Spanish Primera

The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest level of the Spanish football league system. It is controlled by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional and contested by 20 teams over a 38-matchday period.

Since its inception, 62 teams have competed in La Liga, with nine teams crowned champions. Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated the competition, winning 36 and 28 titles respectively. In the 1940s, Valencia, Atlético Madrid, and Barcelona emerged as the strongest clubs. Real Madrid and Barcelona led the charge in the 1950s, each winning four titles. During the 1960s and 1970s, Real Madrid dominated with fourteen titles, with Atlético Madrid winning four. During the 1980s and 1990s, Real Madrid remained prominent, while the Basque clubs of Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad enjoyed success, each winning two titles. From the 1990s onward, Barcelona have been the most successful club, winning seventeen titles, with Real Madrid close behind. La Liga has seen other champions, including Valencia and Deportivo La Coruña.

As of the 2024–25 season, La Liga is ranked third in the UEFA coefficient rankings based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons, behind the English Premier League and Italian Serie A. La Liga has led the coefficient rankings for more years than any league, and has also produced the continent's top-rated club more times than any other league overall. La Liga clubs have won the most UEFA Champions League (20), UEFA Europa League (14), UEFA Super Cup (16) and FIFA Club World Cup (8) titles, and its players have accumulated the highest number of Ballon d'Or awards (24), The Best FIFA Men's Player awards (19) and UEFA Men's Player of the Year awards (12).

La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues globally, with an average attendance of 26,933 for league matches in the 2018–19 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 in the world, behind fellow Big Five leagues Bundesliga and Premier League, and above Serie A and Ligue 1. La Liga is also the seventh wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue, after the NFL, MLB, the National Basketball Association, NBA, the Premier League, the National Hockey League, NHL, and the Bundesliga.

From 2008 to 2016, it was sponsored by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and known as Liga BBVA. Then, from 2016 to 2023, it was sponsored by Banco Santander and known as LaLiga Santander. Since 2023, it has been sponsored by Electronic Arts and is known as LaLiga EA Sports.

Competition format

The competition format follows the usual double Round-robin tournament, 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 38 matches. 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 crowned champion at the end of the season.

Promotion and relegation

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 the ''Segunda División'', and the top two teams from the ''Segunda División'' promoted to La Liga, with an additional club promoted after a series of play-offs involving the third, fourth, fifth and sixth placed clubs. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history;

Tie breaker rules

If points are equal between two or more clubs, the rules are:
* 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 for those clubs (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
* 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 Sportsmanship, Fair Play scales. These are:
** Yellow card (sports), yellow card, 1 point
** Yellow card (sports), doubled yellow card/Ejection (sports), ejection, 2 points
** Red card (sports), direct red card, 3 points
** suspension or disqualification of Head coach, coach, executive or other club personnel (outside Referee (association football), referees' decisions), 5 points
** misconduct of the Sports fan, 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.

Qualification for European competitions

Current criteria

The top four teams in La Liga qualify for the subsequent season's UEFA Champions League league stage. The winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League also qualify for the subsequent season's UEFA Champions League league stage.

The fifth place team in La Liga and the winner of the also qualify for the subsequent season's UEFA Europa League group stage. However, if the winner also finished in the top five places in La Liga, then this place reverts to the team that finished sixth in La Liga. Furthermore, the sixth place (or seventh if sixth already qualifies due to the ) team qualifies for the subsequent season's UEFA Conference League play-off round.

The number of places allocated to Spanish clubs in UEFA competitions is dependent upon the position a country holds in the UEFA coefficient#Men's Association coefficient, UEFA country coefficients, which are calculated based upon the performance of teams in UEFA competitions in the previous five years. As of the end of the 2023–24 La Liga, 2023–24 season, the ranking of Spain (and de facto La Liga) is second.

History

Foundation

In April 1928, José María Acha, a director at Arenas Club de Getxo, Arenas 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 Royal Spanish Football Federation, Real Federación Española de Fútbol eventually agreed on the ten teams who would form the first ''Primera División'' in 1929 La Liga, 1929. Arenas, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Unión were all selected as previous winners of the . Atlético Madrid, RCD Espanyol, Espanyol and CE Europa, Europa qualified as 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''.

