Real Madrid have moved Bernd Reichart, one of the most recognisable figures in the Super League project, into a senior commercial role as the club prepares for a new phase in its European business strategy.
The German executive will become head of Real Madrid’s business area, filling a position that had been vacant. He will report directly to José Ángel Sánchez, the club’s chief executive and board member, with responsibility expected to include the Santiago Bernabéu, sponsorship agreements and merchandising.
Reichart’s arrival carries significance beyond Madrid’s own commercial operation. Having led A22 Sport and acted as the public face of the Super League plans, his departure from that role points towards a possible final settlement in the wider dispute over European football’s governance.
A shift after the Super League conflict
The Super League initiative was central to a lengthy confrontation between major clubs and UEFA. Court rulings recognised that UEFA had abused a dominant position, forcing a renewed debate over the balance of power between the governing body and the clubs.
A preliminary agreement was reached in February this year involving UEFA, EFC and Real Madrid, putting the Super League project on hold while attention turned to improving the Champions League and establishing limits around the clubs competing in it. Reichart’s switch to Madrid’s internal business operation indicates that a broader and more definitive peace arrangement could be close.
For Madrid, the appointment places an executive with extensive experience in media, sports rights and commercial development at the centre of a portfolio shaped by the rebuilt Bernabéu and the club’s position at the heart of the Champions League economy.
From sports rights to Real Madrid
- Born in Scheidegg, Bavaria, in 1974, Reichart studied Sports Science and English at the University of Konstanz, as well as spending periods studying in Salamanca and North Carolina in the United States.
- After graduating, he entered the sports-rights industry in Hamburg with UFA Sports.
- In 2003, he joined German sports-marketing company Sportfive as marketing director.
- He moved to Spain in 2004 to become investor relations director at Antena 3, now Atresmedia.
- During his time within Antena 3, he also ran several of the broadcaster’s digital terrestrial television channels.
- In 2013, he joined RTL Group as director of the German channel VOX.
- From 2019 to 2021, he served as chief executive of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland while also sitting on Bertelsmann Group’s management committee.
- In October 2022, he was appointed chief executive of A22 Sport, the agency created to advance the Super League project.
The public face of A22
At A22, Reichart presented the revised Super League format across European media and became the project’s principal spokesman during its most contentious years. His move now takes him away from that public role and into the commercial structure of the club most closely associated with the breakaway proposal.
Madrid’s next European campaign will therefore be shaped not only by results under the floodlights, but by a major off-field appointment at a moment when the relationship between the Champions League, UEFA and the continent’s leading clubs is being recalibrated.
