In an urgent press conference, Florentino Pérez announced that he will call elections for the presidency of Real Madrid. “I regret to inform you that I am not resigning. I have asked the electoral board to initiate the process to hold elections for the board of directors that this Board of Directors will stand for,” he stated.
Below is a detailed analysis of the requirements a member must meet to run for the presidency of Real Madrid. Beyond the 20-year membership requirement, the main challenge is the financial guarantee. Real Madrid’s current budget far exceeds one billion euros, specifically €1.28 billion. Candidates must provide a guarantee of 15% of that budget, which amounts to €187 million. Additionally, once elections are called, candidates have a ten-day period to submit their candidacies.
Therefore, €187 million is the net worth that the president and their board of directors must guarantee to stand in the election. This amount must be backed collectively by all board members, not just the president. They must have and risk these funds because, according to the statutes, the guarantee becomes effective immediately after the board is elected. Before the statutory change, the guarantee could be formalized later. While any bank would be willing to guarantee Real Madrid, in this case, the guarantee directly backs the president and their board. Moreover, the cost of securing such a large guarantee, though variable, is around two million euros.
Everything related to the presidential elections is outlined in Article 40 of the club’s Social Statutes, which serves as the club’s constitution.
**B) Requirements to Be a Candidate**
To be a candidate for president or a member of the Board of Directors, it is necessary to:
1. Be Spanish.
2. Be of legal age and have full capacity to act.
3. Be up to date with social obligations.
4. Be a club member for at least 20 consecutive years for the president, 15 years for vice presidents, and 10 years for other positions.
5. Not be subject to any sanction that would disqualify them from holding a directorial position.
6. Not hold a directorial position in other football clubs or be an active player, referee, coach, or technical staff member at the time of being proclaimed a candidate.
7. Provide, at the appropriate time, a bank guarantee under the terms, conditions, and amount established by Law 10/1990 and other applicable provisions, in accordance with the requirements set out in sections 3 and 4 of subsection C of this article.
However, more important than those are the requirements for candidacies, which were tightened a few years ago with a change in statutes. They are as follows…
**C) Requirements for Candidacies**
Within the established deadline, candidacies must be submitted to the club and the electoral board in duplicate, meeting the following requirements:
1. Include at least the president and a minimum of nine board members.
2. Be signed by the candidates with a certified signature and a formal declaration of acceptance of the proposal.
3. Attach a pre-bank guarantee from any credit institution, bank, or savings bank registered with the Bank of Spain, guaranteeing at least 15% of the club’s general budget. The text must state that this will automatically become a definitive guarantee if the candidacy for president and board of directors of Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is elected in the current electoral process, once the candidate for president takes office.
4. In this guarantee, the issuing credit institution, bank, or savings bank must state that it was granted considering the personal assets of the candidates and solely based on those personal assets.
According to the statutes, the current president and their board hold full powers until another board is elected. Regarding timelines, these are also regulated in the statutes: “Within two days of the event that triggers the need for elections for president and board of directors, the electoral board will agree to start the electoral process by opening a ten-calendar-day period, counting from its publication, for candidates to be submitted. This agreement must be posted on the notice board at the club’s headquarters and published in at least two newspapers in Madrid.”
Candidates are reviewed by the electoral board the day after they are submitted. This is a strict hurdle that must also be passed. The statutes state: “The electoral board may require additional information to ensure that in no case has the guarantee been granted based on assets other than those of the individuals comprising the candidacy.”
