Florentino Peres re-elected as president of Real Madrid

Real Madrid football club president Florentino Perez has been re-elected to the position, after defeating rival Enrique Riquelme in Sunday's club elections.

"We will continue to work so that Real Madrid continues to win titles and we will fight until the end so that Real Madrid wins its 16th Champions League trophy. You have shown your commitment and loyalty to the club. Real Madrid has won," the 79-year-old Perez told his supporters at a victory party, around 1 a.m.

Real announced late last night that, after 100 percent of the votes were counted, Perez received 21.741 votes, or 65 percent, and Riquelme received 11.814 votes, or 35 percent.

"We won at all polling stations and achieved the second best result in the history of the election. It is an extraordinary result. And I must tell you that it could have been better because almost a thousand mail-in votes were annulled, votes certified by notaries, due to procedural issues that we will appeal, because we believe we are right," Peres said.

Peres led Real Madrid from 2000 to 2006, returning three years later to the position he still holds today and will remain in until 2030.

Under his leadership, Real won seven of their record 15 Champions League trophies, including seven La Liga titles and three Copa del Reys.

This victory for Perez paved the way for the return of Portuguese coach José Mourinho to the club. Mourinho, who managed Real from 2010 to 2013, was one of Perez's main points of contact during the campaign.

"We are proud to have the best players in the world, we are proud to welcome the return of one of the best coaches in the world, José Mourinho. And rest assured, with me as president, Real Madrid has been, is and will always remain owned by its members," Perez stressed.

He has also said he wants to bring in Ibrahima Konate from Liverpool and Denzel Dumfries from Inter, in addition to promising to bring in another major signing to be announced this week, worth more than €150m.

This was the first election for Real Madrid president in which Perez had an opponent. He had no opponent in the elections of 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2025,

Riquelme congratulated Perez on his election and accepted the election results, but also indicated that he would consider running again.

"For us, this is not the end, this is the beginning. Real Madrid will not spend another 20 years without elections," said Riquelme.