El Clásico continues to be much more than a football match. The latest showdown between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF once again highlights not only the rivalry on the pitch, but also the battle between some of the world’s biggest brands.
According to the annual Sport&Entertainment Sponsorship Barometer published by SPSG Consulting, Nike and Adidas are the two brands most strongly associated with El Clásico and Spain’s two biggest football clubs.
For FC Barcelona, Nike had consistently been the brand most closely linked to the club between 2018 and 2024, reflecting its role as the club’s technical sponsor since 1998 and one of the largest kit deals in world football. However, in 2025, Spotify overtook Nike as the brand most associated with Barcelona, driven by its Camp Nou naming rights agreement running until 2034 and shirt sponsorship deal through 2030.
One of the report’s most striking findings is the growing association between Barcelona and Adidas, despite the German sportswear giant never having signed a sponsorship agreement with the club. From 2023 to 2025, Adidas ranked as the third-most associated brand with Barcelona, largely attributed to the personal endorsement deal between teenage star Lamine Yamal and the company.
A similar trend appears at Real Madrid CF. Between 2021 and 2025, Nike emerged as the third-most associated brand with the club, despite having no official partnership with Madrid. The connection is largely explained by superstar Kylian Mbappé and his long-term sponsorship agreement with Nike.
Meanwhile, Adidas has remained the brand most strongly linked with Real Madrid since 2018. The club renewed its kit partnership with Adidas in 2019 through 2028 in a deal reportedly worth more than €100 million per year. Emirates has consistently ranked second among brands associated with the club, although its sponsorship agreement is set to expire in 2026.
The survey, conducted among 1,200 respondents, also linked Barcelona with former and current sponsors such as Rakuten, Qatar Airways, UNICEF and Beko.
For Real Madrid, respondents additionally associated the club with brands including Bwin, HP, Mahou and BMW, which replaced Audi as an official sponsor in 2022.