Football in Spain

History

Modern football was introduced to Spain in the late 19th century by a combination of mostly British immigrant workers, visiting sailors and Spanish students coming from Britain.

The oldest football clubs in Spain are Recreativo de Huelva and Sevilla FC. Although Gimnàstic de Tarragona was formed in 1886, the club did not form an actual football team until 1914. The first official football game played in Spain took place in Seville on 8 March 1890 at the Tablada Hippodrome. Sevilla FC played against Huelva Recreation. With the exception of two Spanish players on the Huelva team and another two players on the Seville team, all the players on both sides were British. Sevilla FC won 2–0.

In the Basque Country during the early 1890s, British shipyard workers and miners formed the Bilbao Football Club and Basque students returning from Britain founded the Athletic Club in 1898. This early British influence was reflected in the use of English names such as Recreation Club, Athletic Club and Football Club.

In Catalonia, which had the most developed industry in Spain, there was an important British colony. The first games played by Britishmen and Catalan people who had studied in the United Kingdom were documented in 1882 in Barcelona. However, the first official and registered football club was Palamós FC (Costa Brava, North of Catalonia) in 1898. The Swiss Hans Gamper founded FC Barcelona on 29 November 1899. Other clubs were founded in 1900, such as Sant Andreu, Hispania FC and the Sociedad Española de Football (one year later the founders changed the name to Real Club Deportivo Español). The Catalan Football Federation (Catalan: Federació Catalana de Futbol), responsible for administering football in Catalonia, was the first football association founded in Spain. It was formed on 11 November 1900 as the Football Association of Catalonia (Catalan: Football Associació de Catalunya). The Catalan Football Federation organised the Catalan football championship (Catalan: Campionat de Catalunya) that was the first football competition in Spain.

In Madrid, the first games were promoted by Institución Libre de Enseñanza (ILE) (English: Free Educational Institution), an educational and cultural centre. The first club of Madrid was Football Club Sky, founded in 1897, but the club separated into two new clubs in 1890. Then, several clubs also emerged in Madrid, most notably Madrid Football Club, founded in 1902 by Catalan brothers Juan and Carlos Padrós.

The Copa del Rey (English: King's Cup) competition was founded in 1903, one year after a previous football tournament named Coronation Cup. It was Spain's football national Championship from 1903 until the establishment of the League Championship in 1928.

The Spanish Federation of Football Clubs was formed in 1909, but there were discrepancies between the member clubs years later, and some of the clubs formed other association called Royal Spanish Union of Clubs of Football. Finally, the two associations reached an agreement and the Royal Spanish Football Federation was founded in 1913, which allowed the Spanish football to enter in FIFA. In these years, Athletic was the most dominant club in the country, and the first idols in Spain began to appear, like Pichichi and Paulino Alcántara.

The Spain national team was created in 1920 on the occasion of the dispute of the Olympic Games in Antwerp. The importance of the success of the Spain national team in the Olympic games, which won the silver medal, was huge in the development of football as mass social event in Spain. The interest on football grew, more people attended to the stadiums, more informations about football appeared in the newspapers, and football was used as element of national prestige and political propaganda.

After the Olympic triumph, football was more popular among Spanish fans, the attendances to the stadiums increased, and the pressure of professionalism grew. Spanish football turned professional in 1925. An agreement between several clubs was made on 23 November 1928 which officially established Spain's national football division, and the birth of the Spanish League. The first league championship began in 1929.

The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) brought disruption to the national competitions. Although the Spanish League was suspended, the Catalan and Valencian clubs continued contesting in the Mediterranean League in early 1937. Barcelona later toured Mexico and the United States, raising support for the Spanish Republic.

