Real Madrid plan to find external investment in ownership shake-up

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said Sunday he plans to allow outside investors to buy a stake in the club for the first time, in order to “preserve and increase the value” of the Spanish giants.

The arrival of a minority shareholder, who would hold “five percent or a maximum of 10 percent” of the club, would represent a significant change in the economic structure of Real Madrid.

Record 15-time European champions, Real Madrid have remained member-owned throughout their 123-year history, like their rivals Barcelona.

Perez’s proposal is set to be put to a vote at an extraordinary assembly, reported to be planned for early 2026.

“We want our historic structure to withstand the challenges of the future, and now more than ever, we need our 100,000 members to actively be the guardians of our heritage,” Perez said at the club’s general assembly on Sunday.

The Real Madrid president said members would retain “absolute control” over the club’s decisions.

Earlier in November global sports investment company Apollo Sports Capital struck a deal to become Atletico Madrid’s majority shareholder.

Perez, who made numerous attacks on Spanish refereeing, UEFA, La Liga, and Barcelona while speaking at the event, secured approval with a large majority for a record budget for the 2025/26 season, estimated at over 1.2 billion euros ($1.38 billion).

He also reiterated that the Super League project is, in his view, “essential” for the survival of European football, expressing satisfaction over the “end of UEFA’s monopoly”, after a Madrid court ruled the European football governing body had abused its dominant position by blocking the breakaway league.

La Liga president Javier Tebas, who has been openly at odds with Perez for several years, criticised the “messianic, sectarian, supremacist” tone of the Madrid chief, in a post on X.