Florentino Perez: 19 years since he became Real Madrid president

Nineteen years have passed since Florentino Perez first took his place as Real Madrid's president, though his spell at the top of the club did have a break of three years and four months before returning in 2009.

It's an unavoidable truth that the current president has shaped the club and, had it not been for him, the club would not be the exemplary leader in the European and world game that it is.

Under his eye, Madrid have won five Champions Leagues and even returned to being a force on the basketball side of things as well.

That July of 2000 began with Luis Figo's presentation at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, before Claude Makelele and Flavio Conceicao followed to join players like Raul, Fernando Hierro, Iker Casillas and Michel Salgado.

A year later Zinedine Zidane was the big arrival, then came David Beckham, Michael Owen, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Keylor Navas, Thibaut Courtois and now Eden Hazard.

Through his long journey, 1.8 billion euros have been spent and 24 titles have been collected with Los Blancos sitting as European champions for 1,000 days without interruption. On top of these, it's impossible to overlook the 18 triumphs of the basketball team.

Florentino has set himself the goal of recovering what has been lost and with spending already approaching 400 million euros there could still be more to come, with Zidane wanting Paul Pogba and the club happy to oblige by delivering the player.

Another reform has already been set in motion with the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu to be redeveloped and the Foundation continue to do effective social work.