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Has Real Madrid's traditional model restricted the club?

Real Madrid’s 2024/25 accounts cover a season which was very much a case of “close, but no cigar”, as they finished runners-up in La Liga and were defeated in the final of the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana, losing out to their great rivals Barcelona on all three occasions.

They were also eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Arsenal, which would be good result for most clubs, but actually represented their worst performance in this competition for five years.

Despite the less successful season, Real Madrid managed to increase their pre-tax profit by €11m (57%) from €20m to €31m.  Revenue continued to grow, rising €112m (10%) from €1,073m to a staggering €1,185m. This meant that the club broke the one billion Euros barrier for the second season in a row, a feat that no other football club has yet achieved.  In addition, profit from player sales increased by €11m (52%) from €21m to €32m.

The latest positive result means that Real Madrid have reported profits in each of the last ten years, adding up to almost exactly a quarter of a billion Euros (before tax).

Of course, Real Madrid do not benefit from owner funding (loans and share capital), unlike many other leading clubs, whose business model is reliant on benevolent shareholders.  This is why Florentino Perez has announced that the club’s members will vote on whether external investors should be allowed to purchase a stake in Real Madrid for the first time.  Perez believes that Real Madrid’s traditional model has restricted the club, e.g. in the transfer market, as they are competing against rivals owned by billionaires or sovereign wealth funds.

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