Munich – 20 years ago Florentino Pérez becomes President of Real Madrid. He builds up the “galactic”, which above all bring economic success.
Florentino Pérez didn’t let go.
After a failed attempt to become president of Real Madrid, the developer embarked on a new start on 22 June 2000 with bold plans in mind.
Pérez challenged incumbent Lorenzo Sanz, under whose auspices the club had last won the Champions League twice in three years.
Although Real had only reached a disappointing fifth place in the league, Sanz went into the race as a favourite.Yet with a full-bodied announcement Pérez brought the Real members to his side: he promised to bring Luís Figo from archrival FC Barcelona to Madrid. Pérez brings Figo from BarcaGesagt, did. After winning the election on 16 July 2000, he lured Figo, who had been elected to the European Championship as the player of the tournament, to the royals thanks to a handmoney of two million euros – and thus initiated the rise of the Galactic. A term already used in the 1950s and 1960s by Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás, but gained popularity in the 2000s. “We were like the Beatles,” Figo said in uefa.com.In addition to sporting successes, Pérez aimed to return to financial power despite costly transfers. Because marketing its stars should generate new revenue streams. At the same time, young players from the younger generation should be encouraged. In addition to the record transfer Figo (60 million euros), Claude Makélélé, Flávio Conceicao, Steve McManaman and Fernando Morientes found their way to the Spanish capital, spending a total of around 120 million euros in the summer of 2000 – a considerable sum for the circumstances at the time.