Football clubs from La Liga (Spain) have been the most successful in Europe. Real Madrid have been crowned champions of Europe on 11 separate occasions. La Liga clubs have won 54 major European trophies between them, more than any other league. Real Madrid have won 18 titles in total while Barcelona have won 14. Sevilla and Atletico Madrid have contributed another 6 each, while Valencia have won 5. Deportivo La Coruña have been regulars in the UEFA Champions League while Athletic Bilbao, RCD Espanyol, Alavés and RCD Mallorca have all contested major finals. Even smaller La Liga clubs, like Villarreal, Celta Vigo and Málaga have found success in Europe, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup. During the 2005–06 European season La Liga became the first league to have its clubs win both the Champions League and UEFA Cup since 1997, as Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup. This feat was repeated three times in a row: during the 2013–14 season as Real Madrid won their tenth European Cup/UEFA Champions League title and Sevilla won their third UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League; during the 2014-15 season as Barcelona won their fifth European Cup/UEFA Champions League title and Sevilla won their fourth UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League; during the 2015–16 season as Real Madrid won their eleventh European Cup/UEFA Champions League title and Sevilla won their fifth UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League (first team to win three consecutive editions of this competition).
Contents
- La Ligas dominance in Europe since 2000
- European competitions
- Worldwide competitions
- UEFA Champions League formerly known as European Champion Clubs Cup or European Cup
- UEFA Europa League formerly known as UEFA Cup
- UEFA Super Cup formerly known as European Super Cup
- UEFA Cup Winners Cup formerly known as UEFA European Cup Winners Cup Defunct
- UEFA Intertoto Cup formerly known as International Football Cup Defunct
- Inter Cities Fairs Cup Defunct
- Latin Cup Defunct
- References
Real Madrid won the European Cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960 and then for a sixth time in 1966. La Liga clubs also dominated the early Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Barcelona, Valencia and Zaragoza won this competition six times between 1958 and 1966, resulting in three all-La Liga finals in 1962, 1964 and 1966. La Liga clubs have continued to be successful in Europe ever since.
La Liga's dominance in Europe since 2000
Since the turn of the century, La Liga clubs have dominated Europe. In 2000, La Liga had 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona; Real Madrid went on to beat fellow La Liga side Valencia in an all Spanish final. In 2001, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid and Valencia. Valencia went on to lose the final again this time to Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Cup, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists with Deportivo Alavés and FC Barcelona, with Deportivo Alavés losing to Liverpool in the final. In 2002, had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid beating FC Barcelona in the semi-finals then beating Bayer Leverkusen in the final. In 2003 Real Madrid reached the semi-finals again but this time losing against Juventus. In 2004, Deportivo de La Coruña reached the semi-finals but lost to eventual champions Porto. Deportivo la Coruña are the fifth more participating Spanish team in the Champions league after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Atletico Madrid with 5 appearances in a row in the Champions league, with 2 quarter finals and a semi final in its 2003-2004 season. In the UEFA Cup, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists. Valencia beat Villarreal in the semi-finals before beating Marseille in the final. In 2006, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with FC Barcelona and Villarreal where Barcelona went on to become European champions again by beating Arsenal 2-1 in the final. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Cup Sevilla followed in Barcelona's footsteps by beating a Premier League side in a European final when they defeated Middlesbrough 4–0. With Barcelona and Sevilla, La Liga took home both European trophies on offer in 2006. Sevilla went on to defend their UEFA Cup trophy in 2007 by defeating fellow La Liga side Espanyol on penalties. Sevilla beat Barcelona 3–0 in the 2006 UEFA Super Cup but lost 3–1 to Milan in the 2007 UEFA Super Cup.
