Ramón Mendoza

Ramón Mendoza (born April 18 1927 in Madrid, Spain - died April 4 2001 in Nassau, Bahamas) was a Spanish lawyer and business man, most famous for his stint as football chairman of Real Madrid from 1985 until 1995.

Mendoza became president on May 24, 1985 when he was the only candidate at the elections for chairman of the club. He once again had no opponent in the next elections (July 23, 1988) and beat opposing candidate Alfonso Ussía by 20% of the votes (15.005 to 10.531) in January 1991 to secure his third term. He won a fourth term in 1994. In elections which were dominated by accusations of fraud, corruption and mismanagement of the club, he nevertheless managed to beat Florentino Pérez by 700 votes.

His first years leading the club were very successful and saw the rise of the "Quinta del Buitre". Real Madrid won a record 5 consecutive league titles and was considered one of the best teams in Europe at the time. However, the club never managed to win the European Cup during those years, losing memorable ties to clubs as Bayern München, PSV Eindhoven and Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan. The second half of his presidency was marked by a slow decline in the successes of the club, a fact that was highlighted by a very strong Barcelona team.

In 1995 he was forced to give up the presidency after admitting that the club had a debt of 14.000 million pesetas. He was succeeded by Lorenzo Sanz, who had been vice-president during his last term.

His ten years at the helm of the club make his presidency the second longest in the history of Real Madrid after the presidency of Santiago Bernabeu (1943-1978). Bernabeu is also the only president to accumulate more trophies than Mendoza with Real Madrid. With Mendoza as president the club won 6 Spanish Ligas, 2 Spanish Cups, 1 UEFA Cup and 3 Super Cups.

Ramon Mendoza died in 2001 while on holidays in the Bahamas.