Real Madrid

Place of Birth: 

Madrid

Date of Birth: 

28 February 1899

Titles Won: 

2 Regional Championships

Unlike his predecessors, Urquijo was not a player before becoming the Club’s President. The construction of Chamartín Stadium had left Real Madrid in financial strain just when football was becoming a professional sport, but the new President was nevertheless compelled to sign contracts with players Miguel Álvarez García, ‘Miguelón’, and José Maria Peña Saralegui, becoming the first ever to do so.

Urquijo wanted to solve the financial situation and proceeded to formalise the purchase of the grounds of the stadium in order to avoid paying interests on its rent.

In 1927, the team went on its first American tour to introduce the continent to Spanish football. They stopped in Buenos Aires, Lima, Havana, Mexico City, and New York.

Urquijo faced a crisis when the professionalisation of the sport, and subsequently of the Club, caused nostalgic members to protest reforms which were being undertaken. Disappointed, the President tendered his resignation at the start of 1928 and a special General Assembly was held, in which the great majority of the Club’s members voted for a triumvirate, formed by Santiago Bernabéu, Pedro Parages and Urquijo himself, to manage the Club.