According to an analysis by French sports newspaper L’Équipe, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez held a press conference on Tuesday, announcing the launch of a new presidential election. However, it is widely seen as a move to consolidate his power. With stringent requirements—candidates must be Spanish nationals, have been club members for at least 20 years, and provide a personal financial guarantee of €187 million—almost no one can truly challenge his position.
“I regret to inform you that I will not resign. But I have asked the board to initiate the procedure for a new presidential election,” said the 79-year-old president at a special press conference held at Real Madrid’s training ground shortly after 6 p.m. local time. The press conference followed a board meeting that had started about an hour earlier.
However, after a 63-minute address largely spent attacking the media and those “trying to take our club away from us”—whom he described as orchestrating “an absurd campaign against Real Madrid’s interests, and particularly against me”—it remains unclear when the election will actually take place.
“We will launch the electoral process in about two weeks,” Pérez vaguely stated. Potential candidates will then have ten days to submit their applications.
After the board reviews and either approves or rejects these applications, if two or more candidates remain, voting will take place 15 days later. If only one candidate stands, he will be declared elected the day after the application deadline, without a vote.
This mirrors the situation on January 19, 2025, when Pérez was re-elected unopposed. The same scenario occurred in each of his previous five elections: 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021, and 2025. This year, history is likely to repeat itself.
As a seasoned power broker, Pérez amended the club’s statutes in 2012 to raise the bar for presidential candidates, effectively discouraging potential rivals.
Any aspiring candidate must not only hold Spanish nationality and have been a Real Madrid member for at least 20 consecutive years, but also provide a stringent financial guarantee from a bank registered with the Bank of Spain. Candidates must prove they possess personal assets covering 15% of Real Madrid’s annual budget.
With Real Madrid’s current annual budget at €1.28 billion, each candidate must personally guarantee €187 million.
For Pérez, whose personal fortune is estimated at €3.1 billion (ranked tenth on Forbes’ 2025 list of Spain’s richest), this is merely a minor expense. For others, it is a formidable obstacle. Moreover, merely arranging the bank guarantee is an extremely costly process in itself.
Thus, by calling for an early election, Pérez aims to further cement his power and reinforce his legitimacy among the club’s members. This comes at a time when Real Madrid is experiencing its worst competitive crisis in 16 years, having gone two consecutive seasons without major titles and facing internal locker room tensions.
“I’m calling an election so that those children who want me dead can step up and run themselves,” Pérez said. “Stop complaining and actually step forward. Why is no one daring to compete with me? They must be afraid of me. That businessman with the Mexican accent—let him come and run.”
This was a clear reference to 37-year-old Real Madrid member Enrique Riquelme, head of solar energy company Cox Energy, who has never hidden his ambition to run for the presidency and is said to have considerable support within the club.
“But Florentino isn’t leaving. They’ll have to shoot me before I go,” Pérez concluded. Faced with a stunned and uncomfortable audience of journalists, even the club’s top executives seated in the front row looked uneasy.
Throughout the press conference, Pérez appeared to lose control, adopting a victim mentality and lashing out at his long-standing targets—the media, La Liga, referees, Barcelona, and the “Negreira case,” among others.
He also made two sexist remarks directed at female journalists present.
Meanwhile, he barely addressed Real Madrid’s actual sporting issues and showed no sign of self-reflection.
Ultimately, the Real Madrid president appeared to be shooting himself in the foot rather than defusing the crisis.