BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – For the first time in 20 years, Florentino Perez’s reign at Real Madrid will be challenged at the ballot box.
The world’s most valuable and successful football club will hold elections on Sunday.
Perez, the 79-year-old executive who has built Madrid into a global powerhouse over the past two-and-a-half years, will be up against an upstart rival half his age who is making big promises to get the club’s 98,000 members to consider change.
Enrique Riquelme, 37, was just a boy when Perez first took over. He was unknown to most Madrid fans until he came forward as a potential rival after the incumbent. called early election Last month’s press conference was dominated by Perez’s claim that Spanish media were trying to “annihilate” his presidency.
“Why are they trying to kill me?” a shaken Perez told reporters on May 12. “Why? Because there are kids who want to run? Well, let them. I want them to do it.”
Riquelme, an executive at a renewable energy company, was surprisingly able to mount a credible threat. With the support of former Madrid players like Raul González, Manchester City star Erling Haaland.
Riquelme has a name, but does he have influence?
Riquelme has received a big boost with the addition of Madrid’s record number of appearances Raul, former goalkeeper Iker Casillas and former defender Fernando Hierro.
Raul will become Riquelme’s sporting director, a role that does not currently exist, while Hierro will oversee Riquelme’s youth organization. Casillas’ exact role is unclear.
Riquelme also said he would like to sign Spanish midfielder Rodri, who has one year left on his contract with City.
But this week, Riquelme’s “Haaland wants to come to Madrid” appeal hung over voters, forcing City to rule out any possibility of negotiating a sale of their top scorer, who is under contract until 2034.
But that didn’t stop Riquelme from appearing on Spanish national broadcaster TVE and doubling down on his pledge.
“Haaland will play for Real Madrid if I am appointed president of Real Madrid on Sunday,” he said on Thursday.
Then it was Haaland’s entourage’s turn to shoot it down.
“All of this is very interesting, but not true. We wish both candidates the best of luck in the Madrid election,” Rafaela Pimenta, Haaland’s representative, told The Associated Press in a short statement on Friday.
“That must be a bluff,” was Perez’s opinion.
Perez has earned his spot as top dog.
Not to be outdone, Perez also said on Thursday that he would announce “the most expensive transfer in Real Madrid’s history” worth at least 150 million euros ($173 million) next week after the election.
He knows a thing or two about promising seemingly impossible deals and delivering on them. He was first elected in 2000 by vowing to sign then-Barcelona forward Luis Figo. And he did.
Now, Mr. Perez made this promise. Bring back Jose MourinhoHe was Madrid’s manager from 2010 to 2013, and given a further four years, he would sign free agents Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate and Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries.
These names are unlikely to excite all of Madrid’s squad, but while Mourinho’s attacking style has divided the fan base, Perez’s commitment is worth fully believing in.
Apart from Figo, he has also consistently achieved transfer targets, from Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham to Cristiano Ronaldo and most recently, after many years of effort, Kylian Mbappe.
And regardless of his plans, Perez’s wildly successful record is his best pitching.
During his two spells, from 2000 to 2006 and from 2009 to the present, Madrid won seven of a record 15 European Cups, seven La Liga titles, three Copa del Rey titles and numerous other titles.
All of that has been helped by Pérez’s transformation into a global brand with strong finances under Pérez, who also runs a major international construction company, and has seen Madrid top the Forbes Money League, which ranks the world’s most valuable football clubs, for five consecutive seasons.
But Perez also has weaknesses.
Perez’s Super League project was intended to transform European football and replace UEFA’s Champions League with a club-run competition. We’re screwed In the face of backlash from some fans, many smaller clubs and UEFA.
And so far his bet on Mbappe has not paid off. Pérez failed to win any major trophies in his two seasons at Madrid, while also parting ways with three managers: Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.
Riquelme is also taking aim at an idea Perez raised last year. Sell 10% of the club to a private investora move that breaks with the member-ownership model that has existed for 124 years.
Perez ran unopposed in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021 and 2025 when elections were scheduled. His latest term was scheduled to expire in 2029.
Riquelme has reiterated previous complaints that changes made by Perez’s board to the club’s bylaws in 2012 made it more difficult for members to run for president.
Since then, presidential candidates must have been club members for 20 years and hold collateral equal to 15% of the club’s budget.
“The most important thing is that after 20 years, the time has come to vote, because the complete lack of democracy has prevented other members of Real Madrid from running year after year,” Riquelme said.
Perez resigned in 2006 following a poor season, but returned to power in 2009.
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Associated Press soccer writer James Robson contributed to this report from Manchester, England.
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