Florentino Perez moved a step closer to returning to the Real Madrid presidency after prospective candidate Eduardo Garcia confirmed he was pulling out of the election race.
Garcia’s announcement on Thursday means that Perez is now currently the only man in the running for the post, as the other two hopefuls Juan Onieva and Eugenio Martinez Bravo had already withdrawn.
The major stumbling block for the trio appears to have been the 57.4million euro bank guarantee that presidential candidates were required to obtain to run for election.
Therefore, as things stand, Perez is on course to be confirmed as Madrid president on Monday unless another candidate comes forward and presents their bid before the deadline of May 31.
If there are two or more valid bids, then elections will be held on June 14.
Real Madrid also confirmed in a statement today that Perez’s candidature had been validated by the club’s electoral board and that his bank guarantee had complied with all the stipulations.
Despite seemingly being the only candidate for the presidency, Perez continued his election campaign tonight by announcing his board members at a presentation at the Hotel Intercontinental in Madrid.
Perez was previously Madrid president for six highly eventful years from 2000-2006, during which time the club won two Primera Division titles and the Champions League, and was characterised by the famous ‘galacticos’ policy.
That policy saw Madrid sign a host of superstar players such as Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Ronaldo, and a number of big-name players and coaches are now being linked to the Spanish giants as Perez bids to return to the post.
The Madrid-born businessman, 62, has yet to announce any of his targets but that could change next week if, as expected, he is confirmed as the new president.
