Florentino Prez

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Prez and the
second or maternal family name is Rodrguez.
Florentino Prez
Florentino perez.jpg
Born Florentino Eduardo Prez Rodrguez
8 March 1947 (age 69)
Hortaleza, Madrid, Spain
Residence
Madrid, Spain
Nationality Spanish
Alma mater Technical University of Madrid
Occupation Civil Engineer
Known for
President of Real Madrid
Home town Madrid[1]
Net worth
IncreaseUS$1.74 billion (November 2016)[2]
Board member of
Chairman of Grupo ACS
Spouse(s)
Mara ngeles "Pitina" Sandoval Montero (died 22 May 2012)[3]
Children
Mara ngeles Prez Sandoval
Eduardo Prez Sandoval
Florentino Prez Sandoval
Jose A. Prez Sandoval
Relatives
Eduardo Prez del Barrio (father)
Soledad Rodrguez Prez (mother)[4]
Florentino Eduardo Prez Rodrguez (Spanish pronunciation: [floentino pee roie]; born
8 March 1947) is a Spanish businessman, civil engineer, former politician, and current president
of Real Madrid C.F., as well as Grupo ACS, a civil engineering company. He is most famous for
ushering in Real Madrid's period of Los Galcticos, a time when the club paid extremely high
transfer fees for elite footballers.
Contents [hide]
1
Early career
2
Real Madrid
2.1
First term
2.2
Second term
2.3
Controversies
3
References
4
External links
Early career[edit]
Prez attended the Polytechnic University of Madrid.[5]
Prez joined the Union of the Democratic Centre party in 1979, serving among others on the
Madrid city council.
In 1986, Prez ran in the Spanish general elections as candidate for the Partido Reformista
Democrtico (Democratic Reform Party).[5]
In 1993, he was named vice president of OCP Construcciones. After the fusion of OCP with
Gines y Navarro into Actividades de Construccin y Servicios, S.A. (ACS) in 1997, he became
president of the new company.
Real Madrid[edit]

Florentino Prez first ran for the presidency of Real Madrid in the 19 February 1995 election. He
campaigned on the poor financial situation of the club and the alleged extensive mismanagement
by the board, but lost to the incumbent Ramn Mendoza by 699 votes.
First term[edit]
His second attempt was more successful; he took over as president in 2000, beating the current
chairman at that time, Lorenzo Sanz. Sanz assumed that the recently won European Cups in 1998
and 2000 would give him enough credit to win the elections, but Prez's campaign, once again
highlighting the financial problems of the club and claims of mismanagement by the previous
boards, proved otherwise. Prez's promise to bring in Lus Figo from arch-rivals Barcelona also
played a decisive role in the elections. Prez was reelected in 2004 with 94.2% of the total votes.
Figo also marked the start of Prez's policy to bring one of the best football players in the world
to Real Madrid each season. The strategy was initially known as that of Zidanes y Pavones - in
which superstars would play alongside the Canteranos, but the players were soon popularly
referred to as Galcticos. In 2001, Zinedine Zidane was signed from Juventus for a then-world
record transfer fee of 73.5 million. He was followed by Ronaldo in 2002, David Beckham in
2003, Michael Owen in 2004 and Robinho for a short while in 2005. Initially, Prez's policy
worked to great success, as each new Galctico had the squad built around them, and the team
had a good balance between attack and defence. In his first years in office, Real Madrid won two
Spanish championships and its record ninth European Cup.
Prez claimed success in clearing the club's debt; however, this was contradicted by director
Ramn Caldern.
After the 200203 season, Prez decided not to renew Vicente del Bosque's contract, despite
Real capturing a 29th La Liga title. Del Bosque was able to balance the many different player
egos in the star-studded team. It was widely believed that there was a political split, with del
Bosque and his players (Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes, Steve McManaman and Claude
Makll) on one side, and Prez on the other. All of the aforementioned players left the club in
2003 in Prez's shakeup bid to regain control.
In particular, Claude Makll, considered one of the best defensive midfielders at the time and a
key component to Real's successes, decided to ask for an improved contract with the support of
teammates Zidane, Ral, Steve McManaman and Fernando Morientes. Up to this time, Makll
was also one of Madrid's least paid players, earning a fraction of what was paid to the Galcticos,
but Prez flatly refused to consider Makll's request. Upset, Makll handed in a transfer
request, whereupon he was promptly dispatched to Chelsea. Prez infamously poured scorn on
Makll's footballing abilities and proclaimed that Makll would not be missed, saying, "We
will not miss Makll. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past
opponents, and 90% of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways."
After Makll was sold, Prez signed a number of high-profile attackers, including Michael
Owen, Jlio Baptista and Robinho, in accordance with his Galctico policy. Unfortunately, all of
the Galticos were attacking players with generally limited defensive roles and abilities, and
Prez failed to adequately replace Makll in the holding midfielder's role. Negotiations to sign
Patrick Vieira from Arsenal in 2004 failed because of Prez's refusal to pay high wages for
"defensive players."
Several years after leaving Real, McManaman and Morientes stated that Makll was the most
important and least appreciated midfielder, the latter saying, "The loss of Makll was the
beginning of the end for Los Galcticos... You can see that it was also the beginning of a new

