Manuel Ruiz de Lopera was the top leader of Real Betis Balompié for much of its history and will always be remembered for some of his famous phrases. De Lopera was a self-made businessman who built an immense fortune, although he was always in doubt about the cleanliness and ethics of his business.
Born in the Sevillian neighborhood of Fontanal in 1944, he began to move in the late 50s with the sale of household appliances. At this stage he launched payment in installments, a new payment method in Spain, and thus he ended up becoming a lender and began to earn large amounts of money. Starting from the sale of household appliances, he began to set up different companies dedicated to the sale, purchase, loans and real estate investments: Farusa, Rulosa, Incecosa, Tegasa, etc.
Ruiz de Lopera was at Betis from 1991 to 2006, being the club’s president since 1996. Furthermore, in 1992 he became the club’s largest shareholder thanks to the endorsement with one of his companies, Farusa.
As president of Betis he signed the most expensive contract in world football until then. Denilson for 30 million euros. A time when the green and white club came to play in the Champions League, but also ended up being relegated to the Second Division; which would end up costing him criticism from the fans and the majority opinion that he had to sell his shares in the club.
In 2006, the businessman was convicted of a crime against the Public Treasury, since tax irregularities were detected in his management as president of Betis between 1996 and 1997. In 2010, his shares in the club were seized, but he finally recovered them in 2015 for a ruling of the Court of Seville. In 2017, he ended up reaching an agreement with Ángel Haro and José Miguel Catalán to sell his share for 4 million euros.
No one has dared to quantify Ruiz de Lopera’s fortune because it is made up of countless companies and assets. He has been the owner of Inmobiliaria Centro Colón, S.A. (Incecosa), owner of the twin towers of Madrid’s Plaza de Colón and the Centro Colón. He built a mansion in his neighborhood and ended up buying the entire block.
