Real Madrid academy Port Harcourt: fees, forms and how to join

On 8 August 2026, children chasing a place at the Rivers State Real Madrid Football Academy were due to sit a written aptitude test at the school in Elekahia, Port Harcourt. It was the final step of a free admission round for 2026/2027. As for school fees, no official schedule has ever been published.

From Wike's promise to Fubara's classrooms

The Real Madrid Foundation's alliance with Rivers State began in January 2018, with a signing in Port Harcourt, according to the club's website. The plan was a socio-sports school for 300 children. Local coaches went to Madrid in March 2019 to learn the foundation's methods.

Then came the delays.

In June 2020, then governor Nyesom Wike visited the site beside the Yakubu Gowon Stadium and pushed completion to August. Contractors said they had lost 28 days to the COVID-19 lockdown. BusinessDay reported that the pitches and offices were ready, but the school could not open without hostels and classrooms, so the September start Wike promised that year never came. Sunday Dare, then sports minister, commissioned the hostel and classroom complex on 9 March 2021. Months earlier, Rivers sports commissioner Boma Iyaye had called it “comparable to any in the world in terms of facilities, content, curriculum, and product”, The Guardian reported.

Pupils took longer. On 8 October 2023, P.M. News reported that 66 pioneer students had reported for the 2023/2024 session. Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Wike's successor, had directed that classes begin without delay. Rivers then spent six months under emergency rule in 2025. Ibok Ekwe Ibas ran the state as sole administrator until Fubara returned on 18 September.

How to join the academy in 2026

Forget the online portal older guides describe.

Earlier intakes pointed parents to a registration form at riversstateacademy.com. The two most recent calls we found asked for paper forms instead.

For 2026/2027, ElanHub reported that forms were free at the Elekahia premises from 29 June to 10 July 2026. A tactical football screening followed at the Sharks Stadium on 30 and 31 July. The written test came on 8 August. Applicants had to bring:

• a birth certificate and local government identification
• a testimonial or First School Leaving Certificate
• a medical fitness report from a government health centre
• a photocopy of the completed form
• two passport photographs

The 2024 round ran differently. A state government statement, carried by ElanHub on 3 July 2024, said free forms could be collected from the Director of Administration at the Ministry of Sports, fourth floor of the Podium Block at the State Secretariat, with a deadline of 12 July and admission purely on merit.

The pattern is clear. A summer call, a two-week window, football screening, then a written test. Miss it and you wait a year.

Is the Real Madrid academy free?

Forms, yes. Every call we could verify was free.

Tuition is murkier. In March 2021, The Guardian quoted academy officials as saying the school was free to Rivers State indigenes, who fill 70 per cent of places. We found nothing on what the other 30 per cent pay. Neither the state government nor Real Madrid has published a fee schedule.

Several websites quote naira figures anyway. None traces to an official document, and any demand for cash to buy a form should worry parents.

Who gets in, and how hard is it?

Age limits keep moving. The Guardian gave five to 17 in 2021, the 2022 intake took children aged nine to 12, and the 2024 call wanted eight to 15, while the 2026 notice stated no range at all, so parents should ask at Elekahia first.

Competition is stiff. In January 2021, Chris Green, Wike's special adviser on the academy, said over 1,500 applications had come in from an initial 2,300. He spoke of a “highly competitive admission process”, the News Agency of Nigeria reported. In August 2022, The Tide counted more than 600 children at a three-day screening, with 40 boys and 20 girls set to start.

Not every pupil becomes a footballer. Green said the school also runs a vocational department.

Families weighing other options can compare our guides to football academies in Lagos and the best academies in Abuja, or follow the senior game through our list of football clubs in Port Harcourt, the city where the academy has held its football screenings at the Sharks Stadium.

This article was most recently revised and updated 57 seconds ago