Real Madrid have announced world-record revenues for a football club for the third year running, as turnover increased for the fifth consecutive season in 2025-26.In a release issued by the club on Tuesday, Madrid announced €1.221billion in top-line revenues, the first time any club has claimed to surpass €1.2bn, and a three per cent uplift on the Spanish club’s own figure from a season earlier.That, however, includes at least €23.5million in ‘income’ derived from the reversal of a provision related to an EU Commission lawsuit settled last September. Madrid have historically included such provision surpluses as income even where many other clubs do not; removing the amount would dip 2025-26 revenues below that headline €1.2bn mark.Even so, Madrid’s revenue-earning power remains mightily impressive, well beyond anyone else’s and continuing to grow even in a season where the club won nothing on the field for the first time in five years. In England, where much of football’s money increasingly resides, Arsenal are expected to top revenue charts for 2025-26 with around £800m, or €935m — a long way behind their Spanish counterparts.Madrid also announced record EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of €287m, up €44m (18 per cent) on 2024-25. EBITDA is a sort-of proxy for cash operating profit, though is open to manipulation. In Madrid’s example, their EBITDA figure includes player sale profits, which generally isn’t included at other clubs (nor when The Athletic presents its own analysis of club EBITDA numbers).Their latest figures show the continuing benefit of the expensive refurbishment of the club’s Bernabeu home. What Madrid define as ‘stadium revenue’ hit €363m last season, more than double what it was before the remodelling works and up €36m (11 per cent) in a year. Around €10m of that was however derived from the sale of personal seat licenses (PSLs), whereby buyers secure the right to buy season tickets for the next 30 years, alongside certain “exclusive services” within the Bernabeu.Real Madrid’s stadium has been a positive source of income for the club (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)Madrid’s stadium is generating them plenty of money, even as a dispute over noise levels shut down the club’s ability to host live concerts across last season. That €363m represented growth but was actually €39m below where Madrid budgeted 2025-26 stadium revenues to be, and meant the overall presented figure of €1.221bn fell €27m short of budget (better than envisaged TV money lessened the below). The Bernabeu refurbishment has not been without its troubles, some of which continue to crop up.In late June, the Spanish Supreme Court nixed plans to build two new car parks next to the Bernabeu, for which the city’s town hall were going to pay Madrid €561m to construct and then manage the facilities over 40 years. Madrid were required to put up nearly €100m in construction costs alongside managing the car parks over the next four decades, but initial estimates indicated sizeable profit for the club which now won’t materialise.One high-ranking club source, however, speaking to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity, refuted the apparent magnitude of that Supreme Court ruling. The expected net income from the car parks did not, in their view, “move the needle” and they offered the view that Madrid’s eventual take would be lower than has previously been reported. As well, the club’s construction costs to date total only around €20m, a sum they now intend to seek recompense for. Yet even as club officials downplay the impact, Madrid embarked upon that element of the project for a reason, and its scrapping leaves a hole in past plans.Madrid say the overall renovation project is now “practically complete”, and infrastructure expenditure should start falling as a result. A further €60.7m went into the Bernabeu works in 2025-26, taking overall investment in the project beyond €1.4bn.That, in turn, has generated a substantial debt stack, albeit the timing of repayments has been designed to utilise those bumper revenues the club is now enjoying from a world-class home.Those repayments meant that while a further €61m was spent on the project, the debt related to it fell slightly, from €1.132bn to €1.108bn. Madrid took out three tranches of debt to fund the works, though the €26m in annual repayments due on the final tranche do not begin until November 2027. From thereon the club will repay €66m annually on the Bernabeu project, a big sum, but one which they intend growing stadium revenues will more than cover.The club’s non-stadium debt had fallen by the end of June 2026 too, down to €92m from around double that a year earlier, albeit that has been mirrored by a year-on-year fall in Madrid’s cash balance.Madrid’s huge costsDespite huge revenues, costs eat substantially into club cash. The Athletic reported earlier this year that, at the end of 2025, Madrid’s cash balance was just €3.5m. Moreover, our