Real Madrid: Florentino Pérez to face presidency challenge in 2021
Vicente Boluda, who was briefly president of Real Madrid after Ramón Calderón resigned in 2009, is to stand against Florentino Pérez.
![Vicente Boluda.](https://img.asmedia.epimg.net/resizer/v2/EJQJJXU7GNM5FJ75SRIRE2SBYU.jpg?auth=dc9de91e232479a20426647dd9851bb698eda6d63b2ff0e49c2d1b5c6cc08658&width=360&height=203&smart=true)
Vicente Boluda has announced that he is intending to stand in presidential elections against current Real Madrid chief Florentino Pérez in 2021.
"Real Madrid have a president who is doing really well," Boluda said at a business event in Valencia on Monday, as reported by Spanish radio network Cadena SER. "It's another thing that, next year, there will be new elections and I want there to be elections, and for that there have to be two candidates and one has to be different to the one that's there. I will present myself as a candidate."
Boluda briefly served in the post as an interim in 2009 after the resignation of Ramón Calderón, before Pérez took the reins for a second stint after stepping down himself in 2006.
Since he regained the presidency after Calderón’s departure, construction magnate Pérez’s position at Real Madrid has remained iron-clad after he imposed restrictions in the club statutes in 2012 on who can stand. These included having been a club member (socio) for a minimum of 20 years (a rise from 10 years previously) and being able to provide a personal guarantee of 75 million euros from a Spanish bank, without recourse to third parties or loans.
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Pérez elected Real Madrid president unopposed in 2013 and 2017
Unsurprisingly, Pérez was re-elected in 2013 and 2017 unopposed. The only challenge the current Madrid president has faced to his position since he took charge for a second time was in 2009, when Juan Onieva, a former Madrid vice-president, announced his candidacy only to withdraw a few days later.
Boluda was a member of the board of directors under Calderón and became vice-president in 2007. A businessman with two Masters’ degrees, Boluda presides over the National Association of Shipowners and Tow-Trucks and is vice-president of the Spanish Shipping Association.
Boluda has been a Real Madrid socio since 1998, when Lorenzo Sanz was president, meaning he did not meet the requirements to stand against Pérez in the 2017 elections.