Toy cars. Bingo halls. Malaysian plantations. Mexican gas stations. The source of wealth for La Liga’s club owners is diverse.

Year zero for the current era of La Liga ownership was 1992, when the Spanish government ruled almost all clubs should be turned from member-owned clubs into private limited companies — Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao’s Athletic Club and Osasuna are still owned by members.

The other clubs became controlled by wealthy families and, over time, outside investors. Current owners, presidents or big shareholders across the 20 teams now come from countries including the U.S., China, Singapore, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Bolivia and Israel.

Many of the setups are complex, and sometimes confusing. The biggest investors can be reclusive — even many Atletico Madrid fans will not know the world’s 120th richest person owns a chunk of their club — and many have some unusual qualifications. The below list includes a private detective, Pep Guardiola’s brother and a Wimbledon semi-finalist.

Here’s who owns the 20 top-flight clubs who competed in La Liga in 2024-25…

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Alaves

Owner: Josean Querejeta
President: Alfonso Fernandez de Troconiz
Since: 2013
Seasons in La Liga: 19
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €43.7m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €38.6m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €73m
Revenues 2023-24: €69.4m
Budget 2024-25: €77.3m
2024-25 final position: 15th

Alaves are one of the very few football teams in the world to have been bought by their basketball club neighbours.

The club’s principal owner is Josean Querejeta, a former pro basketball player for teams including Real Madrid and Saski Baskonia, the club in Alaves’ Basque home city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. After retirement, Querejeta made money from a chain of sweet shops called Gretel, and then in real estate. In 1988 he became the majority shareholder of Saski Baskonia, and led them to trophies in Spain and Europe.

In April 2011, Querejeta’s group was renamed Baskonia Alaves as it took over the football club, who were then struggling in the semi-pro third tier with debts of €21m after a disastrous spell under the presidency of Ukrainian-American businessman Dmitry Piterman. By 2016-17 they had returned to La Liga, where they have played for eight of the last nine seasons, and significantly strengthened their financial position.

Their 2024-25 budget is a record €77.3m. A poor run of results led to coach Luis Garcia Plaza being replaced in early December by Eduardo Coudet — the 19th coach since Querejeta took charge in 2013.

Baskonia Alaves have also invested in the Ondare education campus (where private university EUNEIZ is based) and The Faktory innovation centre (a business development centre for sports and entertainment innovation), while spending €50m on a new training facility for the football and basketball teams.

In December 2024, Querejeta presented a new strategic plan for further development off the pitch, including as yet undetailed plans for a new €100m stadium. He suggested he was open to external investors helping to make the team more competitive in La Liga.

Baskonia Alaves have also grown outside Spain — in summer 2018 they bought 85 per cent of Croatian top-flight team NK Istra.

Athletic Club

Owners: 43,649 socio members
President: Jon Uriarte
Since: 2022
Seasons in La Liga: 94 (all)
La Liga titles: Eight (most recently 1983-84)
2023-24 TV revenue: €67.5m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €100.8m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €367m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €134.9m
Budget 2024-25: €155.8m
2024-25 final position: 4th

Member-owned since their foundation in 1898, Athletic have 43,639 devoted owners, mostly drawn from the Basque province of Biscay, of which Bilbao is capital. They are renowned for their policy of only using Basque-born or formed players.

Elections at Athletic tend to be by far the most competitive of La Liga’s four member-owned clubs. The last vote in 2022 saw Inaki Arechabaleta pledge to return Marcelo Bielsa as coach if elected. But the surprise winner was Jon Uriarte — an entrepreneur who co-founded ticket portal Ticketbis, which was sold in 2016 to eBay for $165million.

Uriarte has looked to modernise the club’s operations off the pitch, but the power of Athletic’s socios was seen at last November’s annual members assembly, when a plan to raise some ticket prices at their San Mames stadium was voted down.

The ability of Athletic’s Lezama youth academy to produce talents coveted elsewhere meant the club’s cash reserves reached €186.2m in 2019, after sales of players such as Javi Martinez and Kepa Arrizabalaga. Those reserves now stand at €36.8m, having been hit by factors including the Covid-19 pandemic, bonuses from winning last season’s Copa del Rey, and lucrative contracts for current stars Unai Simon, Inaki Williams, Oihan Sancet and Nico Williams.

