Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez (main image) announced on Sunday that he intends to open the door to external investment in the club for the first time, saying the move is designed to ‘preserve and increase the value’ of the institution.
Under the plan, a minority investor would be brought in with a stake of ‘5% or a maximum of 10%’ — a major shift for a club that has maintained a member-owned model for its entire 123-year existence, mirroring long-standing rivals FC Barcelona.
The proposal is expected to be presented for approval at an extraordinary assembly, reportedly scheduled 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,’ Pérez told the club’s general assembly. He emphasised that the socios would continue to hold ‘absolute control’ over all major decisions.
In early November, global investment firm Apollo Sports Capital agreed a deal to take over as Atlético Madrid’s majority shareholder — a move that has heightened scrutiny of ownership models across Spanish football.
During his address, Pérez also launched a series of attacks on Spanish referees, UEFA, La Liga and Barça, and was granted overwhelming backing for a record budget for the 2025/26 campaign, projected at more than €1.2 billion.
He again defended the Super League, describing it as ‘essential’ for the future of European football, and welcomed what he called the ‘end of UEFA’s monopoly’ after a Madrid court ruled that Europe’s governing body had misused its dominant position in blocking the proposed breakaway competition.
La Liga president Javier Tebas, long a fierce critic of Pérez, responded on X (see below), condemning what he called the Madrid president’s ‘messianic, sectarian, supremacist’ rhetoric.
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Florentino Pérez, sobre la propuesta de reforma estatutaria: “Queremos que los 100.000 socios seamos, de forma activa, los guardianes de nuestro patrimonio”.
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) November 23, 2025
Sobre mi sueldo también hoy se ha hablado mucho y se ha dicho poco verdad. Mi retribución fija se aprueba cada 4 años por Comisión Delegada (14 clubes) y Asamblea (42 clubes), en votación secreta, y la parte variable se vota cada año, también en secreto, en la Comisión Delegada.… pic.twitter.com/Ch63uxZNXb
— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) November 23, 2025
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