2007 was another successful year for La Liga, in the UEFA Cup they had 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists with Sevilla, Espanyol and Osasuna. Sevilla beat fellow Spaniards Osasuna 2–1 on aggregate, while Espanyol beat German high fliers Werder Bremen 5–1 on aggregate, to set up an all-Spanish UEFA Cup final. In a pulsating all-Spanish UEFA Cup final, Adriano gave Sevilla the lead only for Albert Riera to equalise for Espanyol, then in the second half Espanyol were down to 10 men which gave Sevilla an extra incentive to take the lead which they did in extra-time through Frédéric Kanouté. But a dramatic late equaliser in the second period of extra-time from Espanyol's Jonatas took it to penalties, which Sevilla won. In 2009 Barcelona won the Champions League for the third time, defeating Manchester United 2–0. In 2011 Barcelona would beat the same team 3–1 to win their fourth title.
In 2010 Atlético Madrid won the first edition of the UEFA Europa League, overcoming fellow La Liga side Valencia in the quarter-final, Liverpool in the semi-final, and defeating Fulham in the final 2–1 after extra time. This was their first European trophy in 48 years.
In 2011, Villarreal reached the semifinal of the Europa League beating Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen, and Twente, before being eliminated by eventual winners Porto. Atletico Madrid won the competition again in 2012, in an all-Spanish final against Athletic Bilbao. Atletico reached the final beating Italian clubs Udinese and Lazio, and overcoming Valencia once again in the semifinal, who beat Dutch clubs Eindhoven and AZ. Athletic Bilbao reached the final eliminating Manchester United 2-3 and 2-1, as well as Schalke.
In the 2013-14 season, except for Real Sociedad who were eliminated from the Champions League in the group stage, all Spanish clubs in that competition and the Europa League were only eliminated by fellow Spanish clubs. In the Champions League, Barcelona were eliminated by Atletico Madrid in the quarter-final stage with a 1-2 aggregate score. Atletico went on to lose the final against Real Madrid. In the Europa League round of 16, Sevilla and Real Betis were paired for a European version of the Derbi sevillano, which was won by Sevilla on penalties. After eliminating Porto, Sevilla faced Valencia in the semifinal, winning the first leg 2-0 while losing the return leg 1-3, advancing thanks to a 94th-minute header by Stéphane Mbia.
The nigh excellent performances of Spanish clubs in European competitions continued into the 2014/15 season. Both major UEFA finals will have Spanish teams participating as FC Barcelona and FC Sevilla have made into the Champions League and Europa League finals respectively. The Spanish UEFA coefficient ranking also continues to comfortably lead the rest of the European leagues by a considerable margin. Spanish domination of European club football continued into the 2015/16 season in both the Champions League and the Europa League. Andalusian club Sevilla were again the winners, completing a historic hat-trick of Europa League titles on the bounce, while at the same time further cementing their position as the most successful European club in that particular competition with 5 victories in total. They beat Premier League Club Liverpool in the final by 3-1. Moreover, the Champions League was even more dominated by Spanish clubs. Atletico Madrid after eliminating fellow Spanish club and defending European Champions, Barcelona by 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, caused a further upset against Bavarian giants Bayern Munich in the semifinals. They will be contesting the title against fierce local rivals Real Madrid, on the 28th of May.
European competitions
European Cup / UEFA Champions League
European Cup Winner’s Cup / UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
European Super Cup / UEFA Super Cup
UEFA Intertoto Cup
a. Both teams were winners in third round and then eliminated in round of 32 of the UEFA Cup.
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Worldwide competitions
Intercontinental Cup
FIFA Club World Cup
UEFA Champions League (formerly known as European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup)
aet = after extra time
UEFA Europa League (formerly known as UEFA Cup)
aet - after extra time
UEFA Super Cup (formerly known as European Super Cup)
CL – Winner of European Cup/UEFA Champions League
CWC – Winner of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
EL – Winner of UEFA Cup/Europa League
aet – after extra time
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (formerly known as UEFA European Cup Winners' Cup) (Defunct)
aet - after extra time
UEFA Intertoto Cup (formerly known as International Football Cup) (Defunct)
a. There were no Intertoto Cup winners; instead there were eight Group Stage winners.
b. Three teams won the Intertoto Cup and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
c. Eleven teams won the Intertoto Cup and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (Defunct)
aet - after extra time
Latin Cup (Defunct)
aet - after extra time