Riquelme pitches 'Members' City' in Real Madrid election challenge to Perez

MADRID, May 27 : Enrique Riquelme launched his presidential campaign for Real Madrid on Wednesday with promises of swimming pools, padel courts and a battle for the club's soul, rather than various quick fixes to a two-year trophy drought.

The renewables tycoon, standing against Florentino Perez in the first Real Madrid presidential election in 20 years featuring a challenger, presented plans to transform the club's Valdebebas training ground on the outskirts of the Spanish capital into "La Ciudad del Socio" — The Members' City.

The project, Riquelme said, would turn the area into a vast social hub for Madrid's members, with an exclusive hotel, swimming pools, a gym, tennis and padel courts, basketball courts, football pitches and activities designed to bring supporters closer to a club he says has drifted away from them.

The plans also include an arena for Real Madrid's basketball team that would also serve as a concert venue, with capacity for 15,000 spectators.

Riquelme did not say how much the new development would cost or how the club would pay for it.

He also pledged to cut membership fees by 50 per cent and said he would make 10,000 season tickets available through a lottery, giving the club's more than 100,000 members the chance to become season ticket holders via a draw instead of "holding for years in a waiting list".

His pitch lands squarely against a proposal raised by Perez last November to create a subsidiary that would allow outside investors to buy a stake of around 5 per cent in the club, described in the text as the world's most valuable football club.

Riquelme said he "vehemently rejects" the plan and accused Perez of wanting to "privatise the club".

Perez's proposal has not yet gone ahead and would require