Two years after he put his racket down for good, Rafael Nadal has found his next big job, and it is at the Santiago Bernabéu. Real Madrid wants the 22-time Grand Slam champion on their Board of Directors, and he has already said yes.

The club confirmed the move on Wednesday. Its Board of Directors met on November 4 and agreed to submit Nadal’s appointment for ratification by the General Assembly of Delegate Members. Nadal, member number 67,778, will be voted on at an extraordinary assembly on Saturday, November 21, where the board has unanimously recommended approval. Nadal confirmed his acceptance on X.

“I want to thank President Florentino Perez and the Board for proposing that I join the Board of Directors of Real Madrid,” he wrote. “I have accepted this proposal with great excitement, a desire to learn, and a willingness to contribute everything I can.” (The post was written in Spanish and has been translated). 

The 40-year-old didn’t make a bold claim about what he would change, just acceptance that it’s a new arena for a guy who’s been at the top of an individual sport for 20 years.

The club did not hold back in its statement, calling him “one of the greatest legends in the history of sport and one of the most admired and recognised Spanish athletes in the world.” It added that having a figure of his “sporting and human stature” join the board was “a great source of pride” for the club and its fans. The move means one of the biggest names in world sport will be on the club’s governing body.

The official statement even included all of his achievements: his 92 titles, 22 majors, two Olympic gold medals, five Davis Cups with Spain and his time as world No. 1. It also praised his “constant drive to improve, his capacity for sacrifice, his competitiveness, his humility, his respect for rivals and teammates.” 

Those, it stated, are Real Madrid’s values, too, and Nadal has brought them on board throughout his career. The news is not a shock for anyone who has been following him, rather, it is the next logical step in an extremely long-standing relationship.

Why Nadal’s Real Madrid move has been years in the making

Nadal’s loyalty to Real Madrid has always come with a twist. His uncle, Miguel Angel Nadal, was part of Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona “Dream Team,” yet Rafa grew up a committed Madridista. The club made him an honorary member in 2011. He performed the honorary kick-off at the Bernabeu before Real Madrid’s LaLiga match against Espanyol in April 2022, a few months after his 21st major at the Australian Open. His uncle has since called him “a staunch Real Madrid fan.”

For years, he’s been followed around by talk of a bigger role. Back in 2018, Florentino Perez said that “Nadal would be a great election for Real Madrid presidency.” The 14-time Roland Garros champion himself has admitted the idea appeals to him. 

“I would like to preside over Real Madrid,” he once said, before adding that “the club has a great president and it’s not something you can think about today.” He has played down the presidency question whenever it has come up since. 

In June 2026, however, Perez was re-elected, defeating Enrique Riquelme with some 65 percent of the vote. His seat on the board is the first formal move he has made inside the club and will undoubtedly reignite rumours about the direction it will take.

The Nadal family once held a 10 percent stake in his home club, RCD Mallorca, up until they pulled themselves off the club’s board in 2011. It was not to last long, though. The Real Madrid role is a much more public commitment.

Since his final match at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga in November 2024, Nadal has focused on his businesses and on the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor. Other options have been floated in Spanish media, such as the Davis Cup captaincy, but the board position could stall other plans if it proves to be time-consuming. The timing is also aptly ironic. 

In December 2024, Mallorcan newspaper Ultima Hora ran a Dia de los Inocentes prank claiming Nadal had been made Real Madrid’s vice-president, the Spanish equivalent of an April Fools’ joke. Two years later, the joke has become more of a reality.