Real madrid cancels $1 billion island resort

Real Madrid Resort Island was first announced 18 months ago by the football club. The theme park and resort was set to span 430,000 square metres in Ras Al Khairnah. President Florentino Perez and footballing legend Zidane hailed the plans as a “perfect partnership” in a “strategic location”.

The island would have opened in January 2015 and included everything from apartments and hotels to a Real Madrid museum, the world’s first football stadium “open to the seas” and an amusement park complete with, of course, a hologram football show.

Now, though, the footballing island paradise will not go ahead.

“We will look to complete the project in another emirate," World Property Channel quotes Mr. Perez as saying.

The master developer’s project director Michael Hernandez noted that the land was never actually purchased for the development, leaving the club with no commitments.

Abu Dhabi has been floated as an alternative for the island development, although the emirate is currently tied to English Premier League team Manchester City.