The candidacy of the Alicante-based businessman announced the signing of the historic captain through their social media, stating he will be "director of La Fábrica", the nickname for the club's youth academy.
"La Fábrica needs more than talent. It needs leadership, demand, and madridismo. Fernando Hierro joins as Director of La Fábrica to help build an academy with structure, values, and the ambition to succeed in the first team. We continue to recover the identity that made Real Madrid great. And we continue building the Madrid of the future," explains Riquelme's team.

Hierro joins a sporting structure where, until now, only one name was known: Raúl González Blanco. The player with the most appearances in Real Madrid's history (741) will be the sporting director if Riquelme manages to unseat Florentino Pérez, a candidate who has not yet put any names forward.

Hierro's last job was at Saudi club Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo's team. His career after retiring has been mostly linked to the Spanish national team, serving as RFEF's sporting director in two periods: 2007-11 (winning a European Championship and a World Cup) and 2017-18. He left the RFEF after having to act as emergency national team coach for the 2018 World Cup, following the controversial dismissal of Lopetegui, executed by Rubiales days before the tournament upon learning of his signing for Real Madrid.

Like Raúl, Hierro was never a favorite of Florentino Pérez, who facilitated his departure from the club through the back door in 2003, along with Vicente del Bosque. Since then, 23 years ago, the historic captain of Madrid and the national team has never worked for the Madrid entity again, something that will change from Sunday if Riquelme wins the elections.