dawn for Chelsea." From the 200304 season onward, with the absence of del Bosque and
Makll, Real Madrid failed to win a trophy.
Though Prez's policy resulted in increased financial success based on the exploitation of the
club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia, it came under increasing
criticism for being focused too much on marketing the Real Madrid brand and not enough on the
football. He announced his resignation on 27 February 2006, acknowledging that the team and
the club as a whole needed a new direction.[6]
Second term[edit]
On 14 May 2009, Prez announced his candidacy for president of Real Madrid in a press
conference at the Hotel Ritz Madrid.[7] On 1 June 2009, given that he was the only candidate
able to provide the 57,389,000 guarantee necessary to run for the presidency, Prez was
announced as the new president of Real Madrid.[8][9]
Prez has continued with the Galcticos policy pursued in his first term. On 8 June 2009, he
bought Kak from Milan for just under 60 million,[10] while on 11 June, Manchester United
accepted an 80 million offer for Cristiano Ronaldo, which would once again break the world
record. On 25 June, Prez and Real Madrid announced the signing of Valencia centre-back Ral
Albiol for 15 million.[11] On 1 July, Prez bought Karim Benzema from Olympique Lyonnais
for a fee of at least 30 million, which could rise to 35 million, depending on the player's
success.
On 5 August 2009, Real Madrid confirmed the signing of Xabi Alonso from Liverpool[12] for
30 million; Alonso became the second Liverpool player to join Real Madrid in the same
transfer window after full-back lvaro Arbeloa's 3.5 million switch to the Santiago Bernabu in
July.
On 31 May 2010, Prez presented Jos Mourinho as the new coach of Real Madrid in a 6.8
million deal.
During the next three years, Prez brought a lot of new faces to Los Blancos, including the
German wonderkid Mesut zil, and ngel Di Mara, who both attracted attention from Europe's
elite football clubs during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This squad enjoyed its share of
domestic success in 2011 and 2012, with the club bringing home a Copa del Rey title. [13] and a
La Liga title.[14] However, the club's lack of success in European competition and a
disappointing 201213 season [15] encouraged Mourinho to depart for his former club
Chelsea.[16]
On 2 June 2013, Prez was awarded a fourth term as the Real Madrid president, bringing in
Carlo Ancelotti to replace Mourinho. Mesut zil and Gonzalo Higuan were sold to Arsenal[17]
and Napoli,[18] respectively, at the start of the season to secure spots for Luka Modri and
Karim Benzema in the first team. Prez also brought in Welsh footballer and PFA Player of the
Year[19] Gareth Bale, purchased from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee reported to be in the 86
million range, yet again breaking the world record. [20] Two promising Spanish talents,
playmaker Isco[21] and holding midfielder Asier Illaramendi,[22] were also secured by Prez
prior to the start of the season. The following season proved to be a resounding success, as Real
Madrid won the Copa del Rey and its tenth Champions League title.
During the 2014 summer transfer window, Prez brought in 2014 FIFA World Cup stars James
Rodrguez,[23] Toni Kroos,[24] and Keylor Navas[25] to Real Madrid for a combined cost of
95 million, as well as Javier Hernndez on a loan deal from Manchester United. As a result of
the mounting competition for starting spots and wage disputes, ngel Di Mara left the club for
Manchester United for a British record transfer fee of 60 million.[26] Xabi Alonso also left

during this transfer window to join Bayern Munich.[27] In January 2015, Prez again showed his
muscle in the transfer market when Real Madrid signed the 16-year-old Norwegian "minigalactico" Martin degaard in competition with many of the big clubs in Europe, including
Bayern, Barcelona and Arsenal.
Controversies[edit]
After Iker Casillas' move to Porto in July 2015, Casillas' agent, Santos Mrquez, criticized Prez,
saying, "He doesn't like black players, but is not a racist," and that is why players like Claude
Makll and Samuel Eto'o weren't paid as much as other players. Mrquez also expressed that
he expects Prez to leave Real Madrid after Casillas' transfer.[28]