Florentinoland

The Real Madrid president has truly become the Walt Disney of the football world, writes commentator Rob Palmer

Rob Palmer / ESPN commentator

Malaga

Friday, 24 January 2025, 14:35

It was one of the most bizarre interviews. In the skyscraper Madrid office of Florentino Pérez, he declared: "One day I will make this club the Disneyland of football."

That was the year 2000 as he caused a global furore - by using Luis Figo as ... an unwitting presidential running mate.

A quarter of a century later, it's confirmed that Real Madrid are the first football club to make €1bn in revenue.

Pérez is a divisive character. If you love Real Madrid, you love Florentino; if they're not your team, he's a Donald Trump-like character.

Many people thought his promise to sign Figo from eternal rivals Barcelona was electioneering bluster. That was until he triggered a buy-out cause in the superstar's contract to take him to the capital. It was a sign of things to come...

Everything in the world of Florentinoland is exorbitant. That original interview was held in an office the size of a five-a-side field. The elevator ride up to his private office took an age and we were flanked by security guards the size of NFL players.

The PR man who set up the interview was deferential, using the title 'Don' every time he conversed with the construction magnate. "Don Florentino" was about to launch the Galáctico era, in which he signed the best football players on the planet: Figo was followed by Zidane, Beckham, Kaka, both Ronaldos.

The success isn't just down to simply buying the best players on the planet. Pérez made his money in construction and his football club has an infrastructure like no other.

When the club were struggling financially, he brokered a deal to sell the tired training ground in a desirable area of the city for a reported €500m and built a new state of the art facility.

When he took over, he was competing with the likes of FC Barcelona and Manchester United commercially. Now they are light years apart: Barça are broke, struggle to sign players, and are continually trying to juggle their finances.

Man Utd are now in a different monetary league to Real Madrid. The "Theatre of Dreams" is cruelly labelled "The Theatre of Leaks" as holes in the roof lead to fans getting soaked.

Compare this to the new space-age Bernabéu arena. The stadium has a retractable roof - without any sign of a leak.

There was a great moment in the break of play in Real's Champions League match this week when TV cameras caught the players looking up as a dragon-like cartoon figure chasing around the wraparound 360-degree stadium screen. At Old Trafford, they don't even have a big screen; the Camp Nou is still a building site.

It all comes down to smart management and planning. Pérez counts every cent spent. Whereas other clubs splurge in the transfer market, Real Madrid make expensive, but considered signings.

He kept his word. Don Florentino has truly become the Walt Disney of the football world.

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