La Liga
| La Liga |
|---|
 La Liga - 2006/2007
|
| File:LFP.svg |
| Founded |
| 1929 |
| Nation |
 Spain
|
| Relegation To |
| Segunda División |
| Number of Teams |
| 20 |
| European Qualification |
| Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup |
| Cups |
| Copa del Rey |
| Current Champions (2005/06) |
| FC Barcelona |
| Website |
| Official |
Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Professional Football League), commonly known as La Liga, is the professional football league in Spain. It is considered to be one of the best leagues in the world along with the Italian Serie A and the English Premier League.
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 29 times while the latter have won it on 18 occasions. However during the 1930s and 1940s and in more recent seasons, La Liga has been more competitive. Other winners include Valencia CF, Sevilla FC, Atlético Madrid, Deportivo de La Coruña, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Betis. La Liga also boasts the two most successful teams in European competition history in Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In 2005/06 FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla FC won the UEFA Cup. La Liga became the first league to do the European "double" since 1997. [1]
La Liga is currently first in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, ahead of Serie A in second and the Premier League in third.[2] The 2005–06 average attendance of 29,029 for league matches is the sixth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. In professional football (soccer) leagues[3] La Liga was third-highest, behind the Bundesliga in first and the Premier League in second. [4]
Format
La Liga currently takes place between the months of September and June. The term La Liga is regularly used to refer to just the Primera División on its own, often referred to in Spain as just Primera. However it has always featured a Segunda División, currently designated Segunda División A, or Liga BBVA. The lower leagues, Segunda División B and Tercera División are amateur and regionalised. Teams from La Liga also compete in the Copa del Rey.
The winner of La Liga also plays off against the Copa del Rey winner for the Supercopa de España.
The top four placed Primera División teams qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The top two qualify for the group stage, while the third and fourth-placed teams go to the third qualifying round.
The fifth and sixth placed teams qualify for the UEFA Cup. A third UEFA Cup place is awarded to the Copa del Rey winners, the seventh placed Primera División team, or the Copa del Rey runners-up. By default the Copa del Rey winner gets the UEFA Cup spot; if the team finished in the fifth or sixth Primera División position (hence already qualified for the UEFA Cup), the seventh placed team will qualify for the UEFA Cup, while if the Copa del Rey winner ends Primera División in the top four places, the extra UEFA Cup spot goes to the Copa del Rey runners-up.
All the teams have the right to request an invite to enter the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Of all the teams requesting an invite, the two highest placed teams at the end of Primera División without a UEFA Cup or UEFA Champions League spot will actually play the Intertoto.
The last three placed teams are relegated to the Segunda Division A, and replaced by the top three placed Segunda División A teams.
History
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 La Liga 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. Atlético Madrid, RCD Espanyol 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.
The 1930s
Although FC Barcelona won the very first La Liga and Real Madrid won their first titles in 1932 and 1933, it was Athletic Bilbao that set the early pace winning La Liga 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. La Liga 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.
The 1940s
When La Liga resumed in the 1940s it was Atlético Aviación, Valencia CF and Sevilla FC that initially emerged as the strongest clubs. Atlético Aviación were only awarded a place the 1939/40 Primera División as a replacement for Real Oviedo, whose ground had been damaged during the war. The club subsequently won their first La 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 La 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 CF Barcelona began to emerge as a force and they were crowned La Liga champions in 1945, 1948 and 1949.
Di Stéfano, Puskás, Kubala and Suárez
Although Atlético Madrid, previously known as Atlético Aviación, were champions in 1950 and 1951, 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 La Liga 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.
The Madrid Years
Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated La Liga with the club winning the competition 14 times. This included a five in a row sequence (1961-65) and two three in 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. Only Valencia CF in 1971 and the Johan Cruyff-inspired FC Barcelona of 1974 managed to break the might 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 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.
