La Liga

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La Liga

Countries	Spain
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1929
Number of teams	20
Levels on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Segunda División
Domestic cup(s)	Copa del Rey
International cup(s)	Champions League Europa League
Current champions	Barcelona (21st title) (2010–11)
Most championships	Real Madrid (31 titles)
TV partners	Digital+, GolT, laSexta
Website	lfp.es
2010–11 season

The Primera División (First Division) of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP), commonly known as La Liga (The League) or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA (BBVA League) since 2008, is the top professionalassociation football division of the Spanish football league system. It is contested by twenty teams, with the three lowest placed teams relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top three teams in that division. A total of59 teams have competed in La Liga, nine of which have been crowned champions. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid andBarcelona have dominated the championship. The former have won the title thirty-one times while the latter have won it on twenty-one occasions. However, during the 1930s and 1940s and in the last two decades, La Liga has seen other champions including Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Deportivo, Real Betis and Sevilla . Barcelona have currently won the last three seasons of La Liga.

La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 29,124 for league matches in the 2008–09 season. This is the eighth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the third highest of any professional association football league.^[1] La Liga is currently ranked the best football league in the world according to the IFFHS and the second strongest league in Europe according to UEFA'sleague coefficient, based on recent European performances.

[edit]Competition format

The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a season, which lasts from September to June, 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. If points are equal between two or more clubs, the rules are^[2]:

If all clubs involved have played each other twice:
- If the tie is between two clubs, then the tie is broken using the head-to-head goal difference (without away goals rule)
- If the tie is between more than two clubs, then the tie is broken, using the games the clubs have played against each other:
  - a) head-to-head points
  - b) head-to-head goal difference
  - c) head-to-head goals scored
If two legged games between all clubs involved have not been played, or the tie is not broken by the rules above, it is broken using:
- a) total goal difference
- b) total goals scored
If the tie is still not broken, the winner will be determined by Fair Play scales.^[3] These are:
- yellow card, 1 point
- doubled yellow card/ejection, 2 points
- direct red card, 3 points
- Suspension or disqualification to coach, executive or other club's personnel (outside referee decisions), 5 points
- Misconduct of the supporters: mild 5 points, serious 6 points, very serious 7 points
- Stadium closure, 10 points
- If the Competition Committee removes a penalty, the points are also removed
If the tie is still not broken, it will be resolved with a tie-break match in a neutral stadium.

A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Primera División and the Segunda División. The three lowest placed teams in La Liga are relegated to theSegunda División, and the top two teams from the Segunda División are promoted to La Liga. The third team from the Segunda División to be promoted to La Liga is determined by the winner of the play-off played between the winner of the play-off between 3rd against 6th and the winner of the play-off between 4th placed against 5th. These placed teams should be considered excluding reserve teams.

[edit]Qualification for European competitions

The top teams in La Liga qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the first, second, and third placed teams directly entering the group stage and the fourth placed team entering the third qualifying round. The fifth and sixth placed teams qualify for the first round of the UEFA Europa League.

[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 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 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.

[edit]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 Bilbao that set the early pace winningPrimera 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 FC Barcelonaemerged as champions. Seventy years later, on 28 September 2007, Barcelona requested RFEF to recognise that title as a Liga title. This action was taken after RFEF recognised Levante FC's Copa de la España Libre win as equivalent to Copa del Rey trophy.

[edit]The 1940s

When the Primera División resumed after the Spanish Civil War it was Atlético Aviación (nowadays Atlético Madrid), Valencia and Sevilla 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 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.

[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 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 circumvented by Real Madrid and Barcelona who naturalized Alfredo di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Ladislav 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. Madrid won the first division for the first time as Real Madrid in 1954 and retained its title in 1955. They were winners again in 1957 and 1958, with only Athletic Bilbaointerrupting their sequence. During this period, Real Madrid also won an unprecedented five consecutive European Cups. 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 (1967–1969 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.

[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 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 legendaryLa Quinta del Buitre - Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.

[edit]The 1990s

Johan Cruyff returned to Barcelona as manager in 1988, and assembled the legendary Dream Team. Cruijff introduced players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristain, 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 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 continental stage, winning the UEFA Champions League in 1998.

[edit]The 2000s

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 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 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 the winning a 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. Real Madrid won La Liga in 2006–07 and 2007–08 season, and Barcelona again in 2009, as part of their treble winning season. Barcelona also won the title in 2010.

[edit]The 2010s

On 20 May 2010, a study published by the University of Barcelona revealed that La Liga's debt had risen to €3.53 billion.^[4] There were only three clubs in the all divisions (Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Numancia) who had an operating profit. The study further revealed that 85% of club debt was accumulated from player wages. The debt crisis in La Liga and Spain as a whole has led to summits held by the presidents of each club, the goal being to renegotiate the Madrid and Barcelona dominated television rights, opting for a voting-bloc system much like the Premier League.

[edit]Teams

Real Valladolid, CD Tenerife and Xerez CD were relegated to the Segunda División after finishing the 2009–10 season in the bottom three places. Tenerife and Xerez made their immediate return to the second level after just one year in the Spanish top flight, while Valladolid ended a three-year tenure in La Liga.

The relegated teams were replaced by 2009–10 Segunda División champions Real Sociedad from San Sebastián, runners-up Hércules CF from Alicante andLevante UD. Hércules returns to the highest Spanish football league for the first time after 13 years, while Real Sociedad and Levante terminated their second-level status after three and two years, respectively.

