Who is Atletico Madrid in the World of Football…

​Atlético Madrid’s brand is built on being the people’s club in a city dominated by royalty. Where Real Madrid sells glamour and inevitability, Atleti leans into barrio energy: working-class, emotional, loud, and stubborn. Their identity is about effort, sacrifice, and loyalty more than perfection or flair.

Even as they’ve gone global, they still present themselves as a neighborhood club that happens to play on a giant stage. You don’t just support Atlético, you join a tribe that suffers together, fights together, and celebrates like crazy when it finally pays off.

Who is Apollo Sports Capital

Apollo Sports Capital is Apollo’s new dedicated platform for sports and live events, built to sit right at the crossroads of teams, tournaments, venues, and big cultural moments. Led by longtime sports executive Al Tylis, the group’s pitch is that they’re not just buying into clubs, they’re helping shape the wider ecosystem fans touch – from football to tennis to large-scale events.

In practice, that already means backing and helping to shape projects like Atlético de Madrid’s next chapter.

The Vision Apollo Has for Atletico

Atlético de Madrid’s next chapter is and innovative one and doesn’t stop just at the training ground or in the transfer market, but across the whole “Ciudad del Deporte” sports-and-entertainment district around the stadium. The vision is a club that lives well beyond 90 minutes on a Sunday. Hotels, restaurants, retail, events, fan experiences, and non-football programming that keep the Atleti badge visible and relevant every day of the week. Layered on top of that, Apollo’s wider live events activities including stakes in properties like the Madrid and Miami Open tennis tournaments. That shows they’re thinking in terms of a portfolio of experiences, not isolated bets in different sports.

Apollo’s ideas are simple. It’s to use its capital and structuring know-how to build long-term, experience-driven sports brands. For Atlético, that means keeping its “neighborhood, people’s-club” identity while operating with the scale and sophistication of an entertainment platform. If it works, Atleti becomes a year-round destination where suffering, loyalty, and noise turn into smarter venues, better fan journeys, and a global calendar of events anchored in red and white.

The Finance & Leadership Roles

Apollo Sports Capital is stepping in to buy just over half of Atlético de Madrid, taking that majority stake from the current owners (Gil, Cerezo and co.) in a deal that values the club at around €2–2.5 billion and should wrap up in early 2026.

Crucially, the football side doesn’t get blown up. Miguel Ángel Gil Marín stays on as CEO and Enrique Cerezo remains Club President, so the familiar faces still run the day-to-day and sporting operations. Apollo provides the capital and strategic oversight; Gil and Cerezo keep steering the football ship—just with more pressure to deliver.

For Apollo, Atlético is a way into that sweet spot where sport, city life, and media all overlap. They’re not just thinking about goals and trophies, but about filling the calendar and the area around the stadium all year: the “Ciudad del Deporte” project, more events, more reasons for people to come to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano even when Atleti isn’t playing. For Atleti, Apollo is the partner that can help clear some financial pressure, pay competitive wages, keep the squad strong, and actually build that “city of sport” idea properly.

In Summary

In the end, this deal is about Atlético Madrid looking to evolve without losing its soul. Apollo brings the money, the infrastructure know-how, and the ambition to turn Atleti into a year-round sports and entertainment destination, not just a gritty team that shows up twice a week. The existing leadership stays in place, the “people’s club” identity stays intact, but the expectations get bigger: more consistent Champions League football, smarter use of the stadium and surrounding district, and a brand that travels further without forgetting where it came from. If they get the balance right, Atlético could become the rare modern super-club that still feels like a neighborhood.