La Liga

## Some attributes

### First

Country: SpainConfederation: UEFAFounded: 1929Number of teams: 20Level on pyramid: 1Relegation to: Segunda Division

### Second

Domestic cup(s): Copa del Rey, Supercopa EspañaInternational cup(s): UEFA Champions League, Europa League

### Third

Current champions: Barcelona (24th)Most champions: Real Madrid (32rd)

## Other attributes

### Fourth

TV partners: beIn LaLigaWebsite: www.laliga.es

The **Primera División** commonly known as **La Liga,** and as **La Liga Santander** for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP), La Liga is contested by 20 teams, with the three lowest-placed teams relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top two teams in that division plus the winner of a play-off.

**La Liga** is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 26,741 for league matches in the 2014–15 season. This is the sixth-highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the fourth-highest of any professional association football league in the world, behind the Bundesliga, the Premier League, and the Indian Super League.

## History

### **Foundation**

In April 1927, José María 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 1929. 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. Atlético Madrid, Espanyol and Europa qualified as Copa del Rey runners-up and Racing de Santander qualified through a knockout competition. Only three of the founding clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, have never been relegated from the *Primera División*.

### **The 1930s**

Although Barcelona won the very first *Liga* in 1929 and Real Madrid won their first titles in 1932 and 1933, it was Athletic Bilbaothat 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 Balompié*, won their only title to date. *Primera División* was suspended during the Spanish Civil War.

In 1937, the teams in the Republican area of Spain, with the notable exception of the two Madrid clubs, competed in the Mediterranean League and Barcelona emerged as champions. Seventy years later, on 28 September 2007, Barcelona requested the RFEF to recognise that title as a *Liga* title. This action was taken after RFEF was asked to recognise Levante FC's Copa de la España Libre win as equivalent to Copa del Rey trophy. Nevertheless, the governing body of Spanish football has not made an outright decision yet.

### **The 1940s**

When the *Primera División* resumed after the Spanish Civil War, it was Atlético Aviación (nowadays *Atlético Madrid*), Valencia, andSevilla that initially emerged as the strongest clubs. Atlético 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 team was reinforced by a merger. The young, pre-war squad of Valencia 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 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, Barcelona began to emerge as a force when they were crowned champions in 1945, 1948 and 1949.

### **The Madrid years**

Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated the *Primera División*, being crowned champions 14 times, although their only European Cup triumph during this era came in 1966, a sharp contrast to their five successive victories in the competition starting with the first final in 1956.

This included a five-in-a-row sequence from 1961 to 1965 and two three-in-a-row sequences (1967–1969 and 1978–1980). During this era, only Atlético Madrid offered Real Madrid any serious challenge, adding four more titles to their tally in 1966, 1970, 1973, and 1977. Of the other clubs, only Valencia in 1971 and the Johan Cruyff-inspired Barcelona of 1974 managed to break the dominance of Real Madrid.

### **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 Barcelona to a solitary title in 1985 before Real Madrid won again another five in a row sequence (1986–1990) 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.

### **The 1990s**

Johan Cruyff returned to Barcelona as manager in 1988, and assembled the legendary *Dream Team*. Cruyff introduced players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain, Andoni Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário 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, 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, andRivaldo, Barcelona again won the title in 1998 and 1999.

### **The 2000s**

As *Primera División* entered a new century, the Big Two of Real Madrid and Barcelona 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 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 30th league title in 2007 after a three-year drought. They were challenged by a re-emerging Valencia 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 winning the double with a league title and the UEFA Cup 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. With world-class players like Raúl, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gonzalo Higuaín, Real Madrid won back-to-back La Liga titles in 2006–07 and 2007–08 season. Under Pep Guardiola's *Dream Team*, powered by *La Masia* talents such as Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, Barcelona added three straight Liga titles (2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11).

### **The 2010s**

In the 2011–12 season, Real Madrid won its 32nd title under the management of José Mourinho with a record-breaking points tally of 100, a record 121 number of goals scored, most overall (32) and away (16) wins in a single season in La Liga history. Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova matched the 100-point record a year later in 2012–13 while battling terminal cancer. Atlético Madrid won the 2013–14 title, their first in 18 years, and the first title in ten years that Real Madrid or Barcelona had not won. Barcelona won the 2014–15 season as well as the 2015-16 season resulting in 6 titles in 8 years.

## Competition format

The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a season, which lasts from August to May, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the highest-ranked club at the end of the season crowned champion. The Team in each season played 20 teams.

## Teams

A total of 20 teams contest the league in its current season, including 17 sides from the2015–16 season and three promoted from the 2015–16 Segunda División. These are two clubs promoted directly from that division (Alavés andLeganés), and the winner of the play-offs,Osasuna.

## La Liga clubs in Europe

The Primera División is currently first in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, ahead of Germany's Bundesliga in second and England's Premier League in third.

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia are in the top ten most successful clubs in European football in terms of total European trophies. These three clubs, along with Sevilla and Atlético Madrid, are five of the most successful teams in European competition history; these five are the only Spanish clubs to have won five or more international trophies. Deportivo La Coruña are the fifth-most participating Spanish team in the Champions League — after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Atletico Madrid — with five Champions League appearances in a row, including a semifinal appearance in 2003–04.

In 2005–06, Barcelona won the Champions League and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup, making the La Liga the first league to do the European "double" since 1997. On 25 August 2015, La Liga became the only league to classify five teams for the UEFA Champions League group stage (Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia).

## References

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La\_Liga
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> http://www.laliga.es
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