deep dive into the club’s books last year highlighted a situation whereby the June-end cash balance is routinely below the wage bill payable in July (Madrid players are paid twice annually, once in July and once in December).That payable figure is not disclosed in this latest release but, with just €83m cash on hand at the end of June, the pattern has undeniably continued. Madrid have plenty of resource to meet liabilities: our deep dive detailed how sponsorship payments from big deals with Adidas and Emirates are timed to align with payroll expenditure, and they also had €475m in undrawn credit lines to call upon as at the end of June.The same high-ranking source mentioned earlier advised The Athletic the credit lines were, naturally, tapped into in July to meet liabilities, and debt is not in and of itself a problem, but it does highlight the huge cost of running an operation like Madrid.Madrid were, for the 24th consecutive season, profitable again in 2025-26, booking a €26.3m post-tax surplus (up €1.9m and eight per cent on 2024-25). In a sport where hardly anyone makes a profit, that’s notable, even if it does include quirks like those provision surpluses and the one-off sales of PSLs.The level of profit does look rather small in the context of around €1.2bn in revenues, though Madrid are member-owned and, by nature, not looking to rack up big surpluses.The club is keen to stress that all of its monies are reinvested in the club itself and, while there have been recent complaints from president Florentino Perez about having to compete with heavily backed foreign clubs in the transfer market, Madrid are hardly skimping either.Across Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras and Franco Mastantuono, €161m went on new signings in 2025-26 and, while no breakdown of wages is yet available, ‘sports staff expenses’ (sporting wages plus the amortisation of transfer fees) jumped sharply, from €540m to €618m. As a proportion of revenue that is still healthier than most clubs, but costs are climbing.Even so, expect more to be added this summer. Huijsen and Mastantuono were expensive signings for the club last summer (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)Summer signings and player wagesAs reported by The Athletic on Sunday, Madrid are now in pole position to sign RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande, in a deal which will cost them upwards of €100m. Work is ongoing to extract World Cup winner Rodri from Manchester City, too.When questioned on the likelihood of those deals materialising, a club source refused to be drawn, but did highlight that, currently, Madrid’s incomings — from the sale of Nico Paz alongside sell-on fees relating to Victor Munoz and Alvaro Rodriguez — exceed what they have so far spent on Marc Cucurella and Denzel Dumfries. Those credit lines have significant headroom if Madrid want to tap them further. Put another way: there is money to be spent.Madrid under Perez have long been keen to downplay any hint of financial concern, employing various mechanisms to ensure the club is shown in the best possible light. Utilisation of provisions and one-off revenue items boost the top-line and keep the club in the black; canny cash flow management keeps reporting date debt down. Stadium debt is routinely presented with less vigour than the much lower non-stadium debt.None of which points to imminent trouble, but running the club is not the breeze it is sometimes presented as. Going really big on players would increase a day-to-day net debt balance the club are keen to present as near nil. There is balance required in Madrid.Marc Cucurella's move to Real Madrid from ChelseaDavid Ornstein and moreOf course, helping make everything smoother are those world-record revenues. Even in a year where they won nothing and club store revenues took a 20 per cent hit as a result, Madrid remained a marketing behemoth: by their categorisation, marketing revenues of €539m are up 82 per cent on the pre-Bernabeu remodelling days. The tranche of marketing revenues driven by sponsorships and licensing was up 17 per cent in 2025-26 alone.More growth is expected. Bernabeu Infinito, an immersive, virtual reality experience for fans, launched recently. The club are keen to tap new technologies to their fullest extent to drive that top-line. And a fully-operating Bernabeu will keep the euros rolling in. Per Tuesday’s release, 93 per cent of Madrid’s €464m increase in turnover since 2018-19 stems from “revenue directly managed by the club” or, in other words, non-broadcast revenues. The stadium project has propelled income into new territory for a football club.Madrid’s full 2025-26 financials won’t be released until September, whereupon greater insight will be drawn. A full reckoning of the current financial position is impossible without that forthcoming detail but, for now, Real Madrid’s earning power pits the club exactly where it always wishes to be: at the top and in the headlines.