Further reading

Further reading

Wahl, Grant (31 October 2011). "Beckham's Last Stand: In the fifth and final year of his MLS contract, he's back at the top of his game at last. Now, as the 2011 playoffs begin, he and the Galaxy look to stamp his American experiment a success by winning a championship". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 28 October 2011. "'In [Major League Soccer] his ability to hold the ball in that position and pass makes him unique,' says [coach Bruce] Arena. 'He's right in the middle of things. In every game, he touches the ball the most of any player.'

cc• A Londoner, Beckham supported Manchester United as a boy and joined the club at 14, winning the FA Youth Cup and making his first-team debut in 1992.
• Developed into an industrious, technically gifted right-sided midfielder, winning the Premier League/FA Cup double in 1996 and adding the UEFA Champions League to those two trophies in the club's famous treble-winning season of 1998/99.
• Won his first cap for England in September 1996 versus Moldova but was sent off at his first major tournament – against Argentina at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
• Struck a winning penalty against the same opponents in the 2002 tournament, after scoring a crucial added-time free-kick against Greece in the final qualifier, but was less successful, as skipper, at UEFA EURO 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, after which he resigned the captaincy.
• Left United for Madrid in 2003 after winning his sixth Premier League title with the club; four years at the Santiago Bernabéu yielded just one major honour – the 2006/07 Spanish championship in his final season, under Fabio Capello, during which he announced his forthcoming departure for Major League Soccer and a lucrative deal with LA Galaxy.
• Returned from the United States for loan spells at Milan while remaining a member of Capello's England squad. He overtook Bobby Moore to become his country's most capped outfield player when he made his 109th international appearance in a 4-0 friendly win against Slovakia in March 2009.
• A torn left Achilles tendon sustained while playing for Milan on 14 March 2010 destroyed his hopes of competing on the world stage again, in South Africa, but he remains the only England player to have scored in three World Cups.
• Helped LA Galaxy retain the MLS Cup in his final appearance for the club in December 2012 and, after much deliberation, signed a five-month deal with PSG on the final day of the transfer window the following month.

First-team squad

As of 25 January 2012.^[118]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Iker Casillas (captain)[119] 2 DF Raphaël Varane 3 DF Pepe 4 DF Sergio Ramos (vice-captain)[119] 5 DF Fábio Coentrão 6 MF Sami Khedira 7 FW Cristiano Ronaldo 8 MF Kaká 9 FW Karim Benzema 10 MF Mesut Özil 11 DF Ricardo Carvalho 12 DF Marcelo (vice-captain)[119] 13 GK Antonio Adán

No. Position Player 14 MF Xabi Alonso 15 MF Michael Essien (on loan from Chelsea) 17 DF Álvaro Arbeloa 18 DF Raúl Albiol 19 MF Luka Modrić 20 FW Gonzalo Higuaín (vice-captain)[119] 21 MF José Callejón 22 MF Ángel di María 25 GK Diego López 27 DF Nacho Fernández 29 FW Álvaro Morata 35 GK Jesús Fernández

 

Popular culture

 

Real Madrid was the featured club in the second edition of the Goal! football movie trilogy, Goal! 2: Living the Dream... (2007). The film follows former Newcastle United star Santiago Muñez as he is first scouted, and then signed by Real Madrid for the 2005–06 season. The film's creators wanted to put emphasis on the changes in Muñez's life after his move to Madrid. Production was done with the full support of UEFA, allowing the film crew to use many real life players in cameo roles. Real Madrid squad members featured in the film included Iker Casillas, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Sergio Ramos, Robinho, Thomas Gravesen, Michael Owen, Míchel Salgado, Júlio Baptista, Steve McManaman, Jonathan Woodgate, and Iván Helguera. Non-Real Madrid players to make cameo appearances included Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o, Andrés Iniesta, Pablo Aimar, Fredrik Ljungberg, Cesc Fàbregas, Santiago Cañizares and others. In the film, both Florentino Pérez and Alfredo Di Stéfano presented the fictional player Muñez to the club after his signing.^[116]
Real, The Movie is a 2005 part feature, part documentary film that showcases the world-wide passion for Real Madrid C.F. Produced by the club and directed by Borja Manso, it follows five sub-stories of fans from around the world and their love for Real Madrid. Along with the fictional portion of the film, it also contains real footage of the squad, during training at Ciudad Real Madrid, matches, and interviews. Although the film mentions all of the squad, it mainly focuses on galácticos such as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Raúl, Luís Figo, Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, and Roberto Carlos, among others. The film was originally produced in Spanish, but has been dubbed for their world-wide fanbase.
The book White Storm: 100 years of Real Madrid by Phil Ball was the first English-language history of Real Madrid. Published in 2002, it talks about the most successful moments of the club during its first centenary, having been translated into various languages.
On 7 December 2011, Real Madrid released a dance adaptation of the club's anthem, "Himno del Real Madrid", titled "Everybody" as the first single from an upcoming album entitled The Legends: The Official Real Madrid Digital Music Album. It was created Australian DJs The Stafford Brothers.^[117]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finances and ownership

