La Liga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| La Liga | |
 |
|
| Country | Spain |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 1929 |
| Number of teams | 20 |
| Relegation to | Segunda División |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Copa del Rey |
| UEFA cup(s) | Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup |
| Current champions | Real Madrid (2007-08) |
| Most successful club | Real Madrid (31 titles) |
| Website | La Liga home page |
Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Professional Football League), commonly known as the Primera División or simply La Liga, is the top professional football league in Spain.
Nine clubs have been crowned Campeones de Liga. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have dominated the competition. The former have been champions 31 times while the latter have won it on 18 occasions. However during the 1930s and 1940s and in more recent seasons, the Primera División has been more competitive. Other winners include Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Deportivo de La Coruña, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Betis.
In addition to their success in Primera División, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are two of the most successful teams in European competition history.[1] In 2005/06 Barça won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup. The Primera División became the first league to do the European "double" since 1997. [2]
The Primera División is currently second in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, behind the English Premier League in first and ahead of Italy's Serie A in third.[3] The 2005–06 average attendance of 29,029 for league matches is the sixth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. Among professional football (soccer) leagues,[4] Primera División was third-highest, behind the Bundesliga in first and the Premier League in second. [5]
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Foundation
In April 1927 Jose Maria Acha, a director at Arenas Club de Getxo, first proposed the idea of a national league in Spain. After much debate about the size of the league and who would take part, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol eventually agreed on the ten teams who would form the first Primera División in 1928. FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Arenas Club de Getxo and Real Unión were all selected as previous winners of the Copa del Rey. Athletic Madrid, RCD Español and CE Europa qualified as Copa del Rey runners-up and Racing Santander qualified through a knockout competition. Only three of the founding clubs, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, have never been relegated from the Primera División.
[edit] The 1930s
Although FC Barcelona won the very first Liga in 1929 and Real Madrid won their first titles in 1932 and 1933, it was Athletic Bilbao that set the early pace winning Primera División in 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1936. They were also runners-up in 1932 and 1933. In 1935 Real Betis, then known as Betis Balompie, won their only title to date. Primera División was suspended during the Spanish Civil War, but clubs in the Republican area of Spain, with the notable exception of the two Madrid clubs, competed in the Mediterranean League. FC Barcelona emerged as champions in 1937.
[edit] The 1940s
When the Primera Liga resumed after the Spanish Civil War it was Atlético Aviación, Valencia CF and Sevilla FC that initially emerged as the strongest clubs. Atlético Aviación were only awarded a place during the 1939-40 season as a replacement for Real Oviedo, whose ground had been damaged during the war. The club subsequently won their first Liga title and retained it in 1941. While other clubs lost players to exile, execution and as casualties of the war, the Atlético Aviación team was reinforced by a merger. The young pre-war squad of Valencia CF had also remained intact and in the post-war years matured into champions, gaining three Liga titles in 1942, 1944 and 1947. They were also runners-up in 1948 and 1949. Sevilla FC also enjoyed a brief golden era, finishing as runners-up in 1940 and 1942 before winning their only title to date in 1946. By the latter part of the decade FC Barcelona began to emerge as a force when they were crowned champions in 1945, 1948 and 1949.
[edit] Di Stéfano, Puskás, Kubala and Suárez
Although Atlético Madrid, previously known as Atlético Aviación, were champions in 1950 and 1951 under catenaccio mastermind Helenio Herrera, the 1950s saw the beginning of the CF Barcelona/Real Madrid dominance. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s there were strict limits imposed on foreign players. In most cases clubs could only have three foreign players in their squads, meaning that at least eight local players had to play in every game. During the 1950s, however, these rules were circumnavigated by Real Madrid and CF Barcelona who naturalised Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Ladislao Kubala. Inspired by Kubala, Barça won the title in 1952 and 1953. Di Stéfano, Puskás and Francisco Gento formed the nucleus of the Real Madrid team that dominated the second half of the 1950s. Real won Primera División for the first time as Real Madrid in 1954 and retained it in 1955. They were winners again in 1957 and 1958, with only Athletic Bilbao interrupting their sequence. CF Barcelona with a team coached by Helenio Herrera and featuring Luis Suárez gained the title in 1959 and 1960..
[edit] The Madrid Years
Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated the Primera División, being crowned champion 14 times. This included a five-in-a-row sequence from 1961 to 1965 and two three-in-a-row sequences (1967-69 and 1978-1980). During this era only Atlético Madrid offered Real any serious challenge, adding four more titles to their tally in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. Of the other clubs, only Valencia CF in 1971 and the Johan Cruyff-inspired FC Barcelona of 1974 managed to break the might of Real Madrid.
[edit] The 1980s
The Madrid winning sequence was ended more significantly in 1981 when Real Sociedad won their first ever title. They retained it in 1982 and their two in a row was followed by another by their fellow Basques, Athletic Bilbao who won back-to-back titles in 1983 and 1984. Terry Venables led FC Barcelona to a solitary title in 1985 before Real Madrid won again another five in a row sequence (1986-90) with a team, guided by Leo Beenhakker, and including Hugo Sánchez and the legendary La Quinta del Buitre - Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.
