​Real Madrid is not taking part in the agreement reached by Spain’s women’s league with Pau Gasol and other investors. The club said the arrangement does not fit the growth model for women’s football, which it views as based on sustainability, transparency, and the full autonomy of the clubs.
Liga F announced that it was entering a new phase with Gasol16 Ventures and Fortified Partners as strategic investors, a decision endorsed by the clubs at an extraordinary meeting in Madrid. The operation, valued at 55 million euros ($62.6 million), is to be carried out over four seasons and was described as the largest private capital investment to date in European women’s competition. Madrid noted that the private investors would receive a portion of the league’s future commercial revenues (between 35% and 49%) until June 2051, while the clubs affiliated with the operation would collectively receive 40 million euros ($45.6 million) but concede a share of revenues for 25 years.
Real Madrid said it respected the choices of clubs that decided to join the initiative, but emphasized that participation is voluntary and that different treatment or economic or institutional consequences for those who remain outside should not arise. The club argued that a decision with economic and governance implications spanning the next 25 years should consider not only the clubs currently in the league and benefiting from the resources of this operation, but also future Liga F members who will be bound by the approved model without having been involved in its decision-making or in receiving the initially distributed funding. Real Madrid added that about a quarter of the clubs in the league chose not to participate in the agreement.