BMW provides plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles to Real Madrid.

Nowadays, every Real Madrid player owns a vehicle with a charging port. Now in their third year of collaboration, BMW has just outfitted players from Real Madrid, one of the world’s most successful football teams, with plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles.

If you think that superstars such as Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. drive to practice in a Mini Countryman, you are quite mistaken. On the contrary, the players from the Spanish capital are all about splendour.

None of the players drives anything less than the i5 – except German international Antonio Rüdiger

You would be foolish to believe that athletes like Vinicius Jr. (24), Jude Bellingham (21), and Kylian Mbappé (25), drove a Mini Countryman to practice. Conversely, the players from the capital of Spain are all about opulence.

With the exception of German international Antonio Rüdiger (31), who is happy with a BMW iX2 xDrive30, which retails for 58,550 euros, none of the players drive anything less than an i5. Even with the i5 M60 xDrive variant, which costs an astounding 114,450 euros, coach Carlo Ancelotti, 65, is still a fairly frugal driver. Arda Güler, 19, a bright star from Turkey, received an i7 xDrive 60 (€139,550 new). Vinícius Júnior, 24, chose the i7 M70 xDrive (186,650 euros) with even more tuning gear for his electric vehicle.

Vincinus Junior even outbids Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé on price, since they are content with the plug-in hybrid BMW XM, which costs 179,900 euros. Nonetheless, he appears to know how to charge it at least.

Ultimately, the issue with plug-in hybrids is that owners are frequently too indolent to charge them; as a result, the pleasant CO2 balance quickly disappears, leaving them essentially just large V8 gasoline-powered cars. It’s also not a bad thing when the electric motor kicks in, with 145 kW and a range of about 80 kilometers.