Real Madrid

Place of Birth: 

Madrid

Date of Birth: 

08 March 1947

Florentino Perez Rodriguez returned to the Presidency of Real Madrid on 1 June 2009, having previously presided over the Club between 2000 and 2006.

Florentino Perez was born in Madrid on 8 March 1947. He is married, has three children and is has a degree in Engeneering from the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos form Madrid's Universidad Politecnica, where he also taught Fundamentos Fisicos de las Tecnicas.

He first ran for president in 1994, an election campaign won by Ramon Mendoza. He achieved his goal on 16 July 2000 by defeating incumbent President Lorenzo Sanz. Perez was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2004 and voluntarliy resigned his office on 27 February 2006. Real Madrid underwent a profound transformation in all of its social strata during his office.

When Perez arrived at the Club in 2000, the Director of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium Plan was set under way with a double objective: improving the comfort of the stadium and the quality of its services and instalations, and increasing the revenue produced by the stadium.

Florentino's presidency managed to stengthen the Club's finances, making Real Madrid one of the richest clubs in the world. According to the Deloitte Report -the most prestigious of its kind in the world of football-, Real Madrid overtook Manchester United to become the strongest team in the world financially-speaking.

Perez signed stars of the likes of Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Beckham, Owen and Ronaldo, who joined forces with signature players like Raul, Casillas and Guti to create a winning team that thrilled all Madridismo.

This magnificent team won two league titles (2001, 2003), one Champions League (2002), one Intercontinental Cup (2002), two Spanish Super Cups (2001, 2003) and one European Super Cup (2002).

Florentino Perez kickstarted a complete renewal of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, investing 127 million euros throughout five years. This eventually led to the Bernabeu achieveing UEFA's Elite Stadium distinction. It will host the 2010 Champions League final.

Florentino Perez was also the creator of Real Madrid City at Valdebebas, the most state-of-the-art sport facility in the world. The first stone was laid on 12 May 2004 and the City was inaugurated in 2006. It is the greatest sports center ever built by a football club and covers 1,200,000 square meters, ten times bigger than the old Real Madrid City. Real Madrid Castilla were promoted to the Second Division at Valdebebas.

Florentino Perez's presidency healed the Club's financial situation, recovered the intitution's international prestige, obtained great success in the sporting field and, more importantly, regained the pride and admiration of all Madridismo.