Qualification for next season’s Champions League by finishing fourth brings a financial boost and in theory should help keep those stars at San Mames.

Atletico Madrid

Owners: Atletico HoldCo & Idan Ofer
President: Enrique Cerezo (personal shareholding 15 per cent)
Since: 2003
Seasons in La Liga: 88
La Liga titles: 11 (most recently 2020-21)
2023-24 TV revenue: €117.9m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €310.7m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €515.8m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €395m
Budget 2024-25: €459m
2024-25 final position: 3rd

Atletico’s ownership situation has long been among the most interesting in La Liga.

Among the controversies was a 2003 share offering overseen by current club president Enrique Cerezo and former president Jesus Gil. In 2014, Spain’s supreme court declared it invalid. But by then, Spain’s statute of limitations meant that Miguel Angel Gil Marin (Jesus Gil’s son) and Cerezo (a movie producer by profession) could keep the shareholdings.

Atletico have come a long way since, especially during Diego Simeone’s 13 years and counting as coach. Gil Marin and Cerezo have maintained control while receiving help from partners including Azerbaijan’s government, China’s Wanda Group and Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim.

In November 2017, Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer’s Quantum Pacific bought 15 per cent of Atletico’s shares. The following February, Quantum Pacific bought Wanda’s 17 per cent share to increase its stake to 32 per cent. Ofer’s money comes from his family’s shipping business, while he also has interests in chemicals, energy and power. He is listed by Forbes as the 120th richest person in the world.

In summer 2021, Atletico’s ownership was reorganised with the creation of a new holding company, Atletico HoldCo, which controls around two thirds of the club’s shares — Ofer maintains his share. U.S. private equity firm Ares Management Corporation took a 34 per cent stake in the new entity for €220m. Gil Marin held 47 per cent and Cerezo 15.2 per cent.

Ares’ other sports investments include 10 per cent of NFL team the Miami Dolphins, as well as stakes in Inter Miami and the Eagle Football group, which owns Premier League side Crystal Palace, Ligue 1 club Lyon, Brazil’s Botafogo, and Belgium’s RWD Molenbeek. In a personal capacity, Ares’ partners Jim Miller and Mark Affolter are co-owners at Segunda Division side Real Zaragoza, where the ownership group also includes Inter Miami president Jorge Mas.

Barcelona

Owners: 133,164 club socios (members)
President: Joan Laporta
Since: 2003 to 2010 and 2021 to present
Seasons in La Liga: 94 (all)
La Liga titles won: 28
2023-24 TV revenue: €162.5m
2024-25 La Liga Salary limit: €426.4m
Squad value according to Transfermarkt: €1.02bn
Revenue 2023-24: €894m
Budget 2024-25: €893m
2024-25 final position: 1st

Barcelona have always been owned by its socios (members). As of June 2024, they had 133,164 — 50,797 living in the city of Barcelona, 70,201 in the rest of Catalonia, and 12,166 in the rest of the world.

Current president Joan Laporta, a lawyer and businessman, is a lifelong Barca fan. After a first term from 2003 to 2010, he had a short spell as a member of the Catalan regional parliament. He was re-elected as president of Barca in March 2021 with 54 per cent of the 55,611 total electorate.

On his return, Laporta inherited huge financial problems from his predecessor, Josep Maria Bartomeu. His signature policy has been to pull ‘levers’ — using future revenues to pay off historic debts and keep investing in the squad.

The club’s 2023-24 accounts showed a profit of €12m. However, that was before a €141m loss mandated by the club’s auditors, due to problems with their Barca Studios/Barca Vision levers. That left the club scrambling to find ways to register last summer’s €60m signing Dani Olmo for the second half of the season, before the Spanish government allowed them to play the Spain international and fellow summer arrival Pau Victor. Such lever pulling has raised fears among some socios that they could lose their ultimate control over the club’s decision-making.

Celta Vigo

Majority owner: Carlos Mourino/Grupo Corporativo GES
President: Marian Mourino
Since: 2023
Seasons in La Liga: 59
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €48.3m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €77.6m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €95.1m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €73.4m
Budget 2024-25: €107m
2024-25 final position: 7th

Carlos Mourino became Celta Vigo president in 2006 and he and his family have since had firm control. Mourino’s Grupo Corporativo GES currently controls about 75 per cent of shares, with the rest divided between local families and supporters.

