Real Madrid will hold a presidential election on Sunday for the first time since 2006, giving members a rare chance to decide whether Florentino Perez stays in charge of the world’s richest football club or faces a surprise challenge from Enrique Riquelme.
The vote matters now because Perez, who has led the club since 2009, chose to trigger it on May 12 even though he did not have to. His mandate runs until 2029, but he used a press conference to call on rivals to “come out of the shadows” and meet him in public, turning a routine administrative step into a test of power.
That is what makes the real madrid elections such a draw for readers looking at Sunday’s schedule. Real Madrid are one of only four Spanish clubs owned by their members, alongside Barcelona, Osasuna and Athletic Club, and the club’s president is chosen under rules that are far stricter than those at most major teams. Only Spanish citizens can run, they must have been members for 20 years, and any contender must also put up a bank guarantee showing personal wealth equal to 15 per cent of Real Madrid’s annual budget.
Those numbers have grown with the club. Real Madrid’s budget for the 2012-13 season was €518.7 million, but this season it stands at €1.25 billion, meaning the guarantee is now far larger than the €187 million, or £162 million, $219 million figure that applied when the statutes were changed in September 2012. For Perez, the rules are a barrier to entry for any serious challenger; for Riquelme, they are the hurdle that makes his candidacy notable in the first place.
Riquelme, the 37-year-old founder of Cox Energy, added a flash of ambition on Wednesday night when he said in a Spanish TV interview that he would sign Erling Haaland from Manchester City if he were made president. It was the sort of statement that cuts through a campaign dominated by eligibility checks, guarantees and member rolls, and it gave the election a rare dose of footballing theatre.
Only members above age, with full legal capacity, who have been registered with the club for at least one uninterrupted year and appear on Real Madrid’s electoral roll can vote. They can do so by post or at Valdebebas, where voting in the basketball pavilion runs from 9am to 8pm on Sunday.
The club has also arranged shuttle services because Pope Leo XIV is expected to hold a mass at Plaza de Cibeles the same day, and the visit is likely to cause major transport disruption across Madrid. Real Madrid have not said when the result will be confirmed, leaving the timing of the outcome open even as members cast ballots. Barcelona’s presidential election in March had its outcome clear by about midnight local time, but Real Madrid has given no such clue. The first confirmed step is the vote itself; the rest may take longer to surface.
