Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez (79) appeared before the media at the club’s training ground to announce the start of the presidential election process, confirming he will stand again to ensure the club remains in the hands of its members. He also spoke of a conspiracy against him and the club by a section of the media, and launched an attack on Barcelona by stating he will deliver a dossier of more than 500 pages to UEFA regarding the Negreira case. He downplayed the significance of the altercation between Valverde and Tchouaméni, and refused to comment on Mourinho or a potential coaching change.
The Madrid chief began his appearance by outlining the reasons for his statement, before taking questions from the media.
“I am not going to resign. I have asked the board to begin the process of calling elections, and this board will stand for re-election. Why am I calling elections? I have worked since 2000 to ensure that the club’s owners are the members. I have taken this decision because an absurd campaign has been generated against Real Madrid and against me. We accept that we haven’t had the best results, but they use that to attack me personally. They ask ‘Where is Florentino?’ Some have even said I have terminal cancer. I take this opportunity to reassure those who were worried about me: I am still president of Real Madrid and of another company that turns over 50 billion euros a year. My health is perfect. If I had cancer as has been claimed, I would have to go to an oncology center, wouldn’t I?”
Pérez singled out ABC newspaper, reading from his phone: “Before the board meeting I had to read this: ‘Florentino says he’s very tired.’ Do you think it’s right that this is published just before I enter? David Sánchez de Castro, are you here? To greet you, to see why you publish that. I get up early in the morning and go to bed last, I work like an animal.”
“We have won 66 titles, 37 in football and 29 in basketball, including seven European Cups in football and three in basketball. I am calling elections and I invite all those who want to stand to do so. Some journalists think they will intimidate me; on the contrary, it gives me more energy.”
“I stood for Real Madrid so that its members would have the final say. Some journalists think they say something and people believe them, but people believe me. Do you remember José María García? I started with him. Here at Real Madrid, the members rule while I am here. Anyone who wants to stand in the elections should do so. But don’t go behind my back saying I look tired – it’s because I work a lot. I have to come out and stop this. I cannot admit that there are people in the media who have wanted to take over… and less than two years ago I won a League and a Champions League, and now Madrid is supposedly in ruins and chaos? How can it be chaos?”
“Three years on, the Negreira case is still simmering. It is incomprehensible that referees from that era are still in LaLiga. We are going to present a dossier to UEFA so that they can root this out, for the good of world football.”
“Why do they want to kill me? It is an organized campaign. I mentioned ABC earlier. It belongs to Vocento, which created Relevo. In agreement with LaLiga, they started a digital newspaper that lost 25 million euros. When LaLiga stopped paying, it went to Telefónica and then Telecinco. Its sole purpose was to attack Florentino Pérez and the president of Real Madrid.”
“I am going to cancel my subscription to ABC out of respect for my father, who if he raised his head would not forgive me for continuing to subscribe. It has cost 100 million euros. (Now addressing Rubén Cañizares of ABC) I see that even with Relevo’s failure, ABC hasn’t changed. Why do you discredit Real Madrid every day?”
“We are admired worldwide, and other clubs don’t understand the Spanish press. I am not leaving, and I will defend the members of Real Madrid – the true owners. I want to end this anti-Madrid current. I am standing to defend them, the members, because no one is going to take over Real Madrid, the biggest club in the world.”
“They weren’t paying the players in 2000 – ask Roberto Carlos. Bodo Illgner’s wife came to tell me. I had to put my own money in to pay them. The owners of Madrid are the members. If anyone wants to stand in the elections, let them stop bluffing and come forward. Let them provide the same guarantees I provided in 2000 – 170-something million.”
“They talk about cost overruns on the stadium project, which started at 600 million and rose to 1.3 billion. No, let’s see. The first contract for the Bernabéu was the roof, costing 600 million. Then the hypogeum, costing 400 million. Then the decoration and seats, 300 million. That’s how construction works. And I know something about it.”
“I am standing because certain sectors have tried to take over the club. One is the journalistic sector, saying Madrid is in chaos. Then there are the ultras, who are still meeting. We expelled them and they won’t enter Real Madrid again. We have expelled 1,600 members for reselling tickets. LaLiga is our enemy – I fight against everyone.”
“That we have to listen to the president of the Technical Committee of Referees say about the Negreira case that it’s something to forget… How can we forget? I have already spoken with UEFA and we will hand them a 500-page dossier on the biggest corruption case in football history. I first fought with the Super League, and after winning in the CJEU, we went to UEFA to negotiate for real. What we achieved at the CJEU is good – free football, so children in Africa can watch it for free. Everything we achieve is for the good of football, and UEFA has realized this to make football even more global.”
“Let no one expect me to sit back. It has cost me a lot to clean up Madrid financially and otherwise.”
**Q&A session:**
**On coaching change:** “I’m not going to talk about that. I came to talk about returning Madrid’s heritage to the members, which these journalists who don’t know what they’re talking about are taking away. I will stand in elections because I want Madrid to remain in the hands of its members.”
**On sporting matters:** “I’m not going to talk about sporting matters. Some want to destroy Real Madrid. I once faced a journalist whose name I don’t want to repeat.”
**On Mourinho:** “We are not at that procedural moment. We are here to fix that Madrid belongs to its members, which some of your colleagues (journalists) and others want to snatch away. I have been chosen as the best president in the club’s history. I will defend not myself but the institution. Today we do not talk about football or players.”
**On members worried about the season:** “We will do an analysis. We have to fight against many. Tell Juanma Castaño from Cope to have a little consideration for the best club in history. Talk to him and tell him to take care of Madrid. Not only Madrid is harmed, but other teams too, and they tell me.