Vigo-born Mourino made his fortune in Mexico — first in his wife’s family’s hotels business, then other industries including petrol stations, fast food franchises and construction.

Mourino has long rowed with Vigo mayor Abel Caballero over the running of its municipally owned Balaidos stadium, including threats to sell the club to Chinese investors if Caballero did not sell the ground to Celta (this never happened). Not coincidentally, the mega Galicia Sports 360 complex that Celta are building lies just beyond the city limits. La Liga’s €2bn deal with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is providing about half of the €185m funding.

In December 2023, Mourino (born in 1943) stepped down after 17 years as president. He was replaced by his daughter Marian, who has worked for decades in the family business in Mexico.

Espanyol

Owner: Rastar Group
President: Chen Yansheng
Since: 2016
Seasons in La Liga: 88
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €26.3m (in Segunda)
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €8.8m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €90.6m
Revenues 2023-24: €39.7m (in Segunda)
Budget 2024-25: €66.5m
2024-25 final position: 14th

Since their foundation in 1900, Barcelona-based Espanyol had been controlled by local businesspeople, until China’s Rastar Group bought over 56 per cent of shares in January 2016. The following August, Rastar Group, whose main business in China is making toy cars and video games, increased its stake to almost 100 per cent.

Rastar’s majority shareholder, Chen Yansheng, is Espanyol’s club president. Including the president’s son, Chen Chuang Huang, all its other board members are Chinese, except legendary player Rafa Maranon.

Rastar has continued to invest, even as the team have yo-yed between the top-flight and the second division. China’s record international goalscorer, Wu Lei, played for Espanyol from January 2019 to August 2022.

In November 2024, the club announced a new share issue that will take Rastar’s total investment since 2016 to an estimated €163m. But poor decisions in football and business have hurt the team. La Liga set Espanyol’s (nominal) salary limit at €8.8m for this season, due to the club having made losses in each of the last four campaigns, even after selling key players such as Cesar Montes and Sergi Darder.

President Chen spoke via TV link (in Chinese) at the club’s most recent AGM last December, saying the club’s current strategic plan involved “adapting to its current realities”.

The ownership has often been criticised by fans groups and the remaining few minority shareholders. But Chen has regularly denied any intention to sell and said at the AGM that “our commitment remains as strong as ever”.

Getafe

Owner: Angel Torres (shareholding of 99.3 per cent)
President: Angel Torres
Since: 2002
Seasons in La Liga: 20
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €49.8m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €39.2m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €77m
Total Revenue 2023-24: Not yet public
Budget 2024-25: €56.8m
2024-25 final position: 13th

Getafe are the only La Liga club whose owner was invited to take charge by the city’s mayor. This happened in 2002, when Getafe were in the third tier with debts of €10m and mayor Pedro Castro Vazquez turned to Torres, who had made millions during a construction boom in the 1980s, then invested in bars and bingo halls.

Under Torres’ presidency, the club won their first promotion to La Liga in 2004. The team became known as ‘Euro-Geta’ as they beat Tottenham Hotspur and Benfica on the way to the 2007-08 UEFA Cup quarter-finals. That made Torres a popular figure.

A Real Madrid fan as a kid — and still a socio of the Bernabeu club — Torres is the longest-serving club president and owner in La Liga. The only time an exit looked likely was when he announced in April 2011 that Getafe had been sold for €80m, only for the supposed Dubai-based purchasers to turn out to be hoaxers.

Despite playing in La Liga for 19 of the last 20 seasons, operating losses in recent seasons have required financial assistance from Torres and a €30m loan from UK-based Rights & Media Funding in 2021.

The club have been attempting to expand and modernise off-pitch operations. In 2023, a €53m renovation of their municipally owned Coliseum stadium and adjacent training ground was announced, mostly financed by La Liga’s CVC deal. Renovation of the Coliseum will begin this summer, and the 73-year-old Torres has repeated various times that “the stadium will be my final big project as president”.

