Rafa Nadal and Enrique Riquelme, the business link as Real Madrid elections loom | OneFootball

Enrique Riquelme is back in the Real Madrid conversation after Florentino Pérez called elections and will stand for re-election. Focus has turned to what role, if any, Rafa Nadal could play given his business ties to the Cox founder.

According to El Periódico Mediterráneo, their link is professional rather than personal, built around sport, business and sponsorship. Cox backs two Nadal projects, the Rafa Nadal Academy Team by Cox in the Hexagon Cup and Team Rafa in the UIM E1 World Championship.

The double deal places Riquelme in Nadal’s orbit and aligns Cox with competition, innovation and sustainability.

In January, Riquelme said Cox is driven to take on challenges and to build synergies with organisations that share its vision and values. He added that, like the Rafa Nadal Academy, the company champions sustainability, innovation, transparency, honesty, self-improvement and talent, and that together they will do important things in the Hexagon Cup.

Beyond sponsorship, whether Nadal will support Riquelme’s presidential bid remains open. Nadal’s camp has pointed to an event at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, the opening of the new Rafa Nadal Museum, followed by a press conference by the 14-time Roland Garros champion.

It is delicate ground for Nadal, who has a closer and more public relationship with Pérez. Real Madrid have treated him as a leading ambassador and, in 2023, his name cropped up as an option Pérez was considering for the presidency, an honorary role rather than executive. He has been an honorary member since 2011, and stepping into Riquelme’s project could be read as a move against Pérez.

Source: El Periódico Mediterráneo