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Valencia Arrives in Athens for First EuroLeague Final Four as Enrique Riquelme Announces Bid to Run for Real Madrid President

Riquelme’s written notice starts a compressed validation process that requires a roughly €187 million bank guarantee for any challenger to Florentino Pérez.

Overview

  • Valencia Basket flew to Athens this week to play Real Madrid in a EuroLeague Final Four semifinal, marking the club’s first appearance at the tournament and giving the team momentum after a comeback playoff win over Panathinaikos.
  • The semifinal is framed as a rare coaching reunion between Pedro Martínez and Sergio Scariolo, who first met 36 years ago, and has drawn intense media scrutiny on Valencia point guard Jean Montero.
  • Enrique Riquelme informed Real Madrid’s electoral board of his intention to run and now faces an immediate deadline to file full paperwork, including a 15% pre‑aval of the club budget — reported at about €187 million — and a nine‑member board with minimum seniority to validate his candidacy.
  • FC Barcelona’s women prepare to meet Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League final in Oslo while Barcelona’s men celebrated their La Liga title at a Castelldefels dinner; these season closures underline major shifts across Spanish club sport.
  • RCD Espanyol secured survival with recent wins and could still finish as high as seventh and reach the Europa Conference League depending on final‑day results, a finish that would materially affect the club’s TV and competition revenue.