Girona

Owners: City Football Group (47 per cent), Marcelo Claure (35 per cent), Pere Guardiola (16 per cent)
President: Delfi Geli
Takeover: 2017
Seasons in La Liga: 5
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €49.8m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €94.5m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €180.7m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €69m
Budget 2024-25: €113m
2024-25 final position: 16th

For most of their history, Girona were a low-profile, lower-division club whose shareholders were local Catalan fans, until French company TVSE Futbol bought an 80 per cent stake for about €3m in 2015.

In August 2017, just after Girona were promoted to La Liga for the first time, TVSE Futbol sold its stake, with Pere Guardiola (brother of Manchester City manager Pep) and the City Football Group (CFG) taking 44.3 per cent stakes. CFG owns or part-owns 12 other clubs worldwide, including Manchester City.

Pere Guardiola worked for Nike from 1997 to 2009, then set up the agency Media Base Sports, which was taken over completely by Chinese company DDMC in 2021. Guardiola then joined Netherlands-headquartered agency Sports Entertainment Group (SEG).

Bolivian/American businessman Marcelo Claure has owned 35 per cent of Girona’s shares since buying part of two thirds of Guardiola’s holding in 2020. An investor in companies such as T-Mobile, Claure is also a co-founder of Inter Miami. He was previously chief executive of Japanese investor SoftBank and WeWork. In April 2024, Forbes estimated Claure’s individual wealth to be $2billion.

Former Girona player Delfi Geli has remained as club president. After qualifying for this season’s Champions League, some board members closely connected to Manchester City were replaced, and CFG’s shareholding in Girona FC was put into an independent blind trust for 2024-25 to ensure compliance with UEFA rules and regulations.

Las Palmas

Majority shareholder: Miguel Angel Ramirez Alonso
President: Miguel Angel Ramirez Alonso
Since: 2011
Seasons in La Liga: 36
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €43.1m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €40.3m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €125.3m
Total Revenue 2023-24: Not made public
Budget 2024-25: €74.9m
2024-25 final position: 19th

Las Palmas president Miguel Angel Ramirez is the only La Liga owner with a 600-word resume on the club website, featuring a university qualification as a private detective and status as an ‘honorary pilot’ in Spain’s air force.

The profile also says Ramirez is the owner or shareholder in companies that turn over €300m annually and have more than 1,000 employees. His biggest business success was founding Seguridad Integral Canaria in 1995 — a security company that provided guards to clients including El Escorial, the palace where Spain’s kings and queens are buried, Madrid’s Metro and the public broadcaster Radio Television Espanola.

Ramirez became Las Palmas president in 2005, when the team were playing in the third tier and were €76m in debt. After going through a decade-long bankruptcy process, they played in La Liga from 2015-16 to 2017-18 and returned in 2023. Twenty-five first-team coaches have been hired and fired under Ramirez’s presidency, with the longest serving being former West Bromwich Albion coach Pepe Mel from 2019-22.

Ramirez currently controls a majority of Las Palmas’ shares, either personally or through his company Sport Trade Capital (believed to be 65 per cent). In June 2024, he told local radio that “two American groups” had tried to buy the club but “we’ve no intention to sell”. At an awkwardly timed AGM in May 2025, with the team set for relegation, Ramirez was ratified to continue as president until 2030.

Leganes

Owner: Blue Crow Sports Group
President: Jeff Luhnow
Since: 2022
Seasons in La Liga: 5
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €5.98 (in Segunda Division)
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €37.1m
Squad value according to Transfermarkt: €41m
Total Revenue 2023-24: Not yet public
Budget 2024-25: Not yet public
2024-25 final position: 18th

Texas-headquartered Blue Crow Group bought 99 per cent of the shares in then second-division club Leganes in June 2022 for a reported €39m.

Blue Crow was formed in 2021 by former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and Canadian investor Arvind Narayan. Among the company’s investors are various Astros shareholders, including part-owner of MLS side Houston Dynamo, Ben Guill.

Mexican-American Luhnow was a management consultant in tech and finance. After reading the book Moneyball, he transferred to baseball and was general manager when the Astros won their first ever World Series in 2017. Two years later, he was fired after a ‘sign stealing’ scandal. In 2022, Luhnow told The Athletic that he had learned from that experience, and that “winning has to be done following the rules”.