1930s: Athletic Bilbao dominion

Although Barcelona won the first ''Liga'' in 1929 La Liga, 1929 and Ricardo Zamora's Real Madrid won their first titles in 1931–32 La Liga, 1932 and 1932–33 La Liga, 1933, it was Athletic Bilbao that set the early pace winning La Liga in 1929–30 La Liga, 1930, 1930–31 La Liga, 1931, 1933–34 La Liga, 1934 and 1935–36 La Liga, 1936 (in addition to four Copa del Rey, Copa trophies), and they also achieved the biggest win in La Liga history by beating Barcelona 12–1; This team, coached by Fred Pentland, is known by the nickname ''First historic squad'', notably forming an attacking partnership with Bata (footballer), Bata, Guillermo Gorostiza, José Iraragorri, Ignacio Agirrezabala, Chirri II and Lafuente (footballer, born 1907), Lafuente. In 1934–35 La Liga, 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 Second Spanish Republic, 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 Royal Spanish Football Federation (Spanish acronym RFEF) to recognise that title as a ''Liga'' title. This action was taken after RFEF was asked to recognise Levante FC, Levante's Copa de la España Libre win as equivalent to trophy. Nevertheless, the governing body of Spanish football has not made an outright decision yet.

1940s: Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia emerge

When the ''Primera División'' resumed after the Spanish Civil War, it was Atlético Aviación (nowadays ''Atlético Madrid''), Valencia, and Barcelona that emerged as the strongest clubs. Atlético were only awarded a place during the 1939–40 La Liga, 1939–40 season as a replacement for Real Oviedo, whose ground had been damaged during the war. The club subsequently won its first Liga title and retained it in 1940–41 La Liga, 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 1941–42 La Liga, 1942, 1943–44 La Liga, 1944, and 1946–47 La Liga, 1947. They were also runners-up in 1947–48 La Liga, 1948 and 1948–49 La Liga, 1949.

Athletic Bilbao was one of the clubs most affected by the war, since many of its players (sympathizers of the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republican faction) went into exile in Latin America and very few returned. But thanks to a search for young talents, they managed to form the well-known ''Second historic squad'' made up of Rafael Iriondo, Venancio Pérez, José Luis Panizo, Agustín Gaínza and the mythical scorer Telmo Zarra (Spanish List of La Liga top scorers, top scorer in La Liga history, among other records). They won a La Liga and Copa del Generalísimo double in 1942-43 La Liga, 1943 and won the Cup again in 1944 Copa del Generalísimo, 1944, 1944–45 Copa del Generalísimo, 1945 and 1949–50 Copa del Generalísimo, 1950, in addition to an Copa Eva Duarte (official predecessor of the Supercopa de España, Supercopa). Sevilla FC, Sevilla also enjoyed a brief golden era, finishing as runners-up in 1940 and 1942 before winning their only title to date in 1946.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Spain, Barcelona began to emerge as a force under the legendary Josep Samitier. A Spanish footballer for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, Samitier cemented his legacy with Barcelona. During his playing career with Barcelona he scored 133 goals, won the inaugural La Liga title and five Copa del Rey, Copa Del Rey. In 1944, Samitier returned to Barcelona as a coach and guided them in winning their second La Liga title in 1944–45 La Liga, 1945. Under Samitier and legendary players César Rodríguez Álvarez, César Rodríguez, Josep Escolà, Estanislau Basora and Mariano Gonzalvo, Barcelona dominated La Liga in the late 1940s, winning back to back La Liga titles in 1947–48 La Liga, 1948 and 1948–49 La Liga, 1949. The 1940s proved to be a successful season for Barcelona, winning three La Liga titles and one Copa Del Rey, but the 1950s proved to be a decade of dominance, not just from Barcelona, but from Real Madrid.

1950s: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid Dominate

Although Atlético Madrid, previously known as ''Atlético Aviación'', were champions in 1950 and 1951 under mastermind Helenio Herrera, the 1950s continued the success FC Barcelona had during the late 1940s.

