Real Madrid is the most successful sports team on the planet.

“The book magisterially penetrates through all the mystique of Real Madrid, football [soccer] and sports. This is the ultimate look behind the regal velvet ropes and steel curtains both in the boardroom and locker room at the most successful and valuable team in sports, Real Madrid.”

—Ray Hudson, soccer commentator for beIN Sport, retired English professional soccer player, and former MLS coach

Steven G. Mandis is an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. He also teaches at Columbia’s Masters of Sports Management Program. His previous award-winning book, What Happened to Goldman Sachs: An Insider’s Story of Organizational Drift and its Unintended Consequences, is a rigorous analysis of if, why, and how the culture of Goldman Sachs changed. Mandis worked at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking, private equity, and proprietary trading areas. After leaving Goldman, he cofounded a multibillion-dollar global alternative asset management firm that was a trading and investment banking client of Goldman's. During the financial crisis, Mandis was a senior adviser to McKinsey & Company before becoming chief of staff to the president and COO of Citigroup and serving on executive, management, and risk committees at the firm. Mandis is Chairman and Senior Partner of Kalamata Capital, a provider of online small business financing. Mandis holds an AB from The University of Chicago and an MA, MPhil and PhD from Columbia University. Mandis was a two sport varsity athlete in college and currently competes in triathlons, including having competed in the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii; Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Zell Am See-Kaprun, Austria; and Escape from Alcatraz in San Francisco, California. He was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, given to children of immigrants who exemplify a life dedicated to community service.