Blue Crow also owns Mexican second-tier club Cancun FC, Czech second-division side MFK Vyskov and Dubai-based Elite Falcons FC. The company has its own analytics team for scouting, squad building and player development, while each club also has independent local decision makers. Leganes — who are based in suburban Madrid — won the 2023-24 Segunda Division title with a squad whose total wage bill was around €10m.

Luhnow told The Athletic last August that “in five years’ time, Blue Crow should have eight clubs, each run on a local basis, with Leganes at the apex”.  Leganes’ relegation in May 2025 was a blow to those plans, but in May the president of Ligue 1 side Le Havre, Jean-Michel Roussier, told a press conference that Blue Crow was considering adding the club to its group.

Osasuna

Owners: 20,000 socio members
President: Luis Sabalza
Since: 2014
Seasons in La Liga: 43
2023-24 TV revenues: €51m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €51.9m
Squad market value per Transfermarkt: €109m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €71.2m
Budget 2024-25: €80.3m
2024-25 final position: 9th

Osasuna (the word means ‘health’ or ‘vigour’ in Basque) are the smallest of the four La Liga clubs still 100 per cent owned by their members.

The Pamplona-based club’s golden era came in the 2000s when they reached a first Copa del Rey final in 2005, then the 2006-07 UEFA Cup semi-finals. But when president Patxi Izco left in 2012, debts of €80m were discovered. The team were relegated in 2013-14, then became embroiled in the ‘Caso Osasuna’ match-fixing scandal.

The only candidate willing to take over as president in 2014 was the club’s former ‘socios’ defender (fans ombudsman) Luis Sabalza. Local businesspeople and former players chipped in to help with the required €1.8m deposit.

The club and team were slowly rebuilt, with a big focus on their Tajonar academy, with players including Mikel Merino and Alex Berenguer sold to pay off debts. The backbone of the side that reached the 2023 Copa del Rey final were homegrown players, including 2024 Olympics gold medal-winning attacking midfielder Aimar Oroz.

A 2023 census showed that 43 per cent of Osasuna’s members came from Pamplona, with most others living in its home province of Navarre. Presidential elections are due later in 2025, and it is unclear whether Sabalza, 77, will seek another term.

Rayo Vallecano

Majority owner: Raul Martin Presa (shareholding of 97.8 per cent)
President: Raul Martin Presa
Since: 2011
Seasons in La Liga: 22
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €45.4m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €45.4m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €67.9m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €55.3m
Budget 2024-25: Not public
2024-25 final position: 8th

Raul Martin Presa was just 34 and unknown in football when he took control of Rayo Vallecano in 2011. He had run advertising and graphic design businesses before paying a nominal fee of one cent per share to the club’s previous owners, the Ruiz-Mateos family. La Liga president Javier Tebas helped broker that deal in his previous role as a bankruptcy expert (Rayo’s debts then included €39m in unpaid taxes).

The Rayo president is hugely unpopular with most fans, especially the Bukaneros ultras, who often chant for his departure. Strife between the club’s left-leaning fanbase and conservative ownership has been constant for decades — former owner Jose Maria Ruiz-Mateos had made his fortune during General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship but was jailed for corruption when his companies collapsed after democracy returned.

There have also been regular issues between the squad and the club hierarchy through Martin Presa’s tenure, such as players protesting when club staff were furloughed during the pandemic. Coaches are often given ‘presidential’ signings who don’t fit their plans — previously Radamel Falcao and this season James Rodriguez. The club’s accounts for 2023-24 showed a profit of €4m, but also mentioned ongoing legal proceedings with the Spanish tax authorities over €28m in historical taxes allegedly not paid between 1996 and 2002.

The crumbling three-sided Estadio de Vallecas is by far the Spanish top-flight stadium in the worst condition. Meanwhile, Rayo are the only one of the 39 clubs who joined La Liga’s CVC investment deal but have yet to spend any of the funds due to them.

Qualifying for next season’s Europa Conference League was a tremendous achievement by the team, but it means the ground will need significant improvements to meet UEFA standards. Martin Presa said in January 2025 that moving to a new ground was “vital for survival” of the club but no serious plans have yet been put forward to do this.

