8/12/2019 Real Madrid Galacticos

1/2

The rise of the GALACTICOSIn 2000 Mr. Florentino Perez was elected as the president after a successful campaign where he

promised to make marquee signings and build a brand of football as grand that no one in the history had

witnessed before. His vision was paid by the faith of the real Madrid faithful and was consequently

elected. His vision wa to erect a football team that had global recognition from all corners of the globe

and in the process re announce the greatest football team ever in the grandest way possible. The

strategy was to reduce costs and bring in world class trainers and make the operations extremely

smooth. Zidane yves Pavon was a strategy set in by him which aimed at acquiring a world class

footballer and promoting a player from the youth academy of real Madrid into the real Madrid squad in

the 4 upcoming years. He sold a piece of land that belonged to real Madrid in the heart of Madrid for

400 million and instead bought land 10 times bigger and built the technical infrastructure that existed

on the sold-off land. He did it with saving huge amount of euros and used the remaining funds to

acquire world class footballers. He brought about changes in the contract systems of the players where

they were paid according to their match day performances and contribution to the result of the match

in favour of the team overall. He bought media rights of the players where the club had shares in the

media contributions and endorsements of the players. BenQ and Adidas were the two deals which he

got through , BenQ for the kit sponsorship and Adidas as the kit partner.

Then followed the signing of the greatest footballers of their generation..

Luis Figo (2000): He was signed for US$ 56 mil from their most fierce rivals Barcelona. This wasseen as a statement of intent on the part of Perez and was loved and appreciated by Madrid

fans all over the globe. He was the world soccer player of the year in 2000 and FIFA world player

of the year in 2001. The signing of Figo signaled the start of the galactico era of Perez.

Zinedine Zidane (2001): He was signed from Juventus for a fee of US$ 66 mil. He had won theworld cup with France in 1998 and the EUROs in 2000 and was known as the best player of his

generation by a big margin all over the globe. He was named the world footballer of the year

for 3 times in 1998, 2000, 2003.

Ronaldo (2002): He was signed from Inter Milan in 2002 for a fee of US$ 46 mil. He was alsonamed the world footballer of the year thrice in 1996, 1997 and 2002. He had won the FIFA

world cup with Brazil in 2002. He is also the all-time leading scorer in world cups. He had

previously played for Barcelona as well.

David Beckham (2003): He was signed for US $ 41 mil from Manchester United, one ofMadridsgreatest European rival. He had a global image as a footballer and a celebrity which

was second to none. He was a BBC sports personality of the year in 2001. He was the England

8/12/2019 Real Madrid Galacticos

2/2

player of the year on 2003. He was married to Victoria Adams in 1999 which boosted his image

as a world celebrity to another level all together.

Apart from these signings there were also great and globally renowned footballers in the squad

and there were some other signings which were not as grand as the above mentioned ones but

were significantly renowned and potentially superb footballers. They were:

Raul Gonzales (youth academy product) Roberto Carlos(signed before Perezs election) Claude Makelele(signed before Perezs election) Iker Casillas youth academy product) Robinho (signed from Santos) Michael Owen(signed from Liverpool)