The Spanish League and the Cup were restored in the 1939–40 season after Civil War had ended. Francisco Franco’s regime, a fascist political system, began to use football as a propaganda tool for the new regime. In 1941, as part of his policy of eradicating regional identities, the Franco's regime banned the use of non-Castilian names. As a result, many clubs that had chosen English prefixes previously, such as Athletic or Football club, had to amend their initial names, for other Castilian (as Atlético, or Club de Fútbol). The Catalan Championship was banned and the Catalan shield taken from FC Barcelona's badge. Spanish football began to rebuild slowly after the War, but Spain's isolated international position meant they did not properly re-enter International football until 1950. Later, Franco's regime was able to use the football, based on the European triumphs of Real Madrid in the 1950s for political purposes. In this manner, Real Madrid was used as a Spanish brand of success to promote Spain’s image abroad, as well as the pride of being Spanish in the country itself.

Spain was selected as host of the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Until the 1984–85 season, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) was responsible for organizing the league tournament. Since then, the competition was organized by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP)(English: Professional Football League), an independent body which was formed at the initiative of the clubs themselves after disagreements with the RFEF regarding the management professionalization and economic division of the League benefits.

Since the entry into force of Spanish Law 10/1990, almost all of the clubs competing professionally in Spain are actually companies under the legal status of sports companies, whose ownership is in the hands of its shareholders. Only three professional clubs (Athletic Club, Barcelona and Real Madrid) kept its original structure, such as sports clubs directly controlled by their members.

After the appearance of private television in Spain, football clubs hugely increased its income thanks to the lucrative contracts to broadcast matches on television. This allowed them to hire many of the best players in the world, but most of the clubs also increased vastly their spending. In the last years La Liga is living in a big financial turmoil. Although the two big powerful clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona, are at the top in Forbes' football rich list, the rest of Spanish clubs are weighed down by a colossal debt around €4.1 billion. For this reason, most of the clubs had to cut their budgets drastically.

Spanish national football team (La selección)

Within Spain, regional teams, most notably the football team of Catalonia, the football team of Basque Country, and even the football team of Galicia, began to compete against each other from 1915 onwards. Despite not being officially recognised by FIFA, these regional teams still occasionally play friendly games with some national team players playing for both teams. Some autonomous governments and social sectors in the historical communities (especially in Catalonia and Basque Country) prefer to call their regional teams as national team, while claiming to participate in international tournaments.

The Spain national team, commonly referred to as La selección (English: The selection) or La Roja (English: The Red one), made their international debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Belgium and came away with the silver medal. Since then the Spanish national team has participated in a total of fourteen out twenty FIFA World Cup and nine out fourteen UEFA European Championship. Historically, the Spanish national team did not achieve important results, in terms of trophies or develop an attractive playing style. Surprisingly, this fact contrasted with the huge success obtained by the main Spanish football clubs at the European level. Nevertheless, the triumphs of Spanish national team in 2008 and 2012 European Championship, and in 2010 FIFA World Cup, with an attractive playing style, marked a point of inflection that divided the history of Spanish national football team in two parts.

The Spanish national football team has been the winner of FIFA Team of Year in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, as well as the winner of Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year in 2011.

The Spanish national football team have won four trophies in FIFA and UEFA tournaments: one FIFA World Cup in 2010, and three UEFA European Championship in 1964, 2008 and 2014. In addition, it was runner-up in the UEFA European Championship in 1984 and in the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2013.

The Spain national under-23 team won the gold medal in 1992 Olympic tournament and the silver medal in 2000.

The Spain national football team won the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in 2005 and 2007, the silver medal in 1955, and the bronze medal in 1963 and 1967.

In addition, the honours list includes numerous titles at junior level teams:

UEFA European Under-21 Championship in 1986, 1998, 2011, and 2013.

FIFA U-20 World Cup in 1999.

UEFA European Under-19 Championship (formerly Under-18) in 1995, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011 2012 and 2015.

UEFA European Under-17 Championship (formerly Under-16) in 1986, 1988, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008.

Meridian Cup in 1999.

Spain have won the Maurice Burlaz Trophy, the prize awarded to the national association that has achieved the best results in UEFA's men's youth competitions (UEFA European Under-19 Championship and UEFA European Under-17 championship) over the previous two seasons, in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2011.

