It is said that when Florentino Pérez Rodríguez walks into any room twenty people jump up and race to be the person who plumps his cushion.
In the boardroom of the most esteemed and famous club in world football, he is a man who boasts absolute power, and though he is a highly divisive figure, there is no questioning the enormous success he has overseen in the Spanish capital.
Even his many detractors must admit he is one of the greatest club presidents in the history of the game, ushering in different eras of dominance.
Across the 21st century various coaches have guided Real Madrid to domestic and continental triumphs, achieved via players of the highest possible calibre. There has however only been one emperor.
How much is Florentino Perez worth?
In the great scheme of things, Pérez’s £4.7m salary at Real is a pittance compared to his overall wealth.
Making his fortune primarily in the construction industry, the now 78-year-old is said to be worth a mind-boggling £2.8 billion, a figure that is rising on an annual basis according to Forbes.
Before football
Born in a salubrious suburb of Madrid on March 8th, 1947, Pérez was a Los Blancos obsessive as a child, attending games at the Bernabeu at a time when stonewall legends such as Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas reigned.
After excelling in school he attended the Polytechnic University of Madrid before embarking on a career as a civil engineer. Passionate about politics, outside of working hours he joined the Union of the Democratic Center party, going on to run as a candidate for the Democratic Reformist Party.
Despite Pérez serving as its secretary-general he grew frustrated with politics although that proved to be one of the very few ‘failures’ of his life.
In his professional life he steadily climbed the greasy pole of industry and business, becoming chairman of ACS, a construction conglomerate in 1993. He is presently chairman and CEO of Grupa ACS, by now the largest construction company in Spain with a reported revenue of €33.6 billion.
El Presidente
By the turn of this century, Pérez was an extremely successful businessman and a very wealthy individual.
With Real Madrid in his blood and politics an ongoing fascination it was therefore inevitable he would seek out the presidency of the club, running against two others in 1995.
He was unsuccessful that time, but five years later, with Los Blancos experiencing financial difficulties and the ‘socios’ (club members) agitated he put forward his candidacy again. Only this time he made a promise, one that at the time seemed ludicrous and impossible.
Crucially, on securing the presidency in 2000, he somehow kept it. Galacticos That promise was to sign Barcelona’s illustrious megastar Figo, a player so skilled he could upend the football betting with a single drop of his shoulder.
Barcelona’s best players simply didn’t move to their hated rival, nor visa versa, but through all manner of behind-the-scenes machinations and the splurging of a world record fee of €62m on this occasion they did.
Pérez had barely had time to put his feet under his oak desk and already he had pulled off the transfer scoop of the century. Moreover, further elite fare followed as first Zinedine Zidane joined for a whopping €73.5m before the Brazilian Ronaldo adding to what was becoming a circus of world class talent.
With David Beckham and Robinho heading to Spain soon after, Real Madrid became known globally as the ‘Galacticos’, a collection of extraordinary individuals all wearing the iconic white.
Naturally, league titles were won, two in Pérez’s first three years at the helm. In 2002, courtesy of a sublime Zidane volley, Real secured a ninth European Cup/Champions League.
Super League
While Los Blancos hoovered up the finest footballers around each summer off the pitch Pérez was busy building the club’s global brand. Consistently, in the 2000s, Real was listed by Forbes as the wealthiest club in the world, their money troubles now a thing of the past.
Perhaps this explains why in 2004, when seeking re-election, he received 94.2% of the total votes. Football however was fundamentally changing, with clubs being purchased by sheikhs and oligarchs, investing unlimited funds and putting the noses of established superpowers well and truly out of joint.
Openly critical of this development, Pérez bided his time, pouncing during a worldwide pandemic in 2020 to float the idea of a European Super League.
It was he who fronted this unsavoury notion, of 20 of the world’s biggest clubs breaking away from their respective leagues and forming their own, and confident of it happening Pérez agreed to give interviews about it, a rare occurrence.
Clearly, he was betting on the instability and uncertainty of the time to strengthen his ambition.
Ultimately though, so unpopular did this project prove to be clubs swiftly distanced themselves from it, leaving the 73-year-old bitter to this day.
Trophy after trophy
As controversial a figure Pérez is there is no disputing his many successes while governing proceedings at the Bernabeu. Since taking charge, Real Madrid have won an astonishing seven Champions League titles as well as five Club World Cups.
Even accounting for Pep Guardiola’s trophy-laden tenure at Barcelona, they have won seven La Liga titles in addition to three Copa del Ray triumphs. All told, since 2000, Los Blancos have garnered 37 titles under his watch.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
