Enrique Cerezo · History

Enrique Cerezo Torres (Madrid, 27 February 1948) is a Spanish film producer and distributor who became president of Atlético de Madrid in 2003, after sixteen years as the club’s vice-president. His name belongs to two worlds: Spanish cinema, whose back catalogue he largely brought under his control, and football, where for more than two decades he shared the running of the club with Miguel Ángel Gil Marín.

Early years and first steps in film

Cerezo was born in Madrid and studied at the Technical University of Madrid. He entered the film industry at the bottom: in 1971 he worked as a camera assistant on Vente a Alemania, Pepe, Pedro Lazaga’s comedy. Three years later he directed what would be his only film, La sonrisa del sol: Almería. From then on he turned to production and, above all, to buying film rights, which proved to be his real business.

Producer and catalogue owner

Through Enrique Cerezo Producciones Cinematográficas and the distributor Video Mercury Films, he spent decades acquiring the rights to thousands of films. The Mercury catalogue holds more than 7,000 titles and covers over 70% of Spanish cinema, making him the largest rights holder in the country’s film industry. His work as a producer grew in the 1990s. On 12 September 1998 he was elected president of EGEDA, the collective rights management body for audiovisual producers, and in August 2007 he took over as president of the local channel Canal 8 Madrid. He was also linked to the Conde Duque-Verdi cinemas and to FlixOlé, a streaming platform devoted to classic Spanish film. The industry recognised that career with the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts in 2009, the Sant Jordi Award in 2022, the Spanish Film Writers’ Circle Medal in 2024 and the Gold Medal of the Spanish Film Academy in 2025.

Vice-president under Jesús Gil

His link with Atlético de Madrid began with Jesús Gil y Gil, who won the club’s presidential election in 1987. That same year Cerezo joined the board as vice-president, a post he held throughout Gil’s tenure, including the club’s conversion into a sporting limited company in 1992. That process led to a long court case: Spain’s National Court convicted him at first instance as a necessary accomplice in the misappropriation of club shares, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling and acquitted him on the grounds that the offence had lapsed.

President of Atlético de Madrid

In May 2003 Jesús Gil resigned and named Cerezo as his successor. Gil died on 14 May 2004. From then on the club operated under a split arrangement known in Spain as the “bicefalia”: Cerezo as president and Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, the former president’s son, as chief executive in charge of sporting and financial management. In the 2017-18 season the team left the Vicente Calderón, its home since 1966, and moved to the Metropolitano, a project in which the club invested €310 million and gained 27% more capacity.

Trophies during his presidency

The first trophy of his tenure came on 12 May 2010, when Atlético beat Fulham in Hamburg to win the Europa League; that August they added the UEFA Super Cup against Inter in Monaco (2-0). In 2012 they won both competitions again. With Diego Simeone as coach, the team won the 2013 Copa del Rey against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, the 2014 Spanish league title with 90 points and the Spanish Super Cup that summer. In 2018 came a third Europa League and a third UEFA Super Cup, and in 2021 another league title, the club’s eleventh. In all, ten major trophies between 2010 and 2021.

Apollo’s arrival

In the ownership reshuffle that accompanied the stadium move, Quantum Pacific, the group of Israeli businessman Idan Ofer, bought into the club and came to hold close to 28% of the shares. The agreement with Apollo Sports Capital, the sports arm of the US investment firm Apollo, provided for Cerezo to remain president and Gil Marín chief executive, with completion expected in the first quarter of 2026. The club announced the deal, which made Apollo its majority shareholder, on 10 November 2025.