MADRID (AP) — Florentino Perez has won another four-year term as Real Madrid president. win the club election on sunday.
“We will continue to work hard so that Real Madrid continues to win more titles,” Perez told supporters at a victory celebration held at nearly 1 a.m., shortly after Real Madrid’s club television reported that Perez had defeated challenger Enrique Riquelme.
The club has not yet released the vote count.
Perez’s win will pave the way for him Portugal national team manager Jose Mourinho recalled On to his second stint in Madrid. Mourinho, who managed Madrid from 2010 to 2013, appeared in Perez’s promotional materials during the campaign.
“I’m proud to have Jose Mourinho, one of the best managers in the world, back,” Perez said.
Perez also said he wanted to sign Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate and Inter Milan right-back Denzel Dumfries, as well as pledging to make major additions worth more than 150 million euros (about $173 million), which will be announced this week.
Perez, 79, managed Madrid from 2000 to 2006 and from 2009 to the present. Under his leadership, Madrid won seven of a record 15 European Cups.
According to Forbes magazine, Madrid have also been the most valuable club in the world for the past five years.
Mr Perez, who also runs an international construction company, had not been challenged by rival candidates in Madrid’s presidential race for more than 20 years. He ran unchallenged when elections were scheduled in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021, and 2025.
That being said, Perez has had a frustrating performance of late. His Super League plan to launch a competition to rival UEFA’s Champions League fellAnd despite signing a star striker, Madrid went two seasons without winning a title. Kylian Mbappe.
Perez was also criticized last year for voicing the idea that: Selling 10% of the club to a private investora move that breaks with the member-ownership model that has existed for 124 years.
Mr. Riquelme, a renewable energy company executive, said: Perez upset He announced the election at a press conference last month, daring anyone to challenge him and condemning what he called a media campaign to bring him down.
Riquelme, 37, was supported by former Madrid players such as Raul González, Fernando Hierro and Iker Casillas. He also promised a huge contract Manchester City star Erling Haaland. City and Haaland’s agent have ruled out Haaland moving to Madrid this summer.
There were 98,000 club members eligible to vote. The elections were held at the Basketball Pavilion in Madrid, as the Santiago Bernabéu stadium is used for the event in Madrid. Pope Leo XIV During a week-long visit to Spain.
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