Yesterday we wrapped WFS Madrid 2026, ten years on from our very first edition back in 2016, and it was the biggest one yet: more than 2,500 attendees from over 80 countries filled La Nave for two days, with LALIGA and J.P. Morgan by our side as Main Partners.
Thibaut Courtois (NXTPLAY), Michele Kang (Kynisca Sports and Olympique Lyonnais), Rafael Louzán (RFEF), Aki Mandhar (Chelsea FC Women), Laura McAllister (UEFA), Gian Piero Sammartano (J.P. Morgan) and Javier Tebas (LALIGA) featured among more than 130 speakers who took the stage across institutions, investors, clubs, governing bodies, brands, and media.
Throughout more than 40 sessions, the conversations touched on all of the key topics facing the global industry, from the institutional capital now reshaping club ownership to the governance pressure building around FIFA, from women’s football’s shift from moment to business to how clubs are rethinking stadiums, ticketing and fan experience for a new generation.
Some of this year’s voices came from outside football entirely. For the first time in our history, we welcomed a guest sport to the stage: Formula 1. Liam Parker, F1’s Chief Communications and Corporate Relations Officer, and Pedro de la Rosa, former F1 driver and Team Ambassador for Aston Martin Aramco, joined us to unpack what football can learn from the sport’s international growth.
The stages weren’t the only place buzzing this year. Our Expo Area came alive like never before: more than 25 stands, and centrepiece activations that had people queuing all day, including the Spanish Football Federation’s World Cup trophies, a Formula E car, and the Skills Lab cube, among other activations.
To facilitate high-level networking, this edition also saw the debut of the Properties’ Box by LALIGA, an exclusive space dedicated entirely to clubs, leagues, and federations to address shared strategic priorities and institutional challenges.
There was just as much energy in the room for the Female Leaders Gathering by GREAT, our initiative to celebrate and promote women’s leadership across the industry. Hosted by Debbi Christophers, Cultural and Public Diplomacy Attaché for the British Embassy in Madrid, this year’s edition brought together more than 150 women, with footballer Vicky Losada as ambassador, and saw WFS CEO Marian Otamendi hand out the scholarships WFS promotes with the Johan Cruyff Institute.
That same appetite for what comes next showed up in the WFS StartCup, the industry’s reference startup competition in football. Run with EBAN Sports and Madrid City Council, this year’s edition drew nearly a hundred international applications, and the top prize went to CeleBreak, a platform built to make amateur football easier to organise and play.
The scale of this year’s event also made a strong mark on the media presence. Our Media Corner welcomed more than 150 accredited journalists from around the world, while the podcast corner—a dedicated set we provided for journalists and creators to conduct interviews and produce content—was packed non-stop across both days.
Beyond the business and the deal-making, WFS Madrid also made room for cultural activities.
Ornella D. Bellia, FIFA’s Director of Professional Football Relations and Development, presented The Game of Life, a book about love, football and what it means to put people at the centre of a life that too often gets postponed in favour of the next achievement.
German-Portuguese entrepreneur Marc-Philipp Martins Kuenzel presented Stay In The Game, a practical guide for young people navigating pressure, self-doubt and the search for identity, built around confidence, resilience and character through the language of sport.
That same personal note carried through to one of our own initiatives. We welcomed two new clubs to The Most Inclusive Match, which WFS developed with the NGO Integrated Dreams to break down accessibility barriers in football.
Athletic Club will host the fifth edition against Real Betis on 20 December, and CD Leganés will host the sixth, becoming the first LALIGA Hypermotion club to join the project, against CD Tenerife on 7 March.
Not everything was business and networking. There was also time for celebration with the traditional WFS Awards, which this year debuted three new categories.
Iker Ruiz, the sports journalist and creator behind @elefutbol, won the first-ever Best Content Creator, presented by TikTok. Como 1907 took the inaugural Best Fan-Centric Initiative, presented by Goodform by YouFirst. Vicente del Bosque received the first-ever WFS Award for a Career Honouring the Essence of the Game, presented by Senn Ferrero, for a coaching career that includes lifting the World Cup with Spain.
And Michele Kang rounded things off with Best Executive, presented by Excel Search & Advisory, becoming the first woman to win the award, for the business she has built in women’s football, from Olympique Lyonnais to Kynisca Sports.
See you at WFS Riyadh, our fourth edition in Saudi Arabia, in late January 2027.