Real Betis

Owners: Local families
President: Angel Haro (20 per cent shareholding)
Since: 2016
La Liga titles: One (1934-35)
Seasons in La Liga: 59
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €68.2m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €109m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €173.1m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €138.6m
Budget 2024-25: €142.9m
2024-25 final position: 6th

During two decades under president Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, Betis broke the world transfer record to buy Brazilian Denilson for 500m pesetas (about €40m) in 1998, played in the Champions League in the mid 2000s, and went into bankruptcy proceedings in 2011 due to debts of almost €80m.

After Lopera was forced out by the Spanish courts, the current ownership group headed by Angel Haro and Jose Miguel Lopez Catalan took control in September 2015.

Club president Haro owns Seville-based energy and engineering company Wingenia. Lopez Catalan is a technology entrepreneur and club vice-president. Both now own around 20 per cent each of the club shares. Other smaller shareholders include local businessmen, fans and former player Joaquin Sanchez (who owns about three per cent).

In September, the club received €125m funding via Goldman Sachs, refinancing previous debts and providing liquidity and solvency going forward. At their December 2024 AGM, a motion to change the club statutes to allow foreign investors to buy shares was passed, while reaching the 2025 Conference League final against Chelsea which they lost has further improved the club’s global visibility.

Real Madrid

Owners: 95,612 club members
President: Florentino Perez
Since: 2000 to 2006, and 2009 to present
Seasons in La Liga: 94 (all)
La Liga titles: 36 (most recently 2023-24)
2023-24 TV revenue: €159.6m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €754.9m
Squad value according to Transfermarkt: €1.41bn
Revenue 2023-24: €1.07bn
Budget 2024-25: €1.1bn
2024-25 final position: 2nd

“Real Madrid has no owner, it belongs only to its socios,” Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said in 2016. A democratic ethos is integral to Madrid’s self-image, though few doubt Perez is the socio most responsible for setting the club’s policies during his spells as president, from 2000 to 2006, and 2009 to present.

Perez has been going to the Bernabeu since he was a boy during Madrid’s first golden age in the 1950s. An engineer by profession, he worked for Madrid’s town hall before entering business by taking over a small, bankrupt construction company in 1983. That company has become ACS Group, a global conglomerate whose activities in civil engineering, construction, technology and public services generated sales of €41.6 billion in 2024. Perez is ACS president, with a personal shareholding of 14.5 per cent, worth more than €1bn.

Madrid’s revenues have rocketed under Perez’s stewardship and he proudly said at last November’s club assembly that Madrid were the first football team with annual revenue topping €1bn.

He also announced a coming referendum on “the club’s corporate reorganisation”, prompting fears of Madrid being ‘privatised’, though Perez has long argued his first priority is to protect its socio model.

Although any club member can run for the presidency, Perez has not faced a challenge since his return in 2009. Candidates must be Spanish citizens with 20 years as a Madrid socio who can personally guarantee 15 per cent of the club’s annual budget — i.e. over €150m. Last January, Perez, 78, was re-elected unopposed, again, to the position until 2029.

Real Mallorca

Owner: Andy Kohlberg (majority shareholder among US investors)
President: Andy Kohlberg
Since: 2016
Seasons in La Liga: 32
2023-24 TV revenues: €46.4m
La Liga salary cap: €58.8m
Squad value according to Transfermarkt: €82.7m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €71.2m
Budget 2024-25: €64m
2024-25 final position: 10th

Real Mallorca were wracked by financial and institutional turmoil for some years, including bitter public battles between competing shareholders, before new U.S. owners arrived in January 2016.

That group was led by current president Andy Kohlberg along with his former Phoenix Suns co-owner Robert Sarver, with other smaller shareholders including ex-NBA star Steve Nash and former USMNT player Stu Holden.

Kohlberg is a former tennis pro and was a Wimbledon mixed doubles semi-finalist in 1987, who later made millions in senior care in the U.S.. He became Mallorca’s majority shareholder in June 2023, when Sarver’s connection with the club ended after a racism scandal, which also forced him to sell his Phoenix Suns shares.

