Madrid is home to two world-famous football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI and the Madrid Fashion Week. It also hosts major international regulators and promoters of the Spanish language: the Standing Committee of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, headquarters of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), the Instituto Cervantes and the Foundation of Emerging Spanish (FundéuRAE). Madrid houses the headquarters of the UN's World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), and the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB). It concentrates the bulk of banking operations in the country and it is the Spanish-speaking city generating the largest amount of webpages. The metropolitan area hosts major Spanish companies such as Telefónica, Iberia, BBVA and FCC. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre and the leading economic hub of the Iberian Peninsula and of Southern Europe. The Madrid urban agglomeration has the second-largest GDP in the European Union and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, culture, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. The climate of Madrid features hot summers and cool winters. The city is situated on an elevated plain about 300 km (190 mi) from the closest seaside location. Capital city of both Spain (almost without interruption since 1561) and the surrounding autonomous community of Madrid (since 1983), it is also the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula. The municipality covers 604.3 km 2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area.
It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. Madrid ( / m ə ˈ d r ɪ d/ mə- DRID, Spanish: ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain.