Shai Gilgeous-Alexander playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has become a shareholder of Spanish soccer club Atlético Madrid, forming part of a group led by Apollo Sports Capital, seven months after the U.S. firm took control of the La Liga club.
The club announced the investment on Thursday evening, without disclosing the size of the stake or the amount paid.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning back-to-back NBA MVP and won both the 2025 NBA title and 2025 Finals MVP with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He joins an ownership group that has changed shape considerably over the past year.
“I’m excited to officially join Atlético de Madrid’s ownership group,” Gilgeous-Alexander said in the club’s statement. “This is a club with a long-standing presence at the top of European football, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of its future.”
The club’s announcement framed the announcement as a match of values, pointing to ambition of both the NBA ace and the club. The investment reflects his interest the club’s long-term vision and international growth, which has taken significant strides in the U.S. since Apollo’s takeover and in the Asian market with the signing of South Korean star Kang-In Lee.
The club also highlighted that he had already worn the club’s red and white before Thursday’s announcement, having donned a vintage club tracksuit before a game in April this year.
The Apollo era
Gilgeous-Alexander is buying into a very different Atlético from the one Miguel Ángel Gil Marín controlled through Atlético HoldCo for most of the past two decades.
Apollo Sports Capital, the sports investment arm of Apollo Global Management, agreed in November 2025 to become the club’s majority shareholder in a deal which closed on March 12, 2026. The details of the agreement include Apollo taking 55% of the club in a transaction valuing it at €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) including debt.
Apollo’s own closing statement confirmed that Quantum Pacific Group kept almost all of its stake and is now the second-largest shareholder, while Gil Marín and Enrique Cerezo remain shareholders and continue as CEO and chairman. Funds managed by Ares, which bought 34% of the club in 2021 for €181.9 million ($204 million), also stayed in.
The board approved up to €100 million ($112 million) in additional equity and strategic capital at the same time, earmarked for the club’s teams and for the club’s new training facilities alongside a sports and entertainment district being built next to the Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano, which will host the UEFA Champions League final later this season.
Apollo has said Atlético is its flagship majority equity investment and is not part of a multi-club strategy, though the group does still own Atlético de San Luis in Mexico and Atlético Ottawa in the Canadian Premier League.
The Canadian connection
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was born in Toronto and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and remains one of the most marketable athletes in Canada. That is of particular interest for Atlético Ottawa, but also ties in with the club’s summer signing of Canada international Jonathan David, who joined on loan from Juventus and has scored in his first three games with the club.
In February, Gilgeous-Alexander joined the ownership group of the city’s TD Coliseum, the Oak View Group arena, with the venue’s atrium named after his son, Ares. The Atlético deal would appear to be a part of a broader push into business as he has also invested in coffee brand La La Land, launched a charitable foundation in September and plans to start a media and entertainment company in early 2027.
The NBA-to-European soccer route
The 28 year old is not the first NBA star to take equity in a major European club after Kevin Durant became a direct minority shareholder in Paris Saint-Germain in June 2025 through Boardroom, his investment company with Rich Kleiman.
The difference, for now, is the detail as the PSG announcement set out a defined role for Durant, covering merchandise, original media content, advice on the U.S. market and the club’s possible basketball plans, while Atlético’s statement describes Gilgeous-Alexander as a shareholder and nothing more.
Whether that changes will explain what Apollo seeks from athlete investors, given the fact that Atlético’s commercial growth depends heavily on North America, and a player with Gilgeous-Alexander’s profile there is worth more as an active partner than as a name on the share register.
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