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Madrid Election Could Cost €15 M to Release Mourinho

6/5/2026

29 6 Full Breakdown

Summary

Pérez Pays

If Florentino Pérez wins the Real Madrid presidential election on 7 June 2026, the club must pay €15 million to Benfica to release José Mourinho.
Benfica said the €15 million equals Mourinho’s termination clause, which runs until June 2027.
Benfica filed the statement with Portugal’s securities regulator CMVM on Thursday.
Marco Silva signed a two-year contract, with an option for a third, to replace Mourinho at Benfica.

Summary

Perez AI Video

Perez's campaign aired a video of Mourinho saying “Yes!” that suspect is AI-generated, reposting the clip on X in a montage titled “Mourinho, Real Madrid coach.”
Reuters used AI tools, found inconclusive results and withdrew the story.
Rival Enrique Riquelme vowed to turn ground into a hub with hotel, pools and gym, announced Rodri as signing and named Haaland and Raúl González as targets for sports director.

History

Historical Context

After the University of Washington released a synthetic Obama video in 2019—drawing 10 million views and prompting Facebook to flag 30 percent of similar clips—political deepfakes had already appeared in a 2018 Jordan Peele-Obama PSA and a 2019 U.S. House hearing on election interference. The trend now reaches football, with Real Madrid’s 2026 presidential race featuring an AI-generated Mourinho montage and clubs tightening legal safeguards.

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Pérez Pays

If Florentino Pérez wins the Real Madrid presidential election on 7 June 2026, the club must pay €15 million to Benfica to release José Mourinho.
Benfica said the €15 million equals Mourinho’s termination clause, which runs until June 2027.
Benfica filed the statement with Portugal’s securities regulator CMVM on Thursday.
Marco Silva signed a two-year contract, with an option for a third, to replace Mourinho at Benfica.

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