Riquelme and Florentino turn up the heat as election draws near

Seven days before the elections, Florentino Pérez and Enrique Riquelme found themselves less than seven metres apart. In full view. Closer than at any point since the campaign began. Both attended Real Madrid Femenino’s Liga F season finale at the Alfredo Di Stéfano this morning. One watched from the directors’ box, the other from the stands. Between them was the inevitable murmur of onlookers.

They did not greet each other. They did not cross paths. They did not speak, just as they have not throughout the campaign. Riquelme recently said he did not have Florentino’s phone number and assumed Florentino did not have his. Real Madrid Femenino brought them physically closer than ever, yet politically they seemed farther apart than at any previous point. The coming week promises to be intense, but this Sunday already felt like the beginning of a new chapter.

The tone has changed. “We need the largest mobilisation in our history to stop the greatest threat our club has ever faced,” Riquelme declared this afternoon outside his campaign headquarters.

He was referring to what has rapidly become the campaign’s central issue: the debate over Real Madrid’s ownership structure. Florentino has increasingly spoken about a potential restructuring, an idea that remains somewhat undefined and only partially explained, yet is becoming more prominent by the day.

“Being a Real Madrid member will no longer be solely a sentimental matter, as it has been until now, but a way of being an owner of the club for life,” Florentino said in an interview with El País.

In that interview, he offered further details of his proposal: “I want to give members economic ownership. I will not rest until the club’s economic assets belong to its members.”

Asked what someone purchasing a 5% stake would receive in return, he replied: “Nothing. These are stakes in an organisation of such extraordinary value that nobody should think they are buying them to take control of Real Madrid. Which is precisely the opposite of what this candidacy [Riquelme’s] wants people to believe.”

When asked whether someone might later seek to acquire 10%, Florentino responded: “Whatever the members decide, and always through a referendum. But a 5% stake would not confer control. It could be more about image and association with a brand like Real Madrid. It would not allow someone with limited means to take out a usurious loan and acquire the club.”

He also outlined the timeline for the proposal: “As soon as the elections are over, I want to convene an assembly of delegates and hold a referendum.”

Riquelme responded forcefully later in the day: “Florentino says that selling 5% or 10% is insignificant. We should remember that he controls just over 10% of ACS and effectively controls the company. The danger is not only how much is sold. The danger is opening the door. Nobody buys part of the biggest club in the world for nothing. Once the model is weakened, it cannot be restored. No European club that has started down this path has ever reversed course.”

He continued: “Today we know the plan. As soon as the polls close, he intends to convene a controlled assembly and rush through a referendum to change the ownership model, wiping away more than 120 years of history in a single stroke.”

Riquelme then announced one of his next campaign moves: “This week I will go before a notary with my Board of Directors and sign a public commitment that I will never sell any part of Real Madrid to a third party. I publicly invite Florentino Pérez to join me and sign the same pledge.”

The sharp rhetoric continued: “The Florentino Pérez of 20 years ago would never have opened the door to selling part of the club. The Florentino Pérez of 20 years ago would not be afraid of a televised debate.”

He even extended the challenge to Anas Laghrari, whom he identified as a key figure behind the proposal: “Given the seriousness of the situation, I offer the debate to him as well. He is the person behind this attempt to sell part of the club.”

Florentino, meanwhile, had spoken warmly of Laghrari in his interview with El País.

“I have watched him grow up. He is like a son to me, and his father was like a brother. His father was also a civil engineer, and we worked together in Morocco. He was brilliant, and so is his son. He helps me because he has an exceptional mind. He also helps at ACS, despite not working there. Nobody here is making money from this.”

As the campaign enters its final week, Riquelme has clearly moved away from the conciliatory tone that previously defined his candidacy.

“This is no longer simply a campaign,” he argued. “Florentino Pérez, who now talks about selling stakes to foreign funds, has been a great president. But that does not give him the right to sell the club. No one is bigger than Real Madrid. No one. Not even Florentino Pérez. These elections have become a referendum on the sale of Real Madrid.”

His closing appeal was direct: “I ask Madridistas to make the result of this election the clearest possible message: Real Madrid is not for sale.”

Florentino, for his part, has shown no willingness to soften his criticism of the rival candidacy: “The sole objective of these people is to seize power for their own benefit. When I saw the candidacy, I thought: ‘They’re the same people from the Calderón era, the same people who were there when he resigned in 2009.’ Many years have passed and they are still around. I am prepared to name every one of them.”

He concluded bluntly: “Everything they say is absurd populism.”

The political temperature rises with each passing day. The rhetoric grows sharper. There will be no debate; Florentino has made it clear that he will not reconsider his position despite Riquelme’s repeated calls for one. More events are scheduled for Monday. More statements will follow. And so, with seven days remaining until the election, both men were separated by no more than seven metres. Yet despite their physical proximity, they appeared farther apart than ever.

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