Real Madrid chairman aims to change club’s ownership model

    • Under the proposal, members will become “the true owners of the club,” chairman Florentino Pérez said during Real Madrid’s general assembly on Sunday (Nov 24).
    • Under the proposal, members will become “the true owners of the club,” chairman Florentino Pérez said during Real Madrid’s general assembly on Sunday (Nov 24). PHOTO: EPA-EFE
    Published Mon, Nov 25, 2024 · 08:23 PM

    REAL Madrid, the 15-time European football champion, is seeking a major corporate shake-up that would hand over ownership to club members, effectively opening the door to third-party investors.

    Under the proposal, members will become “the true owners of the club,” chairman Florentino Pérez said during Real Madrid’s general assembly on Sunday (Nov 24), without providing further details. “We have 100,000 members and we can distribute an asset that I believe is worth more than 10 billion euros (S$14.1 billion)“ among them, he said, adding that the proposal will be put up to a members’ vote.

    Real Madrid is currently a non-profit club formed by hundreds of fee-paying fans – a system that blocks private investors from owning stakes in it as the fans don’t own shares. While this fan ownership set-up is a rarity among Europe’s top football teams, Real Madrid’s main rival Barcelona is also a non-profit club.

    Under Pérez, who has chaired the club since 2009 and also held the job between 2000 and 2006, Real Madrid cemented its position as Europe’s most successful club. But during his tenure, Pérez has also clashed with football officials in Spain and Europe and at rival clubs over how the business of the sport should be managed.

    Pérez, a billionaire construction businessman, was one of the masterminds behind a failed attempt in 2021 by a group of European teams to create a new tournament outside the control of Uefa, the continent’s governing football body. Most teams ended up pulling out of the project amid protests from fans, but Pérez continues to defend it and says it’s necessary to improve the way revenues are generated and split among teams.

    There are currently four clubs owned by members in the Spanish top-tier league – Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club de Bilbao, and Osasuna. In 2021, the non-profit clubs held out against a league deal to sell its broadcast rights to buyout firm CVC Partners for 50 years.

    Most of Europe’s largest teams are owned by private investors, corporations or sovereign wealth funds. In Germany it’s common to have a hybrid model in which fans own a majority of a club and investors hold a minority.

    Because he does not own a stake in Real Madrid, Pérez does not put any of his own money into the club – unlike other investors who run teams across Europe who can cover expenses out of their own pocket. Pérez is elected by members and the club must cover expenses with the funds it generates. BLOOMBERG

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