Businessman who made Real Madrid the kings of European football again
Lorenzo Sanz, who has died of the Covid-19 virus aged 76, was president of Real Madrid from 1995 until 2000. When the club won the Champions League in 1998, ending a drought of 32 years since they had been European champions, half a million people poured on to the streets of Madrid to enjoy what was called the biggest party ever seen by the city.
Sanz entered hospital in Madrid on March 17 with a fever. The Spanish capital has been the epicentre of the virus in Spain, accounting for about 60 per cent of the country’s deaths.
Sanz succeeded unexpectedly to the presidency after it emerged that his predecessor had concealed the extent of the club’s debts of
€72 million.
There proved to be little Sanz could do to ameliorate an increasingly fraught financial situation, but for some years his jovial charm – he enjoyed horse racing, cards and Cuban cigars – helped to deflect inquiries, as did a less-publicised forceful streak.
Despite the club’s problems, Sanz burned through nine coaches in five years in pursuit of success. He also made many signings, often on his own initiative – he had played at an amateur level – among them the club’s record acquisition Nicolas Anelka, bought from Arsenal in 1999 for €22.3 million.
Anelka augmented signings such as Clarence Seedorf, Davor Suker, Roberto Carlos and Liverpool’s Steve McManaman. They joined home-grown talent in the dressing room that included striker Raul, Fernando Hierro and Fernando Redondo. The blend initially prospered under the coach Fabio Capello as the club won the league in 1997, ending a period of dominance by Barcelona.
The following season, now managed by Jupp Heynckes, they beat Juventus to claim Europe’s premier club prize. ‘‘La Septima’’ was Real’s first win since the days of Santiago Bernabeu three decades earlier. Sanz said he had promised King Juan Carlos that he would return home with the trophy and bring it to the palace.
Two years later, with Vicente Del Bosque in charge, Real beat Valencia in an allSpanish final to claim an eighth European title. Yet questions about the club’s finances were becoming more urgent. The likes of Suker had been sold to raise money, John Toshack and Guus Hiddink had come and gone from the manager’s bench, and Raul purportedly warned McManaman when he arrived that Real was a ‘‘cesspit of lies, treachery and whispers’’.
In the presidential election that followed, Sanz was challenged by Florentino Perez, who focused attention on the club’s debts and promised to sign Barcelona’s star player, Luis Figo. His victory would usher in Real’s ‘‘Galacticos’’ era, ever more extravagant signings which, while they brought glory,
Sanz said he had promised King Juan Carlos that he would return home with the trophy and bring it to the palace.
made Sanz’s spending seem parsimonious.
Perez, a construction tycoon who still leads the club, sent a message lamenting Sanz’s death, as well as the fact that Spain’s current lockdown made it impossible for anyone to pay Sanz proper homage for the time being.
Referring to the 1998 victory, Perez said Sanz would be remembered by Real Madrid’s fans as ‘‘the president who brought us back hope and joy’’.
The eldest of 10 children, Lorenzo Sanz Mancebo was born in Madrid. His father was a keeper at the city’s park, El Retiro, and from boyhood Lorenzo contributed to the family’s meagre finances by running errands for hairdressers.
With his grandmother, who sold water to fans, he would go to Real’s stadium on a Sunday to watch matches and witnessed their victory there in the 1957 European Cup final. He later played as a goalkeeper for several minor teams in the Madrid region.
Sanz began in business as a publicist before, at 20, acquiring a magazine about furniture, and a printing press. He made his fortune from wallpaper and then property, helped at first by good contacts with Francoist politicians. By the 1980s he was running Madrid’s racecourse, the Zarzuela, and was a director of Real.
As was customary, his business dealings led to judicial investigations and in 2018 he was convicted of tax evasion. From 2006 until 2010 he owned Malaga football club.
He is survived by his wife Maria Luz, three sons who were all professional sportsmen, and two daughters, one of whom is married to the former Real player Michel Salgado. – Telegraph Group