A short list of some of the top Spanish football players (grouped by playing positions and era) which have ever played for the Spanish national team include:

Goalkeepers: Ricardo Zamora (1920s/1930s), Antoni Ramallets (1940s/1960s), José Ángel Iribar (1960s/1980s), Luis Arconada (1970s/1980s), Andoni Zubizarreta (1970s/1990s), Iker Casillas (1990s/–), Víctor Valdés (2000s/–), David de Gea (2010s/–)

Defenders: Jacinto Quincoces (1920s/1930s), José Santamaría (1950s/1960s), José Antonio Camacho (1970s/1980s), Rafael Gordillo (1970s/1990s), Miguel Ángel Nadal (1990s/2000s), Fernando Hierro (1980s/2000s), Carles Puyol (1990s/2010s), Sergio Ramos (2000s/–), Gerard Piqué (2000s/–)

Midfielders: Josep Samitier (1920s/1930s), Alfredo Di Stéfano (1950s/1960s), Luis Suárez (1960s/1970s), Pirri (1960s/1970s), Luis del Sol (1960s/1970s), Luis Aragonés (1960s/1970s), Jesús María Zamora (1970s/1980s), Míchel (1980s/1990s), Pep Guardiola (1990s/2000s), Luis Enrique (1990s/2000s), Xavi (1990s/–), Andrés Iniesta (2000s/–), Cesc Fàbregas (2000s/–), Xabi Alonso (2000s/–), David Silva (2000s/–), Juan Mata (2000s/–), Sergio Busquets (2000s/–)

Forwards: Pichichi (1910s/20s), Paulino Alcántara (1910s/1920s), César (1940s/1950s), Telmo Zarra (1940s/1950s), Estanislau Basora (1940s/1950s), Ferenc Puskás (1940s/1950s), Héctor Rial (1940s/1950s), László Kubala (1950s/1960s), Francisco Gento (1950s/1970s), Amancio Amaro (1960s/1970s), Quini (1970s/1980s), Emilio Butragueño (1980s/1990s), Raúl (1990s/2000s), Fernando Morientes (1990s/2000s), David Villa (2000s/–), Fernando Torres (2000s/–), Pedro (2000s/–)

Football club competitions

Currently, the three most important competitions between clubs in Spain are La Liga (English: League), the Copa del Rey (English: King's Cup) and the Supercopa de España (English: Spanish Supercup). However, several other national cups are targeted at clubs at different levels.

League (La Liga)

In April 1927, Álvaro Trejo, 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 RFEF 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 de Santander qualified through a knock-out competition against Sevilla FC. Barcelona was the first winner of the competition. Only three of the founding clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, have never been relegated from the Primera Division; six other clubs have never been below the top two tiers: Sevilla, Real Sociedad, Sporting de Gijón, Valencia, Espanyol and Atlético Madrid.

Historically, some of the best football players in the world have played in the Spanish football league, including Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ladislav Kubala, Ferenc Puskás, Raymond Kopa, Héctor Rial, Telmo Zarra, Francisco Gento, Luis Suárez, Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Bernd Schuster, Andoni Zubizarreta, Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov, Romário, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Raúl, Ronaldinho, Carles Puyol, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Niall Worthington and Lionel Messi, among others.

La Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) is the association responsible for administering the two professional football leagues in Spain. Professional Spanish football is divided into the Primera División (First Division) and Segunda División (Second Division). The First Division is also known as Liga BBVA, for sponsorship reasons, while the Second Division is officially called Liga Adelante. The First Division consists of 20 professional teams and the Second Division has 22. There are also lower Spanish national football divisions. Every year, the three lowest ranked teams in the First Division pass to the Second Division and the top three ranked teams in the Second Division pass to the First Division.

The average stadium attendance was 21,000 in the 2014–15 season, with a range of average attendance from 4,780 people in the stadium with the lowest average attendance to 77,632 people in the stadium with highest average attendance.

In La Liga's 84-year history (sans the three seasons that the league was suspended due to the civil war), Barcelona and Real Madrid have won 55 titles between them. Barcelona and Real Madrid are two fierce rivals clubs, and the matches between both two clubs are named as El Clásico. Those football matches are one of the most viewed sports events in the world.

