Born in Madrid in 1951, Alfredo Relaño studied at the Superior School of Road Engineers and the Law Faculty, until he decided to go into Journalism. He began his professional career at the sports newspaper Marca. In 1976 he was one of the founding members of El País, editing the sports section. In 1996, he was appointed to be the editor of the newspaper AS. Under his stewardship, AS has arrested the falling circulation of recent years and doubled its readers and sales.