While Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos and company concentrate on winning La Liga and the Champions League throughout the next few months, in another part of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu staff focus their efforts towards other goals that are even more important.
The work done at global academies run by the Fundacion Real Madrid and its partners aims not to uncover the next Ronaldo or Ramos, but to use football to improve the lives of more than 43,000 children in hard-up communities on five continents.
Former Real Madrid striker Emilio Butragueno, currently the club's director of institutional relations, invited ESPN FC into the foundation's offices at the Bernabeu and said he personally visited academies around the world and had seen what was possible.
"We have a school in a shanty town on hills near Oaxaca in Mexico, by the ruins of Monte Alban, which was once a sacred city," Butragueno says. "I had to bring bodyguards with me from the airport, it's now that type of place. We have a project there with MAPFRE and Microsoft, who have provided a room full of computers to teach the kids information technology. While I was there a 13-year-old girl came over to me, and said that 'thanks to Real Madrid, I am not going to become a prostitute.' She told me 'I know I have a better future than most of my friends.' Thirteen years old. That is an example of what a school like ours can achieve. We can take kids from the street, and steer them towards a much better path."
Madrid's foundation was established in 1997, and has grown significantly under current president Florentino Perez, who often speaks of his pride in the work done in the club's name all over the world. Butragueno says that a decision was made to build relationships everywhere the club has fans.
"Real Madrid has won so much during its history due to the support of all these people, 450,000 fans throughout the world," he says. "The club decided to do what we could do to help society, as society supports us so much. When Florentino Perez won the elections again in 2009, we were in seven countries with just 15 projects. Eight years later we have 260 projects in 72 countries. The number of children being helped is over 43,000."
Butragueno says a firm line is drawn between the club's training camps attended by 30,000 different children in wealthier countries worldwide, which are a source of revenue and potential new talent for the club, and the foundation's work in helping children in poorer regions.
"We're talking here about kids who live with delinquency, drugs and prostitution," he says. "Thanks to our school, we have taken them away from this temptation, and also ensure that their academic level improves. Family relationships are also strengthened, and we produce a big impact within the community. In some cases we have even brought together Israeli children with Palestinian children in the same academy. We are aware of the strength that football has, so we use it for the good of the kids and for society."
Each project is run along with a partner organisation expert in delivering assistance on the ground. For example in Angola, the foundation works with Spanish NGO Manos Unidas to help refugee children recovering from conflict there. In Colombia, 50 different academies are managed along with the Fundacion Revel and Fundacion Concivica throughout the country. In Bahrain, schools run in conjunction with the local Royal Charity Association have this year added basketball to the curriculum, so that girls can also take part in the activities.
"We need travelling partners who help us to develop these projects and know the requirements in each country," Butragueno says. "In a neighbourhood in Nairobi, unless you have someone there who knows the day-to-day reality, it is difficult for us. They are the ones who help us to develop the work day by day. We bring the technical part, sending our coaches, educating the managers and following them closely from Madrid."
In 2015-16, the foundation ran 45 coaching projects in 37 countries, training 820 new coaches (90 of which were women) in a methodology developed by the club itself with an emphasis on teaching positive behaviours rather than developing potential star players.
"We developed our own method which we apply in every school," Butragueno says. "It's about learning how to play football, but more important is teaching a series of values associated with Real Madrid which impact directly on the personality of the child. We want to create in them a series of healthy habits, which will help the child for all their lives."
The foundation's annual budget is included in the club's accounts each year; for 2015-16, the total running cost was €2.3 million. Outside this is support provided by the club's sponsors and commercial partners, both in Spain and globally. The foundation's current list of 36 patrons includes some of Spain's top companies (such as MAPFRE, Sanitas and Mahou) and global brands (like Microsoft, Google and HSBC). There are also 29 "partner companies", including Iberia, Avis and Emirates Airlines.
Often when Madrid sign a new sponsorship deal with a global brand, there is also a foundation element to their relationship. For example IPIC, who are providing €400 million to redevelop the Bernabeu, and are also involved in foundation projects in the Middle East. Another case is the four-year, $30 million deal with Microsoft, which covers the team's website and social media use, but also provides technology to help coaches at the foundation's projects worldwide interact in real time with staff in Madrid.
Butragueno will not discuss details of such deals, but does say that support from companies ensures that the projects are "sustainable".
"We're helped with the financing, in many cases, by Spanish companies who have operations in that country," Butragueno says. "MAPFRE, for example, have a lot of activity in South America and they finance many of our schools there. There is also the Banco Santander, BBVA, Repsol, Iberdrola, FCC -- Spanish companies who have international reach and who work in these countries. They help us ensure that the schools are sustainable, as logically each school has an annual budget which we must cover."
Madrid's current players, where possible, visit the centres in their home countries, says Butragueno.
"All the players are very happy to help," he says. "In general sportsmen have good hearts, and are always up for helping with these type of projects. Marcelo, for example, has visited our schools when he is back in Brazil on holidays. James [Rodriguez] too in Colombia, Dani Carvajal here in Madrid. They have busy lives, with the calendar and everything, but they like to help out."
Butragueno himself scored 171 goals in 463 games for Madrid's first team between 1983 and 1995. Now 53 and a link between the boardroom and dressing room at the Bernabeu, he sees a connection between the "solidarity" work done by the club's foundation and the team unity and spirit that has delivered two Champions League trophies in the past three years.
"As a Madrid player for many years I learned that the difference between winning a competition, or not, is not just in talent," Butragueno said. "When you meet Barcelona or Manchester United or Bayern Munich, the level of talent is similar. I believe that the spirit, the conviction, the unity, is what makes you come through difficult moments. Since I came to Real Madrid, we have met teams which were maybe better than us, but due to that spirit we have come out as winners. It's not about renouncing your individual talent, as that is the reason you have got here, but being aware that you must serve the team, which will make you even better. These concepts are basic for us. If you do not understand this, this will not be your club."