Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez celebrates his 75th birthday. What are his achievements and future plans?

Spanish politician and Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez celebrates his 75th birthday today. The daily Marca summarises his achievements as leader of the club in the Spanish capital and outlines his plans for the future.

Florentino Pérez has reached an age at which most people would consider retiring. But there is no indication that Pérez will leave the Santiago Bernabéu any time soon. On the contrary, he seems to be in the best of health, as he is proving with his visionary projects.

Florentino Pérez’s rise to fame

Florentino Pérez was born in Madrid on 8 March 1947 and first became president of the club in 2000. During his first stint in this role, he signed some of the best footballers in the world at the time, including Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazário, David Beckham and Michael Owen. He created a star-studded team that has been called none other than Los Galácticos.

The club won 10 trophies during Pérez’s first four years as president, but financial problems forced him to leave the club in 2006. He returned in 2009, and during his second term, players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale came to Real Madrid. During that time, Los Blancos won three more La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and the Copa del Rey Spanish Cup twice. A summary of his trophies won can be found here.

Florentino Pérez is constantly working on his legacy

His greatest triumph may yet come. His biggest life project came with the new look of the famous Santiago Bernabéu stadium. The majestic stand is set to become the most modern football stadium in the entire world. Of course, there is a new retractable roof and many other cultural amenities to significantly increase the royal club’s profits.

Last year, he was the chief architect of the Super League project, where selected clubs from Europe would compete. But the project has nipped in the bud after pressure from UEFA, national football associations and the general footballing public.

Next summer, it announces a hunt for the current attacking stars of world football. According to the Spanish media, the transfer of Kylian Mbappé from Paris Saint-Germain has already been agreed. The Spanish giant is also expected to be a prime candidate for the arrival of Erling Haaland, who has skyrocketed in recent years at German side Borussia Dortmund and has become one of the most valuable commodities on the transfer market. Should the arrivals of both players be confirmed, Pérez would only confirm his legacy, and not only in Spanish football.

On Wednesday, Real Madrid host Paris Saint-Germain in a Champions League eight-final rematch and will be looking to make up the one-goal deficit from the first leg. Despite media speculation about an injury to the Parisian side’s biggest star Kylian Mbappé, the young Frenchman has been included in the squad for tomorrow’s game after all. Florentino Pérez will celebrate his day with a traditional dinner at Madrid’s upmarket Zalacain restaurant, where he will repay his counterpart Nasser Al-Khelaifi for the feast of three weeks ago.

Source: Marca