LaLiga Santander: Real Madrid repay €20.3m to City of Madrid for an agreement deemed illegal

"The Madrid City Council has received a sum greater than €20m from Real Madrid CF, as recovery of aid (given to the club which was) deemed illegal," stated the City of Madrid, on 04/11/2016. The payment follows the decision of the European Commission, which judged an agreement between Real Madrid CF (LaLiga Santander) and the Madrid City Council regarding the sale of municipal land in 2011 to be illegal.

Real Madrid previously paid €595,000 in 1998 to acquire the municipal land in question, which at the time belonged to the Madrid City Council. As part of the transaction, which was never finalised due to technical reasons, the City was required to pay €22.7m in compensation to the club in 2011, when the City should have instead paid, according to the European Commission, a sum of €4.3m. The ruling indicated that the land in question had "been overvalued by €18.4m", which allowed Real Madrid to gain an "unfair advantage over other clubs (and entities)" The sum to be repaid by Real Madrid, including interest, amounted to €20.3m.

"The City received €20,331,100 into a bank account of…