Florentino Pérez will be president of Real Madrid until 2030, or at least that's what the results of this Sunday's elections at the white club indicate, which will be remembered for a chaotic vote count. With this new four-year mandate, Florentino will be close to almost 30 years at the helm of the club (he has been there since 2000 with a single interruption between 2006 and 2009). Now, he begins a new stage marked by internal, but also external challenges. For the first time, he will have active opposition. Enrique Riquelme, his opponent in the elections, to whom 35% of the members have given their support –a figure that has been interpreted as a wake-up call to Florentino–, has made it clear that he has come to stay: "This is not the end of anything, but the beginning of a path". But what will this path be like? And above all, will he be the only stumbling block for the white president?

1. Real Madrid has had a blank season in football. And in basketball. And in women's football. One hundred percent failures. Not a single title for the club with the best record in history. Faced with Flick's Barça's successes, a large smokescreen was needed, and Florentino Pérez invented express elections so that Madridism would have a democratic appearance. He has won them overwhelmingly. No surprise. Now he will be able to do what he wanted: sell 5% –or 10%– of the club's ownership to generate close to the billion euros that Madrid urgently needs. The cost overrun of the works on the Bernabéu stadium – the mess has not only been architectural – forces them to generate income from wherever, even if it means that the members will no longer be the owners of the entire club.

Florentino Pérez will continue to preside over Real Madrid after a chaotic night regarding the count. Despite the challenge of 1,000 mail-in votes in favor of Florentino, which caused the count to begin after 9 PM, the constructor emerged victorious from an election decided in the early hours, without debates and with little information. Pérez boasted to the press at 1 AM after defeating Enrique Riquelme at the end of a long day where information was lacking at times. In fact, while the count of the first election in 20 years at the club was underway, Madrid's television channel was showing past Champions League finals. And when Florentino announced his victory, he did so without providing official figures. At 2:12 AM, the club published the final results: Florentino won with 21,741 votes, 65% of the support, and Enrique Riquelme received 11,814 votes, 35%.

For some time now, Spanish politics has been immersed in a permanent electoral campaign, due to the calling of elections at the state, autonomous community, or municipal level. On the other hand, they cannot say the same for the world of football and, in particular, for Real Madrid. Twenty years later, the Whites are holding elections this Sunday and the campaign has suggested that, whatever the result, it will inevitably mean a mutation of the club: Florentino Pérez, president since 2009, has opened Pandora's box of ownership by rolling out the red carpet for a private investor. Meanwhile, Enrique Riquelme, his first opponent in history, has emerged as a critique of the model of recent years, promising a sporting structure that is "serious, modern, and profoundly madridista" and capable, he says, of leaving behind the low points the white team is going through. He has also promised a way of governing that is "transparent" and "more democratic." During the campaign, there has, of course, been talk of players and coaches. The candidates have promised the signing of great players, but depending on what happens, Madrid will experience very profound changes off the field.

Informatively, the interest in Real Madrid's elections is unquestionable, but the level of the two presidential candidates demonstrates that the type of leadership in the world of football – there and here – is very low. They are privileged gentlemen with an outsized ego who confuse the part with the whole. In short, toxic masculinities with different styles, but with the same essence. For now, the one who has already won the white elections by sheer patheticness is a Florentino Pérez who has become an erratic being who rambles on repeating battles from 25 years ago, whatever the format: press conference or a massage-interview with friends like Iker Jiménez. It's easy to imagine a maid from an ex-colony cutting the hake into very small pieces so as not to choke. The opponent, however, is no anti-dandruff shampoo: Enrique Riquelme is the same old song, but further from the nursing home.

If Enrique Riquelme defeats Florentino Pérez at the polls on Sunday, Erling Haaland will be a Real Madrid player. This is the announcement made by the candidate in the white club's elections. Riquelme presented it with a Real Madrid jersey showing the name of the Norwegian star from Manchester City and the number nine, accompanied by a notarized document in which he commits not to sell any percentage of the club if he becomes president. "I have signed a personal notarized guarantee where if I fail to keep any of my promises, I will pay 100% of all fees for Real Madrid's 100,000 members next season," he confessed.

Real Madrid will have elections. Enrique Riquelme officially presented his candidacy to preside over the club this Saturday afternoon, on the last day set by the deadlines, and on Sunday the electoral board decided to validate it. Therefore, he will have to call the members to the polls, 20 years later. The president of the energy company Cox assured that he presents an "exciting and serious" project, which "is not against anyone" but in favor of the entity and asked the members "not to be afraid".

The refusal of the Spanish big banks to back Enrique Riquelme's candidacy for the presidency of Real Madrid has pushed the businessman to knock on the doors of foreign financial institutions, and with only a few hours left before the deadline to present a project with substance expires – he has until this Saturday, May 23, at midnight – negotiations remain open. This is the case of Andbank España – the Spanish subsidiary of the Andorran bank Andbank –, with whom Riquelme was finalizing a guarantee this Friday afternoon, according to financial sources speaking to ARA. However, the businessman has also looked across the Atlantic and has knocked on the door of Scotiabank (Canada), as reported by Expansión. This firm is not unknown to Riquelme, as it was part of the banks that financed the purchase by Cox, the energy company he chairs, of the subsidiary that Iberdrola had in Mexico.

Enrique Riquelme Vives (Coix, Alicante, 1989) is finally taking a step forward and will battle to preside over Real Madrid, as he communicated this Thursday afternoon to the Electoral Board of Real Madrid. The businessman has managed to secure a list of names to contest the presidency against Florentino Pérez, who after 26 years presiding over the club, and for the first time, will have an opponent in the white club's elections, the first since those in 2006, which Ramón Calderón won.

The time for aspirants to preside over Real Madrid to present a candidacy is running out. For now, only the Valencian Enrique Riquelme, president of the energy company Cox, is the one who has raised his hand to take the step, although this Monday he was still "working on it". He has until this Saturday, May 23. He needs 187 million euros of his own patrimonial guarantee (15% of Real Madrid's budget) and to have been a member of the white club for at least 20 years. Requirements that would be in order, according to Riquelme himself has revealed.