Nadal Joins Real Madrid Board After Tennis Retirement

Rafael Nadal has accepted a place on the Real Madrid board, the football club confirmed on November 4 in a statement published on the club's website, in the tennis great's first formal role at the club he has supported for years.

The club's board of directors agreed at a meeting on Wednesday to put Nadal's appointment to the General Assembly of Delegate Members for ratification, according to an official statement on Real Madrid's website. The vote takes place at an extraordinary assembly on November 21, and Nadal would formally join the board if members approve the appointment.

Nadal thanked club president Florentino Perez on X and said he had accepted the proposal "with great enthusiasm", adding that he was eager to learn and contribute as much as he could. ESPN reported the appointment the same day, hours after the statement appeared on the club's website, and Nadal has maintained a close relationship with Perez for years.

Under the process set out in the statement, the board proposes the appointment and the assembly of delegate members gives the final approval. The assembly brings together delegate members elected to represent the club's wider membership. Real Madrid is owned by its members, and its board handles the club's affairs between assemblies. The statement gave no detail on whether Nadal would take on a particular area of work. The club said it was a source of great pride that a figure of Nadal's sporting and personal stature was joining its board, and that he would contribute to the club's present and future from his new responsibility.

The appointment is the latest of Nadal's ventures away from the court since his retirement, as Yardbarker described the announcement. Al Jazeera noted that the move brings a champion from another sport into the club's boardroom, and the board meeting that approved it took place on Wednesday, with the statement published on the club's website the same morning.

A long connection with the club

Nadal, 40, has been an honorary member of Real Madrid since March 2017 and is a long-time supporter of the club. He retired from professional tennis in November 2024 after a career that made him one of the most successful players in the sport's history. The club's statement described him as "one of the greatest legends in sports history" and one of the most admired and recognised Spanish athletes in the world.

The club's statement listed his achievements as a 22-time Grand Slam champion with 92 singles titles, two Olympic gold medals, five Davis Cup triumphs with Spain and a spell as world number one, according to Al Jazeera. Those titles came across almost twenty years at the top of the sport.

What Nadal will do on the board is less clear. The statement does not set out his responsibilities or say whether he will hold a specific portfolio, according to Insider Sport. He has long been talked about as a possible successor to Perez, who has led the club for many years, although Nadal has played down that prospect.

What happens next

Ratification of Nadal's appointment is the only item on the agenda of the extraordinary assembly later this month. The ordinary assembly held the same day will vote on the budget for the 2026/27 season and on member fees for 2027/28, both financial items on its agenda. Approval is expected.

Six months ago, Nadal denied reports that he would stand for president of the club, saying at the time that he had no plans to run. The election was the first time in 20 years that members had been asked to choose a president, and the reports linking Nadal with the job surfaced as members prepared to vote. His denial put an end to speculation that he would seek the top job so soon after retiring from tennis.

Elsewhere in sport this week, Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from Portugal after 23 years with the national team, saying in a video message that he would never play for his country again, while the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league shut down after its funding collapsed, with the breakaway league closing its doors instead of relaunching.