The Athletic's David Ornstein and Mario Cortegana reported that the 63-year-old Portuguese put pen to paper on a deal running until June 2029, ending his short spell at Benfica where he guided the club to third place in the Primeira Liga despite completing an unbeaten league campaign.
Mourinho will not be presented officially until after the election — the first contested presidential vote at Real Madrid in 20 years. Pérez, who called the snap election following two consecutive trophyless seasons, faces challenger Enrique Riquelme, a 37-year-old renewable energy businessman. Pérez is widely expected to prevail.
The contract carries a void clause: should Riquelme win and a different candidate become president, Mourinho's appointment would not stand. Riquelme has made clear Mourinho is not his preferred choice for the role.
Mourinho replaces Álvaro Arbeloa, who took charge in January after Xabi Alonso's abrupt departure and could not reverse a season of decline. Barcelona won La Liga with a 2-0 El Clásico victory, and Bayern Munich eliminated Madrid from the Champions League quarter-finals 6-4 on aggregate.
In his previous spell at the Bernabéu between 2010 and 2013, Mourinho won the La Liga title, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup, presiding over one of the most intensely combative eras in the fixture's modern history against Pep Guardiola's Barcelona.
Since leaving Madrid in 2013, Mourinho has managed Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, AS Roma — where he won the Europa Conference League in 2022 — Fenerbahçe and most recently Benfica.
The appointment, once confirmed, will complete one of the most anticipated returns in European football. Real Madrid's hierarchy views Mourinho's capacity for structural authority and dressing-room discipline as the solution to a squad that has underperformed for two seasons. Not everyone agrees.