[edit] The 1990s Barça years
Johan Cruyff returned to FC Barcelona as manager in 1988, and assembled the legendary Dream Team. Cruyff introduced players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristain, Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romario and Hristo Stoichkov. This team won Primera División four times between 1991 and 1994 and won the European Cup in 1992. Laudrup then moved to arch-rivals Real Madrid after a fall-out with Cruyff, and helped them end Barcelona's run in 1995. Atlético Madrid won their ninth Primera División title in 1996 before Real Madrid added another Liga trophy to their cabinet in 1997. After the success of Cruyff, another Dutchman - Ajax manager Louis van Gaal - arrived at the Camp Nou, and with the talents of Luís Figo, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo, Barcelona again won the title in 1998 and 1999. Meanwhile, Real Madrid also experienced success on the intercontinental stage, winning the UEFA Champions League in 1998.
[edit] The new millennium
As Primera División entered a new century, the Big Two found themselves facing new challengers. Between 1993 and 2004, Deportivo La Coruña finished in the top three on ten occasions, a better record than either Real Madrid or FC Barcelona, and in 2000, under Javier Irureta, they became the ninth team to be crowned champions. Real Madrid won two more Liga titles in 2001 and 2003 and also the UEFA Champions League in 2000 and 2002, and won their third league title in 2007 after a three year drought. They were challenged by a re-emerging Valencia CF in both competitions. Under the management of Héctor Cúper, Valencia finished as Champions League runners-up in 2000 and 2001. His successor, Rafael Benítez, built on this and led the club to a Liga title in 2002 and a Liga/UEFA Cup double in 2004. The 2004-05 season saw a resurgent Barcelona, inspired by the brilliant Ronaldinho, win their first title of the new century, in addition to the Liga-Champions League double in 2005-06. Sevilla FC also won the UEFA Cup in 2006 and again in 2007, when the Andalusians defeated fellow Spaniards RCD Espanyol 3-1 on penalties. After 3 years of misery, Real Madrid finally won the La Liga in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 season.
[edit] Stadia
| Home Club | Stadium Name | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| FC Barcelona | Camp Nou | 98,772 | Camp Nou is the biggest football stadium in Europe. Expansion has been planned and the club hope to increase the capacity to 100,000 in years to come. |
| Real Madrid | Santiago Bernabéu | 80,400 | |
| RCD Espanyol | Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys | 55,926 | |
| Valencia CF | Mestalla | 55,000 | Valencia CF will move to a new 75,000 seater stadium for 2009-10 season. |
| Atlético Madrid | Vicente Calderón Stadium | 54,851 | Atlético could be moving away from the Vicente Calderón to a renovated stadium, La Peineta, in 2012. |
| Real Betis | Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera | 52,700 | Plans to upgrade to 64,000 seats |
| Sevilla FC | Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán | 45,500 | Plans to increase capacity to 66,000 seats |
| Athletic Bilbao | San Mamés | 39,750 | Athletic will move to a new 55,000 seater stadium for 2011-12 season |
| Deportivo de La Coruña | Riazor | 34,600 | |
| Real Zaragoza | La Romareda | 34,594 | Plans to move to a new 50,000 seater stadium. |
| Real Murcia | Estadio Nueva Condomina | 33,045 | |
| Real Valladolid | Estadio José Zorrilla | 26,512 | |
| Levante UD | Estadio Ciudad de Valencia | 25,354 | |
| RCD Mallorca | ONO Estadi | 23,142 | |
| Villarreal | Estadio El Madrigal | 23,000 | |
| Racing Santander | Campos de Sport de El Sardinero | 22,271 | |
| Almería | Mediterraneo Stadium | 22,000 | |
| Recreativo Huelva | Nuevo Colombino | 21,600 | Planning permission granted to extend to approximately 26,600 |
| Osasuna | Estadio Reyno de Navarra | 19,800 | |
| Getafe | Coliseum Alfonso Pérez | 16,300 |
[edit] La Liga clubs in Europe
[edit] Champions
[edit] Year By Year
[edit] Performance by club
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Winning Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Madrid |
|
|
1931-32, 1932-33, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1971-72, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1994-95, 1996-97, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08 |
| FC Barcelona |
|
|
1928-29, 1944-45, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1973-74, 1984-85, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2004-05, 2005-06 |
| Atlético Madrid |
|
|
1939-40, 1940-41, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1965-66, 1969-70, 1972-73, 1976-77, 1995-96 |
| Athletic Bilbao |
|
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1929-30, 1930-31, 1933-34, 1935-36, 1942-43, 1955-56, 1982-83, 1983-84 |
| Valencia CF |
|
|
1941-42, 1943-44, 1946-47, 1970-71, 2001-02, 2003-04 |
| Real Sociedad |
|
|
1980-81, 1981-82 |
| Deportivo de La Coruña |
|
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1999-00 |
| Sevilla FC |
|
|
1945-46 |
| Real Betis |
|
|
1934-35 |
[edit] Note on name changes
During the Spanish Second Republic clubs such as Real Madrid and Real Betis dropped the Real from their name, Real Sociedad became Donostia CF. In 1941, a decree issued by Franco banned the use of non-Spanish language names. FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC became CF Barcelona and Sevilla CF, both Athletic Bilbao and Athletic Aviación changed the spelling of their prefix to Atlético, Sporting de Gijón and Racing de Santander became Real Gijón and Real Santander...
