Pérez Defends Real Madrid in a Historic Speech

Florentino Pérez, president of the Spanish club Real Madrid, defended the reputation of the royal club during the ordinary general assembly of 2025, in a speech many described as "historic."

Pérez said: "The Super League? It's not true that we are against everything... We are only against what is unnatural and illegal. Three courts confirmed that clubs cannot be prevented from organizing their own tournaments. UEFA imposes formats that harm the fans... and watching football has become more expensive despite the existence of technologies that allow cheaper and possibly free models."

He added: "We achieved a historic victory... we ended a 70-year monopoly by UEFA. The court ruled in our favor on all 21 points and obliged them to pay the costs. We have started procedures to claim millions of euros in compensation against UEFA for their illegal use of authority to obstruct our project."

He continued: "Real Madrid is the only club in Europe socially, economically, and institutionally capable of fighting this battle. We are stronger than ever, and we are the voice of many clubs facing the same problems but who do not dare to speak."

Regarding the Barcelona and Villarreal match that was to be held in Miami compared to holding a match at Santiago Bernabéu for American football: "It is not normal for the president of La Liga and the president of the federation to support an away match that gives Barcelona a competitive advantage... There is no comparison between the legal and organized NFL match and this nonsense."

He added: "It is a shame that FIFA did not select any Spanish referee for the last Club World Cup."

Regarding the case of Nigueira: "It is not normal for Barcelona to pay more than 8 million euros to the vice president of the referees' committee for 17 years... He is responsible for promoting and relegating referees. The case should have sparked a revolution in refereeing... but what happened was merely cosmetic."

About the CVC investment fund deal with the Spanish league association: "This deal is a mortgage on the future of the clubs for 50 years. The salaries of the La Liga management reached 6 million euros annually... more than the English Premier League, whose revenues exceed those of the Spanish league."

He concluded: "It is also not normal for the Spanish league association to allocate a budget for media. There are media outlets established with the aim of harming Real Madrid, as happened with the Relievo network, and the most worrying thing is that this is done in a mysterious way. Its president refused to provide us with this information."