During this decade, FC Barcelona's first golden era emerged under coach Ferdinand Daučík, winning back-to-back La Liga and Copa Del Rey doubles in 1951–52 La Liga, 1951–52 and 1952–53 La Liga, 1952–53. In 1952, FC Barcelona made history yet again by winning five distinctive trophies in one year. This team, composed of László Kubala, Mariano Gonzalvo, César Rodríguez (footballer, born 1920), César Rodríguez Álvarez, and Joan Segarra, won La Liga, Copa Del Rey, Copa Eva Duarte (predecessor of Spanish Super Cup), Latin Cup and Copa Martini & Rossi. Their success in winning five trophies in one year earned them the name 'L’equip de les cinc Copes' or The Team of the Five Cups.

In the latter parts of the 1950s, coached by Helenio Herrera and featuring Luis Suárez (footballer, born 1935), Luis Suárez, Barcelona won yet again back-to-back La Liga's, winning them in 1958–59 La Liga, 1959 and 1959–60 La Liga, 1960. In 1959, Barcelona also won another double of La Liga / Copa Del Rey, conquering three doubles in the 1950s.

The 1950s also saw the beginning of the Real Madrid dominance. During the 1930s through the 1950s there were strict limits imposed on foreign players. In most cases, clubs could have only 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 who naturalised Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás. Di Stéfano, Puskás, Raymond Kopa and Francisco Gento formed the nucleus of the Real Madrid team that dominated the second half of the 1950s. Real Madrid won their third La Liga in 1953–54 La Liga, 1954 — their first since 1933 — and retained their title in 1954–55 La Liga, 1955. In 1955–56 La Liga, 1956, Athletic Bilbao won their sixth La Liga title, but Real Madrid won La Liga again in 1956–57 La Liga, 1957 and 1957–58 La Liga, 1958.

All in all, Barcelona and Real Madrid won four La Liga titles each in the 1950s, with Atlético Madrid winning two and Athletic Bilbao winning one during this decade.

1960s–1970s: Real Madrid superiority

Real Madrid dominated La Liga between 1960 and 1980, being crowned champions 14 times. Real Madrid won five La Liga titles in a row from 1961 to 1965 as well as winning three Double (association football), doubles between 1960 and 1980. During the 1960s and 1970s, only Atlético Madrid offered Real Madrid any serious challenge. Atlético Madrid were crowned La Liga champions four times in 1966, 1970, 1973, and 1977. Atlético Madrid also finished second place in 1961, 1963, and 1965. In 1971, Valencia won their fourth La Liga title in 1971 under Alfredo Di Stéfano, and the Johan Cruyff-inspired Barcelona won their ninth La Liga in 1974.

1980s: Real Madrid dominate but the Basque Clubs disrupt their monopoly

Real Madrid's monopoly in La Liga was interrupted significantly in the 1980s. Although Real Madrid won another five La Liga titles from 1986 to 1990 under the brilliance of Emilio Butragueño and Hugo Sánchez, the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque clubs of Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao also dominated the 1980s. Real Sociedad won their first La Liga titles in 1981 and 1982; Luis Arconada, Roberto López Ufarte and Txiki Begiristain stood out from this team. Later, Athletic Bilbao also managed to win two consecutive La Liga titles in 1983 and 1984, also achieving their fifth La Liga and Copa del Rey double in 1984; The stars Andoni Zubizarreta, Santiago Urkiaga, Santi Urkiaga, Andoni Goikoetxea, Dani (footballer, born 1951), Dani, Manuel Sarabia and Estanislao Argote made this success possible. For its part, Barcelona won their tenth La Liga title in 1985 under coach Terry Venables, their first La Liga win since 1974.

1990s: Barcelona's Dream Team

Johan Cruyff returned to Barcelona as manager in 1988, and assembled the legendary ''Dream Team''. When Cruyff took control of his Barcelona side, they had won only two La Liga titles in the past 20 years. Cruyff decided to build a team composed of international stars and La Masia graduates in order to restore Barcelona to their former glory days. This team was formed by international stars Romário, Romario, Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov and Ronald Koeman. Cruyff's Dream Team also consisted of La Masia graduates Pep Guardiola, Albert Ferrer and Guillermo Amor, as well as Basque Andoni Zubizarreta.

