Real Madrid: the world’s highest-earning football club and the anatomy of a €1.1bn business

The latest edition of the Deloitte Football Money League has confirmed a historic milestone for the football industry. Real Madrid have become the first club ever to generate more than €1.1 billion in annual revenue, finishing the financial year with approximately €1.13bn in total income. This result cements the club’s position not just as a sporting powerhouse, but as the most advanced commercial football organisation in the world. Crucially, this leadership is not the result of a single exceptional season, but of a diversified and structurally robust revenue model.

The largest contribution comes from commercial revenues, which reached €594 million. This figure alone would place Real Madrid among the top earners globally, even without broadcasting or matchday income. At the core of this commercial engine is the long-term kit deal with adidas, widely estimated at around €120 million per year and running until 2028. Title sponsorship with Emirates adds a further €70–75 million annually, while a dense network of global and regional partners, licensing agreements and merchandising operations continues to expand the club’s monetisation footprint.

Real Madrid’s approach differs from many peers in one critical aspect: control. The club retains a high degree of ownership over its commercial rights and brand exploitation, allowing it to extract higher margins from sponsorships and retail than clubs that rely more heavily on third-party operators. This strategy has been further reinforced by investments in digital channels and direct-to-consumer sales, which increase both revenue and data ownership.

Infrastructure is another central pillar. The ongoing redevelopment of the Santiago Bernabéu is already contributing financially, even before full completion. Corporate events, hospitality offerings, stadium tours and early non-football events have begun to generate incremental revenue streams. Once the stadium is fully operational as a multi-purpose venue, Deloitte and market analysts expect a significant uplift in both commercial and matchday income, particularly from premium seating and year-round usage.

Broadcasting revenues accounted for approximately €335 million. This includes centrally distributed LaLiga income and substantial UEFA distributions following Real Madrid’s continued success in the Champions League. While this remains a critical pillar, growth in media rights is noticeably slower than in previous cycles, reflecting broader stagnation in traditional broadcast markets across Europe. For Real Madrid, this dynamic reinforces the strategic importance of commercial expansion as the primary driver of future growth.

Matchday revenue reached around €233 million, representing a decline compared to the previous year. The drop is largely attributable to ongoing construction work at the Bernabéu, which temporarily limited capacity and certain high-margin hospitality services. Even so, Real Madrid still rank among the global leaders in matchday income, and the completion of the stadium project is expected to reverse this decline and push matchday revenues to new record levels.

Notably, these results were achieved without reliance on major player sales. Unlike several competitors, Real Madrid’s financial performance in this cycle was not supported by significant transfer profits. Instead, revenue growth was driven almost entirely by core operations, underlining the club’s financial resilience and reduced dependence on volatile transfer markets.

Taken as a whole, Real Madrid’s €1.1bn revenue milestone illustrates a broader shift in football’s economic centre of gravity. Commercial income now exceeds broadcasting and matchday revenues combined, signalling a transition from performance-led monetisation to brand- and infrastructure-led value creation. In this context, Real Madrid’s position at the top of the Deloitte rankings reflects not a one-off peak, but the emergence of a sustainable, scalable business model that is reshaping the financial hierarchy of global football.