[edit] Individual awards
Many individual awards are conceded relating to La Liga, although not sanctioned by the LFP nor the RFEF they're widely regarded as official.
[edit] Top scorer and best goalkeeper
The most notable of them are the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the top scorer of the season, and the Zamora Trophy for the goalkeeper with the least "goals-to-games" ratio (with some extra rules, see the main article). Both trophies are awarded by the biggest sports newspaper in Spain, Marca.
- 2007-08 winners: Mallorca's Dani Güiza (Pichichi) and Real Madrid's Iker Casillas (Zamora).
[edit] Best player
In 2008, a new trophy has been awarded to the best player in the league overall: the Di Stéfano Trophy, also created by Marca. The 50 top players, chosen by visitors to Marca's official website every week of competition, made it into a final ballot, where a specialized jury, which included former football stars Jorge Valdano, Fernando Hierro, Emilio Butragueño, Andoni Zubizarreta, Spain's national team head coach Luis Aragonés and Alfredo Di Stéfano, decided the final winner. The first edition was won by Real Madrid star Raúl González, after three voting rounds since there was a tie between him and runner-up Sergio Agüero.
- 2007-08 winner: Real Madrid's Raúl González.
[edit] Selected La Liga Players
[edit] European Footballers of the Year
The following were all elected European Footballer of the Year while playing with La Liga clubs.
Alfredo Di Stéfano - 1957, 1959
Raymond Kopa - 1958- Luis Suárez - 1960
Johan Cruyff - 1973
Hristo Stoichkov - 1994
Rivaldo - 1999
Luís Figo - 2000- Ronaldo - 2002
- Ronaldinho - 2005
Fabio Cannavaro - 2006
[edit] FIFA World Players of the Year
The following were all elected FIFA World Player of the Year while playing with La Liga clubs. In 2006, the three nominees for the award were all La Liga players. Fabio Cannavaro won the award, Zinedine Zidane came second and Ronaldinho came third. The last six awards, before 2007 (Kaka), have all been won by players playing in La Liga.
- Romario - 1994 (FC Barcelona)
- Ronaldo - 1996 (PSV Eindhoven, FC Barcelona) 1997 (FC Barcelona, Inter) 2002 (Inter, Real Madrid)
- Rivaldo - 1999 (FC Barcelona)
- Luís Figo - 2001 (FC Barcelona, Real Madrid)
- Zinedine Zidane - 1998, 2000 (Juventus), 2003 (Real Madrid)
- Ronaldinho - 2004, 2005 (FC Barcelona)
- Fabio Cannavaro - 2006 (Juventus, Real Madrid)
[edit] Notable former star players
[edit] Selected current star players
[edit] See also
- List of football clubs in Spain
- List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues — the attendance of La Liga compared with other domestic leagues around the world
- List of transfers of La Liga - 2005-06 season
- List of transfers of La Liga - 2006-07 season
- List of transfers of La Liga - 2007-08 season
- List of transfers of La Liga - 2008-09 season
- List of transfers of La Liga - 2009-10 season
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ UEFA club competitions press kit (.PDF archive, page 23). UEFA Official Website. Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
- ^ "Competition facts", UEFA, 1-10-2006.
- ^ "UEFA ranking of European leagues", UEFA, 2006.
- ^ Here, it is necessary to qualify "football" with "(soccer)" because there are leagues in two other football codes that rank above not only Primera División, but above any other league in that code, in per-game attendance—the NFL in the USA (American football) and the Australian Football League in Australian rules football.
- ^ "Statistics on Primera Liga, including attendance figures", Sold Out Entertainments, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Map to all Spain clubs
- (Spanish) Official La Liga Site
- (Spanish) Official RFEF Site
- (Spanish) RFEF site
- (Spanish) Marca
- (Spanish) La Liga on Futbol.com
- (Spanish) As
- (Spanish) Spanish Liga Goals (Video)
- (Spanish) El Mundo Deportivo
- (Spanish) Sport
- (English) Soccer Spain
- (English) La Liga Review
- (English) Unofficial Fan Reviews
- (English) La Division
- (English) La Liga Odds and News
- (English) La Liga Live Odds
- (English) 2005-2006 Spanish La Liga Final Season, Team, and Player Statistics in .PDF format - (www.worldcupadvice.com)
- (English) Spanish Soccer Glossary
- Tables and Fixtures on aragon.ws
- (English) La Liga Football News
- (English) La Liga Table, Fixtures & Results
- (English) Spanish Football Database
- (English) All time statistics with link to all results