The first years of Mallorca’s U.S. ownership brought ups and downs, including dropping to the third tier for a season, while historic debts of €30m were paid off. The team has stabilised in La Liga for four seasons now and reached the 2024 Copa del Rey final.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr became a minority investor in August 2023, during a share offering that raised €14.7m and brought total investment from owners to over €60m. “We’ve always taken a long-term perspective,” Kohlberg told The Athletic in April 2024. “Our objective is to be a top 10 club, competing for Europe.”

Real Sociedad

Owners: Multiple small shareholdings
President: Jokin Aperribay
Since: 2008
La Liga titles: Two (most recently 1981-82)
Seasons in La Liga: 78
2023-24 TV revenues: €70.7m
La Liga salary cap: €159.3m
Squad value according to Transfermarkt: €383.8m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €161m
Budget 2024-25: €149m
2024-25 final position: 11th

Real Sociedad are unique as the only La Liga club who are a private company in which no one shareholder can have a stake of more than two per cent.

Local businessman Jokin Aperribay was elected president in December 2008, with the club facing bankruptcy due to debts of more than €40m and the team in the second division.

Aperribay’s father, Joaquin, was vice-president in the early 1980s when La Real won two La Liga titles. The family are controlling shareholders of SAPA, a manufacturer of transmission systems for military vehicles, though Jokin Aperribay rarely talks publicly about his family’s business activities, which include a SAPA factory in Michigan.

Under his presidency the club have grown while keeping their local ethos, with debts wiped out, a Copa del Rey victory in 2019-20, and regular participation in European competition.

The club accounts for 2023-24 showed a profit of €1.2m and revenue of €161m, and were approved by 99.8 per cent of voting shareholders at last December’s AGM.

Real Valladolid

Owner: Ronaldo
President: Ronaldo
Since: 2022
Seasons in La Liga: 47
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €18.4m (in Segunda)
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €41.8m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €40.4m
Revenues 2023-24: not public
Budget 2024-25: €58.7m
2024-25 final position: 20th

Real Valladolid had always been controlled by wealthy families from the central Spanish city until ex-Brazil star Ronaldo bought a 51 per cent stake from previous club president Carlos Suarez in September 2018.

The two-time Ballon d’Or winner, twice World Cup winner and 98-cap former Brazil forward has a wide range of business interests, including in marketing, finance, media and property.

In October 2024, the 48-year-old spent €5.6m in a share offering, taking his total investment to more than €35m and total shareholding to 88 per cent.

Since 2018, Valladolid have bounced around between the first and second divisions, with three relegations and two promotions. When the team is on the up, Ronaldo is been relatively popular, but when the team struggles, chants of ‘Ronaldo go home’ often ring around their Jose Zorrilla stadium. There were regular protests and calls for him to sell the club during a disastrous 2024-25 campaign in which they finished bottom.

Ronaldo had been open about his investment in Valladolid being a business decision. He bought 90 per cent of Brazilian club Cruzeiro in December 2021, and sold it in April 2024 for an estimated £30m profit.

In May 2025, Valladolid announced that Ronaldo had sold the club to a group of North American investors with the backing of a European fund. That deal still requires a green light from the Spanish government.

Sevilla

Owners: Local families
President: Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco
Takeover: 2023
La Liga titles: 1 (1945-46)
Seasons in La Liga: 81
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €72.5m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €2.5m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €175m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €174.9m
Budget 2024-25: €120.9m
2024-25 final position: 17th

Sevilla are one of the very few La Liga clubs where groups of powerful Spanish families have retained control. The Del Nido family has the largest holding of around 24 per cent, the Sevillistas de Nervion group has 22 per cent, former club president Rafael Carrion has 15 per cent and Sevillistas Unidos 2020 has eight per cent.

Unloved Americans 777 Partners — which also invested in Serie A’s Genoa, Belgian club Standard Liege and the Bundesliga’s Hertha Berlin, and tried unsuccessfully to buy Everton — bought around 13 per cent during an unsuccessful bid for control a few years ago. After 777 hit serious funding and legal problems, control of their shareholding passed to creditors A-Cap, but their Sevilla shareholding has been blocked by a Spanish court for now.

Jose Maria del Nido Benavente was Sevilla president from 2002 to 2013, when he was jailed for the misappropriation of public funds. His son, Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco, is now president, allied with current VP Jose Castro, who held the position until December 2023.

