Florentino Perez has been re-elected as President of Real Madrid in the first contested election since 2006.
Perez declared victory in a speech at a hotel near the Bernabeu Stadium, while his rival candidate, Enrique Riquelme, accepted defeat.
“We have obtained the second best result in the history of Real Madrid. This is an incredible result. Today, Real Madrid won.”
“We have shown the world an example of democracy. We will continue to work so that Real Madrid continues to win trophies. I want to thank everyone who participated. Together, we still have a lot of history to make,” said Perez.
Florentino Perez won 65 percent of the vote (21,741 votes), while Riquelme got 35 percent of the vote (11,814 votes) on Sunday, June 7, 2026, local time.
The 79-year-old has been Real Madrid’s president since 2009, and previously between 2000 and 2006.
During his tenure, Real Madrid has won seven Champions Leagues – most recently in 2022 and 2024 – and seven LaLiga titles.
Sunday’s vote came after a two-week campaign. The election was Perez’s surprise decision to seek the support of members after two seasons without a major trophy.
This is the first club presidential election contested in the last 20 years, after Perez was elected unopposed in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021, and 2025.
Perez had previously announced the return of Jose Mourinho as Real Madrid coach if he won the election, as well as the recruitment of Ibrahima Konate and Denzel Dumfries, and a promise to make an offer of more than 150 million euros for an unnamed striker – who has the label “Galactico”.
Meanwhile, Riquelme (37) said he would try to recruit Jurgen Klopp as a coach as well as Erling Haaland and Rodri from Manchester City if elected.
Perez, a construction entrepreneur, first beat Lorenzo Sanz to the presidency in 2000, partly on the back of a promise to sign Barcelona star Luis Figo.
After Figo’s arrival, he brought in Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, and David Beckham, before the team’s failure to achieve the expected results led him to resign in 2006.
After his successor, Ramon Calderon, resigned in 2009, Perez returned and oversaw a golden era with Champions League wins in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Perez said he now plans to oversee a change in the club’s ownership structure – which would be subject to a vote of members – by selling a 5 percent stake to external investors.
The idea had previously been opposed by Riquelme, who judged Perez to have gone too far.
“I want to congratulate Florentino Perez on his victory. I also want to thank all the members who have listened and know the importance of the vote after 20 years, with our red line, which is against the sale of the club. We know that Real Madrid is not for sale,” said Riquelme.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
(system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
