Real Madrid are the current UEFA Champions League holders, currently sit top of the Liga BBVA table, and have millions of fans from all around the globe. They are without a doubt one of the biggest sporting superpowers known to man at this current time, and have been for quite some time too. But have they just made a huge error on their part?
The Spanish giants have made the decision to remove the commonly found Christian cross out of the clubs logo, after making a deal with Abu Dhabi bank ‘NBAD’. It is believed that the new badge was formed to avoid offending Muslim sensibilities in the United Arab Emirates, along with sealing the deal with the bank itself.
Pictures have emerged of Real Madrid Football Club President Florentino Perez holding a large makeshift credit card of the Abu Dhabi bank with Madrid’s crest featuring on it, which is now also going to double as a Real Madrid membership card, without the Christian symbol in the unmistakeable club crest. Also featuring in the picture are a few Real Madrid players, such as Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos and Dani Carvajal, along with representatives of NBAD.
Florentino Perez labelled the deal as a “strategic alliance with one of the most prestigious institutions in the world”, but Spanish sports paper Marca has labelled the redesigning of the famous club badge shows how far clubs are willing to go to create new forms of revenue, even sacrificing parts of their famous identity.
Perez also said recently: “This agreement will help the club to keep conquering the hearts of followers in the United Arab Emirates”. But the question is, what about the hearts of the fans found in other parts of the world? Especially the fans from home, situated in Spain and Madrid.
Real Madrid is a football club situated in a Christian country, so it is highly likely that they have gone and offended their local supporters. Nevertheless, the original logo will still be used when they compete in Europe, featuring the tiny Christian cross at the top of the crest.
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