Del Nido Benavente is currently launching an extremely bitter legal battle to regain control, pitting father against son.

Despite the team winning the Europa League in 2020 and 2023, Sevilla’s finances have worsened significantly through recent years, and the club’s 2023-24 losses were €81.8m. In March 2024 they took a €108m loan, organised by Goldman Sachs.

There were angry protests against Del Nido Jr during the 2024-25 season, including fans breaking into the training ground in early May amid relegation fears, and the current president requiring private security at his home and the stadium.

Many around Sevilla believe a new investor, whether local or international, will eventually buy out all the feuding parties. But finding such a saviour, and organising a takeover, looks quite difficult given all the financial issues and institutional turmoil.

Valencia

Owner: Peter Lim
President: Lay Hoon Chan
Since: 2014
La Liga titles: Six (most recent 2003-04)
Seasons in La Liga: 90
2023-24 La Liga TV revenues: €59.2m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €74.6m
Squad market value according to Transfermarkt: €214.9m
Revenues 2023-24: Not public
Budget 2024-25: €99.1m
2024-25 final position: 12th

In October 2014, Peter Lim paid €94m for 70 per cent of Valencia’s shares, while pledging to invest another €100m. The club’s first foreign owner was mostly welcomed by local fans after years of institutional turmoil left debts of more than €300m.

Lim rose from humble origins to become a star stockbroker, becoming one of Singapore’s richest men in the early 1990s after investing in Malaysian palm oil plantations. He has since diversified into real estate, healthcare, fashion and sports. From 2014 to 2024 he was a part-owner of English lower-division club Salford City with the former Manchester United players known as the ‘Class of 92’.

There have been moments of success, such as the 2019 Copa del Rey victory, but budget cuts have seen the team’s competitive levels drop significantly. Local fans and pundits have been annoyed by links to Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes and the club hiring Lim’s friend (and former Salford co-owner) Gary Neville as coach.

Last September, La Liga president Javier Tebas praised Lim’s financial management of the club, pointing out he had invested lots of his own money (an estimated €190m, including loans), while previous local owners left behind huge debts.

Fan groups and some former Valencia directors have tried to get Lim to sell without success. President Lay Hoon Chan said at a stormy club AGM in December 2024 that “attractive” offers would be “studied” by Lim but none had been received. Industry sources say it would take €400m at least to make him consider a sale. The team’s revival through the second half of the 2024-25 under new coach Carlos Corberan avoided a financially disastrous relegation.

Work restarted on the club’s new stadium, which stood half-built for 15 years, in January. That project will cost €325m, including €80m from La Liga’s CVC deal and money raised from land sales. Completing the new stadium and selling their current (old) Mestalla home would make sense before any sale occurs.

Villarreal

Owner: Fernando Roig (98.79 per cent shares)
President: Fernando Roig
Since: 1997
Seasons in La Liga: 25
2023-24 TV revenues: €63.3m
2024-25 La Liga salary cap: €135.9m
Squad value according to Transfermarkt: €218.6m
Total Revenue 2023-24: €162.8m
Budget 2024-25: €143.4m
2024-25 final position: 5th

In May 1997, Fernando Roig became the majority shareholder and president of Villarreal. The following season the team from a town of just 50,000 people achieved their first promotion to the Primera Division. Since then, it has often punched above its weight domestically and in Europe.

Roig is owner and president of Spanish ceramics giant Pamesa, the club’s long-time shirt sponsor. He also owns nine per cent of the huge Mercadona supermarket chain, which is run by his brother Juan. A third brother, Francisco, was Valencia president from 1994 to 1997.

Villarreal’s El Madrigal stadium was renamed Estadio La Ceramica in January 2017, in a nod to Roig having invested more than €200m in the club over the previous decades. The stadium has been further remodelled recently using money from the league’s CVC deal.

The business model continues to centre on developing young talent, from Diego Forlan to Santi Cazorla to Nicolas Jackson, and reinvesting profits when sold. Securing Champions League again for 2025-26 is further reward for Roig’s steady stewardship of the club.

(Top image, from left to right: Perez, Laporta, Lim; Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto, Florencia Tan Jun, Josep Lago/ AFP via Getty Images)