Renewable energy magnate Enrique Riquelme confirmed on Saturday he would run for president of Real Madrid, posing the first challenge in more than two decades to Florentino Perez’s grip on the world’s richest football club.
On May 12, 79-year-old Perez called new elections, despite having two years left in his mandate. It followed a second straight season without silverware for a record 15-time European champion. Real’s arch-rivals Barcelona retained the La Liga title.
Riquelme founded Cox Energy in 2014 to specialize in solar energy in Europe and Latin America, winning major projects in Chile, Mexico and Spain. The company manages more than 1.2 gigawatts of energy projects in Spain through Ibox Energy.
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One of Cox’s largest operations was the 2025 acquisition of Iberdrola’s assets in Mexico for $4.2 billion, including debt.
In his May 13 open letter to Perez, an infrastructure development mogul and CEO of the civil engineering ACS Group, Riquelme said the club needed a more democratic election process and that the best institutions were those that combined «experience and innovation, past and future.»
Published on May 23, 2026
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