Real Madrid President Florentino Perez challenged anyone who felt they could beat him in an elections to do so, after announcing that Los Blancos would go to the polls. The rival mentioned by Perez, albeit not by name, is reportedly considering running against him.
Perez announced that he had instructed the board to begin the election process, mentioning 10-15 days as a potential time period in which it could take place. The Real Madrid President was furious about what he called a media campaign against him, and a bid to oust him from the club.
Florentino Perez challenges rival to run against him
He also mentioned ‘those children and youngsters’ as part of the campaign to challenge his authority, and also referred to the one with a ‘Mexican accent‘.
“I’m calling for elections this year so there will be candidates. That gentleman who talks to the power companies and has a South American accent, let him run. A Mexican accent. They say we’re very bad, that we’re a dictatorship. Let this gentleman we’re talking about run, and anyone else who wants to.”
Enrique Riquelme considers candidacy
According to both Diario AS and Marca, the person he was referring to was Enrique Riquelme. The 37-year-old businessman is the president of the company Cox Energy, and recently hit headlines for €4b takeover bid of Iberdrola Mexico. He is expected to fly to Spain in the coming hours to meet with his close advisors and consider whether to run against Perez. At the time of Perez’s press conference, he was on a flight to Panama.
In order to run against Perez, Riquelme and his prospective board would have to put together a bank guarantee of €187m. He does meet the requirement of being a member for the past 20 years, and his father was a member of Ramon Calderon’s board. Back in 2021, Riquelme considered running for the Real Madrid presidency too.
