Enrique Riquelme Gives First Interview as Real Madrid Candidate

A week ago, Real Madrid's president, Florentino Perez, announced at a press conference that he would hold new presidential elections.

And although he did this after, in his own words, a plot was being formed to discredit both the club and his image, no one believed that anyone would be capable of running, but it happened.

The candidate in question is the Spanish businessman, Enrique Riquelme. He had the courage to run for the presidency that the current president wanted to hold.

It is not the first time Riquelme has dared to do so; in 2021, he tried, but this time he is officially a candidate for the presidency of the Spanish club.

On Saturday, the 37-year-old Spaniard presented himself 48 hours in advance of the agreed deadline, as the law dictates, and presented his proposal to the Real Madrid Electoral Board.

In fact, Riquelme assured that his proposal was serious and would impress both the fans and Real Madrid's members.

On Sunday, his candidacy was finally formalized, and in an exclusive interview with the Spanish outlet Marca, Riquelme spoke about his experience as an aspiring president.

When asked why he decided to step forward and wanted to be in office, the businessman explained that it all comes from the illusion, the personal illusion of supporting the new and current Real Madrid players from the offices, and the illusion of the new prospects who dream of reaching the club.

He also assured that even though the elections were called very hastily and time was reduced to a minimum, the first thing he did was test the waters with his team, and in the end they all agreed that someone had to step forward for Real Madrid.

Riquelme took the opportunity to address the members' recent fears, as they are worried that the club will be privatized.

Given this, he assured that this fear has been discussed both internally and publicly for a long time, but he emphasized that his vision is very different: for him, Real Madrid must belong to its members for a long time, with organization and transparency.

Speaking about the massive and supposed campaign to discredit the club that the club is going through, the candidate for the presidency of the Spanish club indicated that he does consider that there has been an attempt to discredit the club's reputation, and that for the moment what is needed is to be strong as an institution, especially after what happened with the 'Negreira Case'.

Regarding the current president of the club, Riquelme spoke only well of Florentino Perez, arguing that he is the best president Real Madrid has ever had and that they are not coming to compete with a person, but to propose a different plan from the current one.

Finally, Riquelme spoke about promises. The promise to the members will be governance, transparency, and democracy, explaining that if what is sought is a Real Madrid that survives many more years, the structure must be changed from the ground up.