Real Madrid said to scrap $1bn UAE resort plan

A planned AED 3.67 billion (US $1 billion) Real Madrid-branded resort in Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) has been scrapped after the project organiser defaulted on payments.

Spanish football giant Real Madrid cancelled the licensing accord with RAK Marjan Island Football, the Luxembourg-based organiser, after it defaulted on payments and “didn’t provide guarantees,” Bloomberg reported, citing the club's financial report.

It said Louis-Armand de Rouge, chief executive officer of RAK Marjan Island Football, didn’t return calls made by Bloomberg News.

The report said Real Madrid will search for alternative projects in the UAE, without giving more details.

It had been reported that there were plans to relocate the project to Abu Dhabi, however, it is unclear whether that may still go ahead.

The world’s richest soccer club said last year it was lending its name to the resort planned on a 50-hectare attraction on the man-made Marjan Island in RAK, 105km north of its more illustrious neighbour Dubai.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and former World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, now an assistant to coach Carlo Ancelotti, attended the glitzy project launch in March 2012.

Drawings were displayed for a 450-room hotel, a marina and yacht club and a Real Madrid museum, plus an amusement park and a 10,000-capacity stadium.