History

TENERIFE, THE "CURSED ISLAND"

Ramón Mendoza dismissed coach Antic in mid-season. At the time, the Serbian coach had led Real Madrid to a seven point lead during the 1991-92 campaign. He was substituted by Dutch manager Leo Beenhakker, who had re-joined the Club as Technical Director just weeks before. With the Dutchman coaching the team, Madrid were robbed of the League title in Tenerife in the last day of the season. It was exactly the same story the following year, this time with Benito Floro at the rudder. After losing two consecutive titles in the last game of the campaign in exactly the same spot, the Canary isle of Tenerife was tagged a “cursed island ” for Madridismo.

RENOVATIONS AT THE SANTIAGO BERNABÉU STADIUM

The renovations of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium began on 7 February 1992 and ended two years later on 7 May 1994.

VALDANO RETURNS TO COACH THE TEAM

After snatching two League titles from Real Madrid and eliminating them from the King’s Cup in his capacity as coach of Tenerife, Jorge Valdano signed a coaching agreement with Real Madrid set on putting the Whites back on the road to success and terminate the 4-year Liga title drought. The Argentine did just that in his first season at his former team and all Real Madrid fans got to sing along to the victory chant at the end of the season.

SANZ RELIEVES MENDOZA IN CLUB PRESIDENCY

After ten and a half years in office, Ramón Mendoza handed in his irrevocable resignation on 20 November 1995. He was relieved by Lorenzo Sanz, who held recourse to Club by-law 49 to get elected as heir to Mendoza by the 11 directors who continued in the Board of Directors following the transfer of power.

CAPELLO MAKES HIS DEBUT WITH REAL MADRID

On 20 May 1996, Lorenzo Sanz presented Fabio Capello as new head coach of Real Madrid. The Italian trainer landed in Madrid borne out by his five successful seasons with AC Milan, with whom he won the 1994 European Cup. Although Capello only stayed with the team during the 1996-97 season, he managed to win the League.

SEVENTH EUROPEAN CUP

After a less than impressive domestic run, coach Jupp Heynckes led the team to win the very much awaited -last one was in 1966, 32 years earlier- European Cup. The venue: Amsterdam Arena. Date: 20 May 1998. Los Merengues conquered their seventh top European trophy with a goal by Pedja Mijatovic against the Italian side of Juventus, who were the hot favourites that night.

SECOND INTERCONTINENTAL CUP

Guus Hiddink was the manager in charge of guiding Real Madrid to their second Intercontinental Cup after the surprising resignation of Juan Antonio Camacho in July 1998, before the actual season even began. An extraordinary goal by Raúl in Tokyo sealed the more than fair 2-1 end result for the Whites.

EIGHTH EUROPEAN CUP & FIRST SPANISH FINAL

Vicente del Bosque took over John Benjamin Toshack as head coach of Real Madrid in mid-season and spearheaded the Madridistas towards raising their eighth European Cup -second Champions League title. The venue was superb: the newly built Saint-Denis stadium of Paris would host the first ever Spanish final -as well as the first ever final of the European Cup between two teams of the same country- on 24 May 2000. It was a vibrant game which saw Real Madrid triumph over Valencia with a final 3-0 result. It was the last European Cup of the 20th Century and, as the first one, it belonged to the Whites.

FLORENTINO PÉREZ WINS THE ELECTIONS

On 16 July 2000, Florentino Pérez was elected new President of Real Madrid after defeating Lorenzo Sanz in the polls. Pérez’s successful campaign was based on two pillars: get rid, for once and for all, of the historical Club debt and sign the best players in the world.

BEST CLUB 20TH CENTURY

On 11 December 2000, during the FIFA gala in Rome, Florentino Pérez and Honorary Club President Alfredo di Stéfano received the accolade honoring Real Madrid as the Best Club of the 20th Century.