Madrid, Spain – Real Madrid fans were divided over plans announced this week by club President Florentino Perez to allow private equity investors to buy up to a 10% stake in the club.

Some fans of “los merengues” said it would mean selling off part of the club, even though Real Madrid remains the wealthiest football club in the world.

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They also noted that in recent years, Real Madrid had already changed membership rules, contravening promises to keep memberships within families and diluting its character.

Others supported the investor plan, saying it made good business sense and would not alter the trajectory of a hugely successful club that has won the Spanish domestic title 36 times and collected a record 15 UEFA Champions League trophies.

Perez insisted that allowing private equity investors – who often deploy large amounts of capital into companies not listed on public stock exchanges – to take a stake in the club was an “indispensable project” for the future of football.

Speaking to club members on Sunday, Perez said he will propose a statutory reform during an extraordinary assembly to allow for the possibility of outside investors to take a minority stake in the club, according to reporting by The Associated Press news agency.

“We will continue to be a members’ club, but we must create a subsidiary in which the 100,000 members of Real Madrid will always retain absolute control,” he said.

“On that basis, this subsidiary could simply incorporate a minority stake, for example, 5% – never more than 10% – from one or more investors committed to the very long term and willing to contribute their own resources.”

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Perez said that would be “the clearest and most compelling way to value our club”.

The 78-year-old added that it would allow the club to pay dividends to club members, which it is presently forbidden from doing.

Perez insisted investors would be obliged to “respect our values”, contribute to the growth of the club and “help us protect our assets from external attacks”.

He said Real Madrid could have the right to buy its assets back from investors.

Perez reiterated several times that members would never lose control of the club.

He said his proposal would make sure that the current 98,272 members are recognised as the real owners of the club, with the number of members fixed for the future.

“With this protection in place, no one will be able to diminish our status as owners or alter the balance that guarantees the independence and stability of Real Madrid,” Perez said. “It will be us, the members of today, who will have the responsibility of safeguarding our culture of values and ensuring that our club continues to lead world football for many generations to come.”

The Real Madrid president further explained the reform would “shield the club from external and internal attacks on our assets, and to highlight their value so that we are all aware of the treasure that we, as members, have in our hands”.

Spanish club ownership versus English

Real Madrid, like Barcelona and a small number of other Spanish football clubs, is classed as a nonprofit organisation as it is owned by its club members, or socios. Real Madrid, founded in 1902, has only ever had this ownership model.

This ownership structure prevents large private investors from forging a majority controlling stake in the clubs; it also means they can claim tax concessions.

This is despite the fact that Real Madrid was named the world’s wealthiest football club for the fourth straight year in 2025, with an estimated market valuation of $6.75bn, according to the Forbes List. It was also the first club to earn $1bn in revenue.

The nonprofit status allows Spanish clubs to preserve some traditions of their clubs and for members to take an active role in the organisations.

Graham Hunter, a British football journalist who specialises in Spanish football, pointed to the example of Joan Laporta, the current president of the other Spanish mega club, Barcelona.

“Laporta went from being a member and a lawyer to being [club] president in seven years,” he said.

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In stark contrast, football clubs in England or the United States – Manchester United or Inter Miami being just two examples – can be owned by individuals, corporations and in some instances, acquired on public stock exchanges, resulting in more commercialised ownership structures.

It means their club’s performances are often centred on more short-run processes like profit maximisation, whereas in Spain, the club is in the hands of fans – not large private investors – allowing scope for longer-term business strategies to be enacted.

If Perez’s plan goes ahead, this could open the door for this famous Spanish club to become more like its foreign rivals.

The high-profile, multi-billionaire boss of Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault, was named in Spanish media on Monday as a potential investor in the club, should the new minority ownership rules be adopted.

Fans reaction

Some Real Madrid fans did not share Perez’s enthusiasm to open up the club to large private investors.

David Garcia, a former season ticket holder at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, said Perez had previously told fans he would preserve the club for members.

“On Sunday, Florentino [Perez] misled the members again. He had told us that access to the club was restricted to the children or grandchildren of members to prevent a Russian or Chinese person from joining,” he told Al Jazeera.

Garcia added that in recent years, the rules of admission to membership had been changed several times, and Chinese and other foreigners had appeared on membership lists.

Alejandro Dominguez, a former vice president of the Real Madrid Veterans Pena, questioned why outside investors were needed to boost the coffers of such a profitable club.

“I don’t understand why we need more money when we are already the richest club in the world?” he told Al Jazeera.

However, Fernando Valdez, a lifelong Real Madrid fan who is part of La Gran Familia supporters club, said he believed the reform would not harm the character of the club.

“If we were selling off huge chunks of the club to raise money to compete with Paris Saint-Germain, then that would be worrying, as it would change the club forever. But it is not like that,” he said.

“We need to know more details about this, but on the face of it, it does not seem like anything to worry about. Five percent or 10% is nothing.”

David Alvarez, who writes about Real Madrid for El Pais newspaper, said Perez’s ownership plan was not designed to compete with other high-spending clubs like Manchester City.

“This will allow the club to pay dividends to socios (club members). At present, the law stops them from doing that. They would have to sell a much bigger stake to be able to compete with the other big clubs in Europe, so they are not trying to do that.”