Ranking every Real Madrid shirt sponsor in history from worst to best

Real Madrid have had an eclectic mix of sponsors over the years, from massive companies befitting the world’s biggest football clubs to others that leave you questioning how they ever got a deal over the line.

The club have been with their current sponsor for over a decade now, but they chopped and changed a fair bit since first introducing them to their shirts in the mid-80s.

Here’s our ranking of all eight of Real Madrid’s shirt sponsors.

8. Otaysa – 1990-93

A lovely Hummel shirt. An odd one, though. If you came across this in a vintage store rack, you’d swear it was a counterfeit.

Otaysa somehow don’t have a Wikipedia page, but according to Bloomberg they’re in the business of “the wholesale distribution of new and used passenger automobiles, trucks, trailers, and other motor vehicles.”

So far, so boring. The logo itself isn’t terrible. Looks more Japanese Tech Company to us. Madrid wore it during an era in which they twice lost the La Liga title on the final day to Barcelona by blowing it with shock defeats away to Tenerife. Ouch. No wonder Michel looks so glum.

7. Parmalat – 1985-86

Los Blancos’ first-ever shirt sponsor was adorned by the legendary La Quinta del Buitre set of academy graduates in the mid-80s.

An Italian dairy company, if you’re wondering – you might recognise their products if you’ve ever perused a supermarket on the continent – demonstrates this was a different time. Also the era in which the English League Cup was sponsored by the Milk Marketing Board.

Just how big did Big Milk’s involvement in football go? Ahem, back to the matter at hand. A nice, simple enough logo. But god, what a kit. Our eyes are drawn to the beautiful Adidas trefoil design. Phwoar.

6. Siemens – 2002-06

After a beautifully pure white kit for the 2001-02 campaign was capped off by Zizou’s volley against Leverkusen, a sponsor returned to the famous shirt in the form of Siemens in ’02.

This was prime Galacticos era. It adorned the shirts of some of the greatest players of that era, from Zidane to Ronaldo to Jonathan Woodgate Luis Figo. Being a part of the iconography of that R9 hat-trick at Old Trafford earns it some bonus points.

Things started off promisingly enough for the Siemens era, with Ronaldo firing Madrid to the La Liga title fresh from winning the World Cup.

But it soon became a symbol of the Galactico era becoming bloated and unbalanced, with their array of superstars getting outshone by Rafa Benitez’s Valencia and Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona.

As for the pure aesthetics? Meh. Boring.

It also didn’t help that in one of those seasons they were overshadowed by city rivals Atletico doing the considerably cooler and more memorable Columbia Pictures sponsorship deal that included Spiderman 2, XXX2, and Hellboy on their shirts. Siemens could never.

5. BenQ Siemens – 2006-07

A continuation of the Siemens era, after it was bought out by Taiwanese multinational BenQ, and a marked improvement on the pitch.

Beckham’s only La Liga title was won while Madrid wore the BenQ shirt, with Ruud van Nistelrooy banging in the goals. The logo? Does the job. A nice dash of purple, not seen often enough on football shirts.

4. Reny Picot – 1989-90

Parmalat? Pfft. Things got considerably more quaint with the world’s biggest football club being sponsored by Asturian cheese makers Reny Picot. Sensational.

And a cartoon cow in the centre? You’ve charmed us.

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3. Emirates – 2013-present

We’re not going to do the maths and work this out properly.

Permission to shout at us if we’re wrong – @planetfutebol – but by our reckoning the Emirates must be football’s most successful sponsor if you tally it by Champions League wins. Six in 11 seasons since Emirates jumped aboard. That’s ridiculous.

Emirates moves up a few places by association of a period of success that might just surpass Madrid’s five-time European champions of the 1950s.

A whole generation have grown up with Emirates-era Madrid as football’s creme de la creme, which isn’t a bad return for the millions spent.

We can’t help but feel the sponsor itself, like so many others in the modern era, is lacking in charm. An airline that’s part of an investment arm of a nation-state? Do us a favour. Bring back the cheese.

2. bwin – 2007-13

*Siri, play the Revista de la Liga theme tune*

Weird bookmakers that no one you know actually uses are one of the scourges of modern football. Sbotop? Fun88? We’d rather have booze sponsors. They might’ve been similarly ethically dubious but at least they looked cool.

We’re gonna be massive hypocrites and make an exception for bwin, though.

This was actually a comparatively fallow period for Madrid as Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona left them eating their dust, but there was an indisputable aura about those bwin shirts during Florentino Perez’s second Galacticos project.

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1. Teka – 1992-01

You’d never guess that the Planet Football office is comprised of millennials, would you?

A proper sponsor, this. No moral qualms. A company that actually makes stuff. And a nostalgia factor that’s off the scale.

God bless you, Teka. Thanks for helping make Raul look so cool.