[edit]Stadia and locations

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao	San Mamés	39,750
Atlético Madrid	Madrid	Vicente Calderón	54,851
Barcelona	Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,354
Betis	Sevilla	Benito Villamarín	55,500
Espanyol	Cornellà de Llobregat	Estadi Cornellà-El Prat	40,500
Getafe	Madrid	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	17,700
Levante	Valencia	Estadi Ciutat de València	25,534
Málaga	Málaga	La Rosaleda	28,963
Mallorca	Palma de Mallorca	Iberostar Estadio	23,142
Osasuna	Pamplona	Estadio Reyno de Navarra	19,800
Racing Santander	Santander	El Sardinero	22,271
Rayo Vallecano	Madrid	Estadio Teresa Rivero	15,500
Real Madrid	Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	80,354
Real Sociedad	San Sebastián	Estadio Anoeta	32,076
Sevilla	Sevilla	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	45,500
Sporting	Gijón	El Molinón	29,538
Valencia	Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Villarreal	Vila-real	El Madrigal	25,000
Zaragoza	Zaragoza	La Romareda	34,596

[edit]La Liga clubs in Europe

Main article: La Liga clubs in Europe

In addition to their success in Primera División, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia are three of the most successful teams in European competition history. All three clubs are the only Spanish clubs to have won 5 or more international trophies. All three clubs are also in the top ten most successful clubs in European football in terms of total European trophies.^[5] In 2005–06, Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup. The Primera Divisiónbecame the first league to do the European "double" since 1997.

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.^[6]

[edit]Champions

Main article: List of Spanish football champions

[edit]Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Seasons	Last Runner-up Season
Real Madrid	31	21	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	2010–11
Barcelona	21	22	1929, 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, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11	2006–07
Atlético Madrid	9	8	1939–40, 1940–41, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1965–66, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1995–96	1990–91
Athletic Bilbao	8	7	1929–30, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1935–36, 1942–43, 1955–56, 1982–83, 1983–84	1997–98
Valencia	6	6	1941–42, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1970–71, 2001–02, 2003–04	1995–96
Real Sociedad	2	3	1980–81, 1981–82	2002–03
Deportivo de La Coruña	1	5	1999–2000	2001–02
Sevilla	1	4	1945–46	1956–57
Real Betis	1	0	1934–35	–
Villarreal	0	1	–	2007–08
Sporting de Gijón	0	1	–	1978–79
Real Zaragoza	0	1	–	1974–75
Las Palmas	0	1	–	1968–69
Racing de Santander	0	1	–	1930–31

[edit]Note on name changes

During Francoism, the teams' names were "hispanised", so FC Barcelona became Barcelona CF and Sevilla FC, Sevilla CF. Athletic de Madrid fell under the Air Forces control and became Atlético Aviación, and Sporting de Gijón and Racing de Santander became Real Gijón and Real Santander. Most teams changed their names, and some of them undid those modifications with the arrival of democracy in the seventies.

[edit]Players

[edit]Eligibility of non-EU players

In La Liga, players can claim citizenship from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry, he can claim Spanish citizenship after playing in Spain for 5 years.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes, this can lead to a triple-citizenship situation e.g. Leo Franco, who is Argentine-born, of Italian heritage and can claim a Spanish passport, having played in La Liga for over 5 years.^{[dubious – discuss]}

In addition, players from the ACP countries—countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement—are not counted against non-EU quotas, due to the Kolpak ruling.

[edit]Individual awards

Many individual awards are conceded relating to La Liga, although not sanctioned by the LFP nor the RFEF they are widely regarded as official.^{[citation needed]}

The most notable of these are four awarded by Spain's biggest sports paper, Marca, namely the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the top scorer of the season, theRicardo Zamora Trophy for the goalkeeper with the least "goals-to-games" ratio, the Trofeo Alfredo di Stéfano, for the player judged to be the best overall player in the division, and the Zarra Trophy is awarded to the Spanish domestic player with the highest goal total in La Liga.

[edit]All-time top scorers

Rank	Name	Years	Goals	Apps	Ratio
1	Telmo Zarra	1940–1955	252	278	0.91
2	Hugo Sanchez	1981–1994	234	347	0.67
3	Raúl	1994–2010	228	550	0.41
4	Alfredo di Stéfano	1953–1966	227	329	0.69
5	César Rodríguez	1939–1955	226	353	0.64
6	Quini	1970–1987	219	448	0.49
7	Pahiño	1943–1956	210	278	0.76
8	Edmundo Suárez	1939–1950	195	231	0.81
9	Carlos Santillana	1970–1988	186	461	0.40
10	Juan Arza	1943–1959	182	349	0.52
11	Guillermo Gorostiza	1929–1945	178	256	0.70
12	Samuel Eto'o	1998–2009	162	280	0.58
13	Luis Aragonés	1960–1974	160	360	0.44
14	David Villa	2003– ¤	158	270	0.59
15	Ferenc Puskás	1958–1966	156	180	0.87
16	Julio Salinas	1982–2000	152	417	0.36
17	Adrián Escudero	1945–1958	150	287	0.52
18	Daniel Ruiz	1974–1986	147	303	0.49
19	Silvestre Igoa	1941–1956	141	284	0.50