Vicente Boluda
| Vicente Boluda Fos | |
|---|---|
| Born | 31 March 1955 Valencia, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Education | Doctorate in Law, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; degree in Legal Sciences; master's degrees in business legal advice and in maritime law |
| Occupation | Businessman, lawyer, shipowner |
| Employer | Boluda Corporación Marítima |
| Title | President and majority shareholder |
| Known for | President of Boluda Corporación Marítima; 17th president of Real Madrid (2009) |
Vicente Boluda Fos (born 31 March 1955) is a Spanish businessman, lawyer and shipowner. Boluda is the president and majority shareholder of Boluda Corporación Marítima, a Valencia-based shipping group active in towage and maritime salvage. Boluda also served as the 17th president of the football club Real Madrid, holding the post on an interim basis from January to June 2009.
Beyond his own company, Boluda has held leadership positions in Spanish and Valencian business and maritime associations, including the presidency of the Spanish Shipowners' Association and the National Association of Tugboat Owners. He was named Enterpriser of the Year in 1998 for his work at the head of the Boluda Group.
Early life and education
Boluda was born on 31 March 1955 in Valencia, Spain. His grandfather, Marí Boluda, founded a shipping business that expanded into ports around the world, and Boluda later inherited leadership of the enterprise that grew into what is now known as the Boluda Group.
Boluda holds a doctorate in law from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a degree in Legal Sciences. He also completed several master's degrees, including one in legal advice for business and another in maritime, or admiralty, law.
Career
Shipping and legal career
Boluda is the president and majority shareholder of Boluda Corporación Marítima, also known as the Boluda Group. Under his leadership, the group built what Spanish and French-language profiles describe as the largest fleet controlled by a single businessman in Europe and the world's largest operator of tugboats; an Italian-language profile instead ranks the group second in the world in that category. Sources agree the group is the third-largest in Europe in maritime salvage, with an annual turnover of close to 450 million euros. As part of this expansion, the group took over the port towage operations of the French company Abeilles in 2007, together with SMS Towage in the United Kingdom and Resolve Salvage & Fire in Gibraltar, and in 2024 took control of Les Abeilles International.
Earlier in his career, Boluda worked as a legal advisor to Spain's Ministry of Defence and as a specialist agent in maritime insurance. Boluda was also president of the water utility Aguas de Valencia (AVSA) from 1998 until July 2007, when he was succeeded in the role by Eugenio Calabuig Gimeno.
Industry and civic roles
Alongside his corporate leadership, Boluda has built an extensive record of association and institutional roles in Valencia and across Spain. He is president of the Asociación de Navieros Españoles (ANAVE), the Spanish shipowners' association, and president of the Asociación Nacional de Remolcadores de España, the national association of tugboat owners. Boluda is also president of the Asociación Valenciana de Empresarios (the Valencian Business Association), president of the Fundación Valenciana de Estudios Avanzados, and president of the Asociación Naviera Valenciana. He serves as vice-president of the Fundación Premios Rey Jaime I and, according to one profile, as vice-president of the Spanish Shipping Association.
Boluda is a delegate to the Upper Council of the Chambers of Commerce and first vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Valencia. He sits as a councillor of the Puerto Autónomo de Valencia, the Valencia port authority, and is a trustee of the Fundación Puerto de Las Palmas. In London, Boluda serves as a director of the marine insurer Britannia P&I. He is also a trustee of the Fundación "Mujeres por África" and a numerary member of the Real Academia de la Mar, as well as a member of the Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación and of the Propeller Club de Valencia. Boluda additionally sits on the advisory board of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice, a papal foundation.
In 1998, Boluda received the Enterpriser of the Year award for his work leading the Boluda Group, a prize for which he was selected ahead of rival nominees including IBM and La Caixa.
Real Madrid presidency, 2006 to 2009
Boluda's association with Real Madrid began as a club member in 1998. He joined the club's board of directors in December 2006, after Ramón Calderón was elected president. In less than a year, Boluda was named vice-president, following the resignation of Juan Mendoza in a dispute over the club's basketball section.
Boluda became president of Real Madrid on 16 January 2009 after Calderón resigned amid a controversy over allegedly manipulated board votes. During his brief tenure, Boluda signed off on the loan of midfielder Julien Faubert to West Ham United on 31 January 2009, a deal that brought Real Madrid a fee of 1.5 million euros for a six-month loan with an option to make the transfer permanent, an option the club ultimately did not exercise.
Boluda's presidency coincided with a difficult sporting season for the club. Rivals FC Barcelona won the league title and inflicted a 6-2 defeat on Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. The team was eliminated from the Copa del Rey in its first round by Real Unión de Irún and was knocked out of the Champions League by Liverpool F.C. by an aggregate score of 5-0. Before the Liverpool tie, Boluda made a remark about a hypothetical "chorreo," or thrashing, that Real Madrid might inflict on its opponent, a comment that became a widely recalled line from the season once the result went the other way. The team finished the season without a major trophy. Boluda handed the presidency to Florentino Pérez on 1 June 2009.
Assessment
Boluda's principal career achievement lies in shipping rather than football. Sources describe the group he leads as having grown, under his leadership, into one of the largest tugboat and maritime salvage operators in the world, with Spanish and French profiles crediting it as the global leader in towage and an annual turnover approaching 450 million euros; an Italian-language source places it second rather than first in that category, a discrepancy the dossier does not resolve. His 1998 Enterpriser of the Year award, awarded ahead of larger corporate nominees, is cited as external recognition of that record. Boluda has also accumulated a wide network of institutional roles across Valencian and Spanish business, maritime and civic bodies, indicating sustained standing within those sectors over several decades.
His time at Real Madrid is a smaller and more mixed episode. Boluda rose through the club's board only after Juan Mendoza's resignation and took the presidency itself only because of Calderón's resignation amid a vote-manipulation controversy, making his tenure an interim and largely circumstantial one rather than the product of an election in his own right. The five months he spent in the role produced no trophies, a heavy defeat to Barcelona, and a one-sided Champions League exit to Liverpool that his own pre-match comment made more memorable. His handling of the club during that period is best characterised as a caretaker presidency, bridging the gap between Calderón's departure and Florentino Pérez's return.