Nine clubs have won the title: Real Madrid (32), Barcelona (23), Atlético Madrid (10), Athletic Bilbao (8), Valencia (6), Real Sociedad (2), Sevilla (1), Deportivo de La Coruña (1) and Real Betis (1).

King's Cup (Copa del Rey)

In 1902, Carlos Padrós, later president of Madrid FC (later to be Real Madrid), suggested a football competition to celebrate the coronation of Alfonso XIII. Four other teams entered the Copa del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, which would later develop into the Copa del Rey (English: "King's Cup"). These included Barcelona, Club Español de Fútbol, Club Bizcaya and New Foot-Ball de Madrid. The competition featured the first recorded game between Barcelona and Madrid FC, with the former emerging 3–1 winners. Club Bizcaya, which consisted of players from both Basque teams, eventually beat Barcelona in the final. Alfonso XIII subsequently became the patron of many Spanish football clubs, granting them permission to use "Real" (Spanish for "royal") in their names. Among the many clubs to add the prefix to their name was Madrid FC, which subsequently became Real Madrid.

Fourteen clubs have won the title: Barcelona (27), Athletic Bilbao (23), Real Madrid (19), Atlético Madrid (10), Valencia (7), Real Zaragoza (6), Sevilla (5), Espanyol (4), Real Union (4), Real Betis (2), Deportivo de La Coruña (2), Real Sociedad (2), Arenas Club de Getxo (1) and Mallorca (1).

Spanish Supercup (Supercopa de España)

The Spanish Super Cup (Spanish: Supercopa de España) is a championship organized by Royal Spanish Football Federation and contested by the winners of La Liga and Copa del Rey. The competition was founded in 1982.

Ten clubs have won the title: Barcelona (11), Real Madrid (9), Deportivo de La Coruña (3), Atlético Madrid (2), Athletic Bilbao (2), Valencia (1), Real Zaragoza (1), Mallorca (1), Sevilla (1) and Real Sociedad (1).

Spanish clubs in international competitions

The Spanish football clubs are very successful in international competitions. They are the most successful in different current European competitions, such as UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and UEFA Europa League ; and they also were the most successful in the extinct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

The most successful clubs in international competitions are Barcelona and Real Madrid. In addition, other Spanish clubs have also won titles in international tournaments, such as Atlético Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Real Zaragoza, Villarreal, Deportivo de La Coruña, Celta de Vigo and Málaga.

Spanish football clubs hold different records in international competitions.

Barcelona boasts more international titles than any other European club. Barcelona is the most successful club in the FIFA Club World Cup, with three titles, and it is also the most successful club in the UEFA Super Cup (five titles, shared record with Milan). In addition, Barcelona became the first football club to win six out of six competitions in a single year (2009) completing the sextuple, and the first European club in history to achieve the continental treble twice (2009 and 2015).

Real Madrid is the most successful club in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League. They have won 11 titles and were runners-up three times.

Sevilla is the most successful club in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, with five titles.

In total, the Spanish football clubs have won 67 international titles. Over the years, Spanish clubs have won the European Cups/Champions League 16 times, the UEFA Super Cup 13 times, the UEFA Europa League 10 times, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 7 times, the UEFA Intertoto Cup 7 times and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 6 times. In addition, Spanish clubs have also won the FIFA Club World Cup 4 times, and the Intercontinental Cup 4 times.

Women's football

Women's football is a minor sport in Spain. Unlike the men's football, women's football is an amateur sport in Spain. Currently there are two national competitions, the League and the Copa de la Reina (English: Queen's Cup), in the semi-professional clubs involved structure.

The first teams and the first informal women's football competitions in Spain emerged in the 1970s, although they were not officially recognized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation until 1980, with the founding of the National Women's Football Committee. The first official national competition was the Championships of Spain (Copa de la Reina), established in 1983. The women's national league began to dispute the 1988-89 season.

The Spain women's national football team has been qualified only once in the FIFA Women's World Cup, and twice in the UEFA Women's Championship. Its youth division have had success in recent times. The Spain women's national under-19 football team won the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in 2004. The Spain women's national under-19 football team won the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship in 2010, 2011, and 2015, as well as their third-place at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.