The 1990s
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 and Hristo Stoichkov. This team won La Liga four times between 1991 and 1994 and won the European Cup in 1992. Real Madrid, with Michael Laudrup in the team, ended their run in 1995 and added another title in 1997. In between Atlético Madrid won their ninth La Liga title. Inspired by Luís Figo, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo, FC Barcelona again won the title in 1998 and 1999. Meanwhile Real Madrid also won the UEFA Champions League, winning in 1998 and 2000.
21st Century
As La Liga 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 La Liga titles in 2001 and 2003 and the UEFA Champions League again in 2000 and 2002. They were challenged by a re-emerging Valencia CF in both competitions. Under the management of Héctor Cúper, Valencia CF finished as runners-up in the UEFA Champions League in 2000 and 2001. His successor, Rafael Benítez, built on this and led the club to a La Liga title in 2002 and a La Liga/UEFA Cup double in 2004. The 2004/05 season saw a resurgent FC Barcelona, inspired by Ronaldinho, winning their first title of the new century. In 2005/06 again saw FC Barcelona assert their dominance, winning the La Liga/UEFA Champions League double, Sevilla also won the UEFA Cup in 2006.
La Liga Clubs In Europe
Champions
Year By Year
Performance by club
- Real Madrid/Madrid CF: 29
- 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
- FC Barcelona/CF Barcelona: 18
- 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/Atlético Aviación: 9
- 1939-40, 1940-41, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1965-66, 1969-70, 1972-73, 1976-77, 1995-96
- Athletic Bilbao/Atlético Bilbao: 8
- 1929-30, 1930-31, 1933-34, 1935-36, 1942-43, 1955-56, 1982-83, 1983-84
- Valencia CF: 6
- 1941-42, 1943-44, 1946-47, 1970-71, 2001-02, 2003-04
- Real Sociedad: 2
- 1980-81, 1981-82
- Betis Balompie:1
- 1934-35
- Sevilla FC:1
- 1945-46
- Deportivo de La Coruña:1
- 1999-2000
Note on name changes
During the Spanish Second Republic clubs such as Real Madrid and Real Betis dropped the Real from their name, and Real Sociedad became Donostia FC. 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...
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. 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.
Selected La Liga Players
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, 1974
Hristo Stoichkov - 1994
Rivaldo - 1999
Luís Figo - 2000- Ronaldo - 2002
- Ronaldinho - 2005
Fabio Cannavaro - 2006
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 have all been won by players playing in La Liga.
- Romario - 1994
- Ronaldo - 1996, 1997, 2002
- Rivaldo - 1999
- Luís Figo - 2001
- Zinedine Zidane - 1998, 2000, 2003
- Ronaldinho - 2004, 2005
- Fabio Cannavaro - 2006
Other notable former star players
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Selected current star players
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| National teams |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's league system |
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| Women's league system |
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| Youth league system |
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| Men's national cups | |||||
| Women's national cups | |||||
| Youth national cups | |||||
| By region | |||||
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 - 2005/2006 season
- List of transfers of La Liga - 2006/2007 season
Notes and references
- ^ "Competition facts". UEFA. 1-10-2006.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "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 La Liga in per-game attendance—the NFL in the USA (American football) and the Australian Football League in Australian rules football.
- ^ "Statistics on La Liga, including attendance figures". Sold Out Entertainments. 2007.
External links
- Template:Es icon Official La Liga Site
- Template:Es icon Official RFEF Site
- Template:Es icon RFEF site
- Template:Es icon Marca
- Template:Es icon La Liga on Futbol.com
- Template:Es icon As
- Template:Es icon Spanish Liga Goals (Video)
- Template:Es icon El Mundo Deportivo
- Template:Es icon Sport
- Template:En icon Soccer Spain
- Template:En icon Primera Division
- Template:En icon 2005-2006 Spanish La Liga Final Season, Team, and Player Statistics in .PDF format - (www.worldcupadvice.com)
- Template:En iconSpanish Soccer Glossary
- Template:En icon Official FC Barcelona UK Penya