracana hosted FIFA World Cup Finals, and one of them will now be transformed into a makeshift hospital to fight COVID-19.
Bernabeu, Centenario and Maracana are coming together in the fight against COVID-19.
The Madrid venue, 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.
The Centenario, which hosted the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930, including two 6-1 semifinals and Uruguay’s toppling of Argentina in the Final, will host homeless people with various problems.
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,” Wilson Witsel, the governor of Rio de Janeiro, said on Thursday.
FIFA teams up with WHO
FIFA and the World Health Organization (WHO) have teamed up to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) by launching a new awareness campaign led by world-renowned footballers, who are calling on all people around the world to follow five key steps to stop the spread of the disease.
The ‘Pass the message to kick out coronavirus’ campaign promotes five key steps for people to follow to protect their health in line with WHO guidance, focused on hand washing, coughing etiquette, not touching your face, physical distance and staying home if feeling unwell.
“FIFA and its President Gianni Infantino have been actively involved in passing the message against this pandemic since the very beginning,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Be it through campaigns or funding, FIFA has stood up to the coronavirus, and I am delighted that world football is supporting WHO to kick out the coronavirus.” (Source: FIFA)
