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 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.
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.