t was under Florentino Pérez's first presidency (2000–2006) that Real Madrid started its ambition of becoming the world's richest professional football club.^[96] The club ceded part of its training grounds to the city of Madrid in 2001, and sold the rest to four corporations: Repsol YPF, Mutua Automovilística de Madrid, Sacyr Vallehermoso and OHL. The sale eradicated the club's debts, paving the way for it to buy the world's most expensive players such as Zinédine Zidane, Luís Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham. The city had previously rezoned the training grounds for development, a move which in turn increased their value, and then bought the site.^[30] The EU-commission started an investigation into whether the city overpaid for the property, to be considered a form of state subsidy.^[97] The sale of the training ground for office buildings cleared Real Madrid's debts of €270m and enabled the club to embark upon an unprecedented spending spree which brought big-name players to the club. In addition, profit from the sale was spent on a state-of-the-art training complex on the city's outskirts.^[98] Although Pérez's policy resulted in increased financial success from the exploitation of the club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia, it came under increasing criticism for being too focused on marketing the Real Madrid brand, and not enough on the performances of the team.
By September 2007, Real Madrid was considered the most valuable football brand in Europe by BBDO.^[99] In 2008, it was ranked the second most valuable club in football, with a value of €951 mil (£640 million / $1.285 billion),^[100] only beaten by Manchester United, which was valued at €1.333 billion (£900 million).^[101] In 2010, Real Madrid had the highest turnover in football worldwide.^[102] In September 2009, Real Madrid's management announced plans to open its own dedicated theme park by 2013.^[103]
A study at Harvard University concluded that Real Madrid "is one of the 20 most important brand names and the only one in which its executives, the players, are well-known. We have some spectacular figures in regard to worldwide support of the club. There are an estimated 287 million people worldwide who follow Real Madrid."^[104] In 2010, Forbes evaluated Real Madrid's worth to be around €992 million (USD $1,323 million), ranking them second after Manchester United, based on figures from the 2008–09 season.^[105][106] According to Deloitte, Real Madrid had a recorded revenue of €401 million in the same period, ranking first.^[107]
Along with FC Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna, Real Madrid is organised as a registered association. This means that Real Madrid is owned by its supporters who elect the clubs president. The club president cannot invest his own money into the club^[108] it can only spend what it earns, this is mainly derived through merchandise sales, television rights and ticket sales. Unlike a limited company, it is not possible to purchase shares in the club, but only membership.^[109] The members of Real Madrid, called socios, form an assembly of delegates which is the highest governing body of the club.^[110] As of 2010 the club has 60,000 socios.^[111] At the end of the 2009–10 season, the club board of directors of the club stated that Real Madrid had a net debt of €244.6 million, 82.1 million lower than the previous fiscal year. Real madrid announced that it had a net debt of €170 million after the 2010-11 season.^[112]
From 2007 to 2011 the club made a net profit of €190 million.^[113][114]
During the 2009-10 season the Real Madrid made €150 million through ticket sales, which was the highest in top flight football.^[113] Real Madrid has the highest number of shirt sales a season, around 1.5 million.^[113]
For the 2010-11 season its wage bill totalled €169 million, which was second highest in Europe behind FC Barcelona.^[115] However its wage bill to turnover ratio was the best in Europe at 43%, ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal F.C. at 46% and 50% respectively.

El Derbi madrileño

The club's nearest neighbour is Atlético Madrid, a rivalry being shared between fans of both football teams. Although Atlético was originally founded by three Basque students in 1903, it was joined in 1904 by dissident members of Madrid FC. Further tensions came because initially Real supporters came from the middle class while the Atlético supporters were drawn from the working class. Today these distinctions are largely blurred. They met for the first time on 21 February 1929 in matchday three of the first League Championship at the former Chamartín. It was the first official derby of the new tournament, and Real won 2–1.^[11] The rivalry first gained international attention in 1959 during the European Cup when the two clubs met in the semi-final. Real won the first leg 2–1 at the Bernabéu while Atlético won 1–0 at the Metropolitano. The tie went to a replay and The Whites won 2–1. Atlético, however, gained some revenge when, led by former Real Madrid coach José Villalonga, it defeated The Whites in two successive Copa del Generalísimo finals in 1960 and 1961.^[93]
Between 1961 and 1989, when Real dominated La Liga, only Atlético offered it any serious challenge, winning Liga titles in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. In 1965, Atlético became the first team to beat Real at the Bernabéu in eight years. Real Madrid's record against Atlético in more recent times is very favorable.^[94] A high point coming in the 2002–03 season, when The Whites clinched the La Liga title after an impressive victory at Atlético 0–4 at the Vicente Calderón Stadium.^[95]