Florentino Pérez said on Tuesday that he will not resign and asked the electoral board to begin the process for elections to the Real Madrid board of directors, a move he paired with an attack on the club’s critics and a fresh threat to take the Negreira case to UEFA. Speaking in a press conference at 18:00 hours, Pérez said he wanted to end what he called an “antimadridista” current and accused some media outlets of trying to “desprestigiar todos los días” Real Madrid.
“Lamento decirles que no voy a dimitir. He pedido a la Junta Electoral que inicie el proceso electoral a las elecciones a la Junta Directiva a la que nos vamos a presentar,” Pérez said. He added that he would present a dossier on the Negreira case to UEFA and described it as “the mayor case of corruption in the history of football.” He also said: “Quiero acabar con esta corriente antimadridista que quiere acabar con el Real Madrid. Tengo que defender a mis socios. Hay gente que quiere quedarse con el Real Madrid y no lo van a hacer. Llevo 26 años y hemos hecho el club más grande del mundo.”
The remarks landed as Real Madrid goes through a difficult sporting and institutional period, with the source saying the club has finished a second consecutive season without any title. The timing also sharpened an already bitter fight with LaLiga president Javier Tebas, after Pérez said the competition paid 25 million euros to Relevo, a claim Tebas rejected as false and called “requetementira.” Tebas said: “Es mentira, a veces dice una cifra y otras veces otra, nos han mandado hasta al CSD... Es requetementira, viven del victimismo y la mentira... Con el prestigio empresarial que tiene Florentino Pérez y lo que ha hecho por la historia del Real Madrid... Yo soy madridista y ahora hibernado, me da pena por el Real Madrid y no se puede ir con la mentira constantemente.”
Barcelona responded later Tuesday by saying its legal department was studying Pérez’s statements and accusations and would inform about the positions and decisions it adopts at a later stage. The reaction from inside the Madrid orbit was immediate and unusually raw: former goalkeeper posted a head-in-hands emoji after the briefing, and former Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón wrote on X, “No sé si siento pena o vergüenza.” Pérez has spent 26 years at the club, and Tuesday’s appearance showed no sign of retreat, only a broader battle over power, legitimacy and the story Real Madrid says is being told about it.
