Perez survives the first challenge to his election in 20 years and stays in office as president of Madrid
Florentino Perez wins the election for Real Madrid. This was his first real challenge to the presidency in almost 20 years.
After beating Enrique Riquelme, an entrepreneur in green energy, Florentino Perez was elected as president of Real Madrid for another four years. This was the first election for the club’s president in almost twenty years.
The club said that Perez got 65% of the votes, while Riquelme got 35% of the votes from the 33,555 members who went to Real Madrid’s Valdebebas training center on Sunday to cast their ballots.
With this win, Perez’s long time in charge of the club, which began in 2000, continues. Since 2009, he has faced no resistance in his five re-elections. The club had not had a formal presidential vote since 2006.
“I want to praise Florentino Perez’s winning campaign.” “There will be an election for Real Madrid again in 20 years,” Riquelme told reporters after Real Madrid lost.
Perez called the election even though he still had two years left on his current term. He said that the result was a strong vote of confidence from members after a season in which Real Madrid failed to win a big trophy and rivals Barcelona won the LaLiga title again.
“Real Madrid has had a great day. “We won in every age group, which means “across the board. “And we got the second-best vote count in the history of Real Madrid polls,” Perez said.
The construction mogul, who is 79 years old, called the outcome “extraordinary” and said the club had “set an example of openness and harmony for the world to follow.”
During the season, Perez promised to make big investments in the team. For instance, he appointed Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho and announced a €150 million signing on Tuesday. He also said that defenders Ibrahima Konate and Denzel Dumfries could be added.
Riquelme ran against Perez with a platform that focused on getting more members involved and fighting plans that would have let outside investors buy a small stake in the club. He also promised to try to sign players like Erling Haaland and Rodri.
The challenger didn’t like Perez’s plan to make a subsidiary that could sell about 5% of the club to investors. They said it could hurt Real Madrid’s system of having members own the club.
Riquelme said he “vehemently rejects” the idea and said Perez wanted to “privateize the club.”
Perez has said over and over that Real Madrid’s ownership model will not change and that any changes to the club’s rules would need to be approved by members at a special general meeting.
Forbes says that Real Madrid is still the most valuable football club in the world, with a value of $6.75 billion. They made €1.19 billion in sales during the 2024–25 season.
