When Florentino Pérez stood before the press on Tuesday to announce a snap election, he was careful not to say the name. He did not need to. “That man who talks with the electricity companies and has a Mexican accent, let him stand,” Pérez told reporters. “They say this is a dictatorship. Let him do better. Let him stand.” It was clear exactly who he meant, and by Wednesday morning, Enrique Riquelme Vives was one of the most searched names in football.
Riquelme was born in Cox, a small town in the
Vega Baja of Alicante, in 1989. By his own admission, he was a poor student, one of those who never did his homework, while his family ran businesses in aggregates and fruit, but he never planned to take over the businesses and at 21 he bought a one-way ticket to Panama. There, he opened a small concrete factory. The business grew into road and mining infrastructure, and Riquelme became one of the main suppliers of aggregate for the expansion of the Panama Canal. He reinvested everything he made from that monopoly into renewables.
His first move into energy came in 2012, when he led the development of the Rainbow 50 solar project in Guatemala, at the time the largest photovoltaic plant in the region. Similar projects followed in Chile, Mexico and Panama. Cox Energy was founded in 2014 and grew into one of the most recognised solar groups in Latin America. The company listed on the Spanish stock exchange in November 2024.
Known in business circles as the Rey del Sol, King of the Sun, Riquelme leads a group with a presence in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Spain and the United States. In a recent deal that significantly raised his profile in Spain, Cox acquired Iberdrola’s Mexican assets for $4 billion. Various rankings have placed his personal wealth at around €460 million, though he has never confirmed those figures publicly. The financial guarantee required to stand for the Real Madrid presidency is currently estimated at €187 million, which is 15% of the club’s annual budget. He has been in talks with banks to ensure that he could provide this amount in recent months, according to reports from El Periodico.
The Mexican accent Pérez referenced is a product of Riquelme’s years working across Latin America. He is Spanish, born in Alicante, but picked up the inflection from spending much of his professional life in Mexico and Central America. Pérez initially described him as having a “South American accent” before correcting himself mid-sentence to “Mexican”.
Beyond business, Riquelme has deep ties to Real Madrid as a supporter. He has attended Champions League finals in Milan, Kiev and Cardiff. His company also sponsors Team Rafa, Rafael Nadal’s team in the UIM E1 World Championship, the first global electric powerboat racing series. He moves in circles where sport and corporate money overlap.
According to Hispanidad, Riquelme is the most visible face of a broader coalition that includes David Mesonero, son-in-law of Spanish energy company Iberdrola’s president Ignacio Galán, as operational organiser, and Iberdrola itself as the potential financial backer of any challenge. Pérez clearly believes the threat is coordinated rather than spontaneous.
Has Riquelme tried to stand before?
Yes, there have twice been rumours, and both times he stopped before announcing a full candidacy. In 2021, Riquelme emerged as a possible candidate and made public statements calling for a “Real Madrid 3.0,” arguing the club needed to become more global, more professional and less dependent on the personal network of its president. “I see the possibility of applying what I have learned and managing a hyper-professional board, not made up of friends, to take the club to the next level,” he told El Confidencial at the time. He never submitted a formal candidacy. Pérez was proclaimed unopposed. In January 2025, Riquelme’s name circulated again ahead of that election. Again, no candidacy arrived.
Does he qualify to stand?
At 37, Riquelme meets the 20-year membership requirement through family tradition. His father was a member of the board of directors during the Ramón Calderón era, and Riquelme was registered as a socio as a boy. The €187 million bank guarantee is the harder test in practice. Having wealth on paper and converting it into a personal bank guarantee acceptable to the Electoral Board are two different things. It is worth noting that the guarantee must be backed by personal assets, not company assets, which complicates the picture for anyone whose wealth is tied up in equity rather than liquid capital.
What would his presidency look like?
In interviews, Riquelme has spoken of wanting a more globally structured club, with greater involvement for the socios and a professionalised board drawn from outside Pérez’s personal network. He also said he would have brought Cristiano Ronaldo back and that Zinedine Zidane would not have been his manager. Both positions are moot now, but it gives some insight into how he could operate in the role.
Will he actually stand this time?
As of Tuesday evening, no official candidacy had been announced. Sources close to Riquelme had said in recent years that his priority remained growing his business empire, but Pérez has now named him publicly, if not by name, and the 10-day candidacy window is open. He has also reportedly taken out a lease on a location very close to the Bernabéu and has held talks with iconic former players, such as Iker Casillas, to support his campaign.
