Rafael Sánchez-Guerra was President of Real Madrid

Real Madrid C.F.

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...

 between 1935 and 1936.

His presidency coincided with the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 and Sánchez-Guerra was a prominent Republican

Second Spanish Republic

The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....

, refusing to flee Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 as it was about to fall into the hands of Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

. He was captured, imprisoned by supporters of Franco before escaping to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 where he became a prominent member of the government-in-exile. During the war itself, Sánchez-Guerra had little active involvement in the daily management of Real Madrid

Real Madrid

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...

, acting with non official presidents Juan José Vallejo and Antonio Ortega

Antonio Ortega (colonel)

Antonio Ortega was an acting president of Real Madrid between 1937 and 1938 during the Spanish Civil War. He was acting on behalf of Rafael Sánchez Guerra, a prominent Republican, who was unable to take an active role in managing the club. Ortega took over as acting president from another...

(these two presidents were not elected), running things on his behalf.