Real Madrid Claim World-Record for Revenue Across All of Sport Beating NFL Giant

Los Blancos reported more than €1 billion in revenue for the third straight year.

Real Madrid continue to bring in the money despite on-field issues. | Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Real Madrid have announced world-record revenues for a soccer club for the third year running, despite another trophyless season in 2025–26.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Spanish club reported an operating revenue of €1.221 billion ($1.39 billion) for 2025–26. The figures also represent a 3.1% increase on the 15-time European champions’ revenues from the year before. It is also the third year running that the club have broken the €1 billion ($1.14 billion) barrier—each time representing a new record in the world of soccer.

More remarkably, Madrid even claim that by passing the €1.2 billion mark, the club has reached world-record levels of revenue across across all sport.

“Real Madrid thus passes the 1,200 million euro barrier for the first time, a figure no other sports organization in the world has achieved to date and one that confirms the club as the revenue leader of the sports industry,” the statement reads.

For comparison, the Dallas Cowboys—previously seen as having the world’s highest revenues for a sports organization—generated an estimated $1.2 billion in 2024.

The NFL’s Cowboys sit top of Forbes’ famous rankings of the most valuable sports team in the world in 2025, with an estimated to be worth $13 billion. Madrid, meanwhile sit 20th—though this is not exclusively tied to revenue. Regardless of whether the Spanish club’s latest figures constitute a true sporting first, the numbers are still remarkable, especially given the club’s lack of recent on-field success.

As pointed out by The Athletic, Premier League champions Arsenal, by comparison, are expected to top the revenue charts in England for 2025-26 with around £800 million (€934 million, $1.06 billion).

Madrid report also claim the highest EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the club’s history at €287.4 million ($327 million) with the expensive revamp of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium a factor in their record-breaking season, with ‘stadium revenue’ recorded at €363 million (€413 million)—more than double the year before.

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Heavy Investment Continues as Club Chases On-Pitch Success

The challenge is making Madrid’s on-pitch performance match its financial success. | Angel Perez Meca/Europa Press via Getty Images

On the pitch, 2025–26 marked Real Madrid’s second without a major trophy, while manager Xabi Alonso left in January and was replaced by Álvaro Arbeloa.

A campaign that ended with in-fighting and disappointment has led to a summer of transition with José Mourinho appointed to help right the ship and reassert standards at Europe’s most successful club.

As stressed in Madrid’s statement “all profits are reinvested in the club”, and the benefits of the record revenues are being felt on the team, with player-related costs increasing by 14 per cent last season.

Around €161 million ($181 million) was spent on new signings across Dean Huijsen, Álvaro Carreras, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Franco Mastantuono in 2025-26, while this summer has already seen the club fork out around €75 million ($85 million) on new faces Marc Cucurella, Bernardo Silva, Ibrahima Konaté and Denzel Dumfries, with more expected to arrive.

Teenage winger Yan Diomande is expected to arrive soon in a deal worth well over €100 million ($113 million), while negotiations are underway to sign Manchester City’s Rodri, who is valued at around €50 million ($56 million).

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