Two weeks ago, Enrique Riquelme was a virtual unknown among Real Madrid fans.The 37-year-old businessman has built his career in the renewable energy sector, where he founded Cox Energy, and his only previous connection to the Spanish club was as a member and fan.Madrid president Florentino Perez’s dramatic press conference on May 12 changed all that. The 79-year-old suddenly called a surprise election for his role, stating multiple times that he wanted rivals “moving in the shadows” to come forward and stand against him.Perez, who had an active mandate until 2029 and has not had to face a vote during his second period as president (he returned to power at the Bernabeu in 2009, having also served from 2000-2006), did not name Riquelme directly.Instead he spoke of a person “with a Mexican accent” who “talks with electricity companies” and was behind “a very organised campaign” to oppose him.Perez’s veiled descriptions were enough for close observers of Real Madrid’s politics to understand he was referring to Riquelme, who has significant business interests in Mexico but is actually from Cox, a small town in the Spanish province of Alicante.In 2021, Riquelme gave several interviews to Spanish media in which he hinted at intentions to one day run for the Madrid presidency, but he did not stand that year, nor in January 2025 — when Perez was re-elected as the only candidate for a fifth time in a row.Now, he has accepted Perez’s challenge. On Sunday, Madrid’s electoral board confirmed he has met the strict criteria required of candidates — including proving personal wealth of at least €187million (£161.5m; $217.5m) — and the club’s membership of around 100,000 is now braced to vote on who should lead them, for the first time since 2006. On Tuesday evening, a date for the vote was confirmed: June 7.Here, in his first English-language media interview since announcing his decision to stand, Riquelme speaks with The Athletic about his plans for the Real Madrid presidency.The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.The Athletic: Perez essentially challenged you to step forward and run.Enrique Riquelme: And I did. He also said there would be a debate, yet no debate has happened.