Video: with the "ghost bid!": Real Madrid create a historic first with Mourinho | Goal.com

Published on 18 Aug 2026 | Reading time: 2 minutes

Real Madrid have opened José Mourinho's new era in the strangest of fashions. The club presented their Portuguese coach in a private ceremony, away from fans and media, breaking sharply from a tradition the Spanish giants have long followed with their signings and technical staff.

According to the Spanish newspaper "Sport", Real Madrid held their first special welcome ceremony this summer with Mourinho as its central figure, after he signed a contract running until 2029. The club did not present the event in the traditional way. Instead they merely showed images of the signing ceremony on their own television channel, staging no press conference and giving the media no chance to hear from the Portuguese coach.

Florentino Pérez drove the shift. The Real Madrid president decided to change the way new arrivals are presented this summer, settling for private ceremonies instead of public presentation events, an unprecedented step for the club in recent years.

Major signings would usually get a fans' reception at the Santiago Bernabéu, especially world-class names. It happened with Kylian Mbappé two years ago, when the club threw open the stadium's doors so supporters could celebrate the arrival of the French star.

That scene will not be repeated this time with Real Madrid's new signings, including Yan Diomande and Marc Cucurella. Diomande stands out as one of the club's most notable arrivals this summer and, according to reports, the most expensive in the team's history, with the exception of the Eden Hazard deal.

Pérez's board chose to apply the new policy from the moment Mourinho arrived. The coach returned to Real Madrid to lead the sporting project after the president won the latest elections and reshaped the squad, and he becomes the first major figure to face this new style of presentation.

Mourinho made no statements during the ceremony, and the event barely featured on Real Madrid's official social media accounts. That prompted "Sport" to dub the occasion "the ghost presentation", a nod to the absence of media and fans.

Supporters and the media must now wait until Friday 21 August to hear Mourinho speak for the first time as the team's coach, at the press conference ahead of the opening fixture against Espanyol in La Liga.

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