Real Madrid CF

**Real Madrid Club de Fútbol** commonly referred to as **Real Madrid**, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football.

## History

### Other Leagues

None - This team hasnt been relegated to the 2nd divison

### Trophy Amount

14 UCL2 UEL/Super Cups

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35 La Ligas
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> Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn a white home kit since its inception. The honorific title *real* is Spanish for "royal" and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. Real Madrid have played their home matches in the 81,044-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting entities, Real Madrid's members have owned and operated the club throughout its history. The official Madrid anthem is the "Hala Madrid y nada más", written by RedOne and Manuel Jabois. The club is one of the most widely supported in the world, and is the most followed football club on social media according to the CIES Football Observatory as of 2023 and was estimated to be worth $5.1 billion in 2022, making it the world's most valuable football club. In 2023, it was the second highest-earning football club in the world, with an annual revenue of €713.8 million.
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### La Liga

Being one of the three founding members of La Liga that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929 (along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona), Real Madrid holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably *El Clásico* with Barcelona and *El Derbi Madrileño* with Atlético Madrid. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s and 60s, winning five consecutive and six overall European Cups and reaching a further two finals. This success was replicated on the domestic front, with Madrid winning twelve league titles in the span of 16 years.

## Stadium

After moving between several grounds, the team relocated to the Campo de O'Donnell in 1912, which remained its home stadium for 11 years. After this period, the club moved for one year to the Campo de Ciudad Lineal, a small ground with a capacity of 8,000 spectators. After that, Real Madrid started playing its home matches at the Estadio Chamartín, which was inaugurated on 17 May 1923 with a match against Newcastle United. In this stadium, which hosted 22,500 spectators, Real Madrid celebrated its first Spanish league title. Following his election in 1943, president Santiago Bernabéu decided that the Chamartín was not big enough for the ambitions of the club, and thus a new stadium was built and inaugurated on 14 December 1947. Initially knows as *Nuevo Chamartín*, the stadium was renamed in honor of Bernabéu in 1955 and continues to bear his name to this day. The first match at the Bernabéu was played between Madrid and the Portuguese club Belenenses, with *Los Blancos* winning 3–1 and Sabino Barinaga scoring the first goal.

The capacity has changed frequently, peaking at 120,000 after a 1953 expansion. Since then, there have been a number of reductions due to modernizations (the last standing areas were removed in 1998–99 in response to UEFA regulations which had forbidden standing at matches in European competitions), countered to some extent by expansions. The latest capacity is 81,044 spectators. Real Madrid has the fourth-highest average attendance in Europe, behind Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, and Manchester United.

The Bernabéu has hosted the 1964 UEFA European Championship final, the 1982 FIFA World Cup final, and the 1957, 1969, 1980, and 2010 European Cup/Champions League finals. The stadium has its own namesake Madrid Metro station along the 10 line. On 14 November 2007, the Bernabéu was upgraded to Elite Football Stadium status by UEFA.

On 9 May 2006, the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium, named after club legend Alfredo Di Stéfano, was inaugurated in the Real Madrid City, where Real Madrid usually trains. The inaugural match was played between Real Madrid and Stade de Reims, a rematch of the 1956 European Cup final. Real Madrid 6–1, with goals from Sergio Ramos, Antonio Cassano (2), Roberto Soldado (2), and José Manuel Jurado. The venue is now part of the Ciudad Real Madrid, the club's training facility located outside Madrid, in Valdebebas. The stadium's capacity is 5,000 people, and it is Real Madrid Castilla's home ground. For the latter part of the 2019–20 season and throughout the 2020–21 season, the stadium hosted the first team's home games due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic-triggered restrictions and an extensive renovation of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium.

The latest renovation of the Santiago Bernabéu is set to increase the capacity by approximately 4,000 with the addition of an extra tier, bringing it to just over the 85,000 mark. Furthermore, the height will also be increased by ten metres and a retractable roof, a retractable pitch, and a 360-degree screen will be installed. The works have started in 2019, and the renovated stadium was initially planned to be unveiled in 2022; however, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine caused significant disruption to supply chains, prompting the club to postpone the stadium's inauguration to 2023

## Famous Players

- David Beckham (CM)

- Christiano Ronaldo (ST)

- Karim Benzema (CAM)

- Gareth Bale (ST)

-Thibaut Courtois (GK)