Johan Cruyff changed the way modern football was played, and incorporated the principles of Total Football into this team. The success of possession-based football was revolutionary, and Cruyff's team won their first European Cup in 1992 European Cup Final, 1992 and four consecutive La Liga titles between 1991 and 1994. In total, Cruyff won eleven trophies in eight years, making him the most successful manager in Barcelona's history, until the record was broken by his protégé Pep Guardiola two decades later.

Barcelona's run ended with Real Madrid winning La Liga in 1995. Atlético Madrid won their ninth La Liga title in 1996, as well as their only Liga/Copa Del Rey double, before Real Madrid added another league title to their cabinet in 1997. After the success of Cruyff, another Dutchman – AFC Ajax, Ajax manager, Louis van Gaal – arrived at the Camp Nou, and with the talents of Luís Figo, Luis Enrique (footballer), Luis Enrique, and Rivaldo, Barcelona won the La Liga title in 1998 and 1999, including their fourth double of Liga and Copa Del Rey in 1998. All in all, Barcelona won six La Liga titles in the 1990s.

2000s: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia's re-emergence

The 21st century continued the success Barcelona had in the 1990s under Johan Cruyff, dominating La Liga. Although Real Madrid had been prominent, Barcelona created a hegemony in Spain not seen since the Real Madrid of the 1960s–70s. Since the start of the new century, Barcelona won ten La Ligas, including two Treble (association football), trebles and four Double (association football), doubles. This new century however has also seen new challengers being crowned champions. Between 1999–2000 and 2004, Deportivo La Coruña finished in the top three on five occasions, a better record than either Real Madrid or Barcelona, and in 2000, under Javier Irureta, Deportivo became the ninth team to be crowned champions. Valencia were one of the strongest teams in Europe in the early to mid 2000s; they were crowned La Liga champions in 2002 and 2004 under Rafael Benítez, whilst also being runners-up in the UEFA Champions League in 2000 and 2001 under Hector Cuper and winning the UEFA Cup in 2004 and the in 1999.

Real Madrid won their first Liga titles of the century in 2001 and 2003. With world-class players like Raúl (footballer), Raúl, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gonzalo Higuaín, Real Madrid won back-to-back La Liga titles in 2006–07 and 2007–08. Barcelona won their first title of the new century after Real Madrid and Valencia had shared the last four titles under the brilliance of Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o in the 2004–05 season. Barcelona retained the title to make it back-to-back wins in the 2005–06 season.

2010s: Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético

In 2009–10, Real Madrid achieved a record 96 points but still finished behind Barcelona, who amassed 99 points. Barcelona then won a third straight La Liga title in the 2010–11 season with 96 points to Real's 92, but Real Madrid ended their winning streak in the 2011–12 season under the management of José Mourinho and with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ángel Di María, Mesut Özil and Karim Benzema. Madrid won their 32nd La Liga title with a record 100 points, a record 121 goals scored and a record +89 goal difference. The following year, in the 2012–13 season, Barcelona won yet another La Liga title under coach Tito Vilanova, replicating the 100 points record Real Madrid achieved the previous year. Atlético Madrid, under the management of Diego Simeone, won their tenth La Liga title in 2013–14, their first since 1996. They became the first team since Valencia in 2004 to win La Liga and break Barcelona and Real Madrid's dominion over the league. In the 2014–15 season, under the trio of Lionel Messi, Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suárez, Suarez nicknamed 'MSN', Barcelona made history by becoming the first team to achieve a second Treble, and winning a sixth Liga/Copa Del Rey double. Barcelona continued their dominance, and in the 2015–16 season they won a back-to-back Liga/Copa Del Rey double, something that had not been achieved since the 1950s. Real Madrid brought back the La Liga title under the management of Zinedine Zidane in 2016–17, but Barcelona won the title again in the 2017–18 season, as well as winning their eighth double, for seven La Liga titles in ten years. Barcelona retained the title yet again and won their 26th La Liga title in the 2018–19 season, for eight La Liga titles in eleven years. Real Madrid reclaimed the title in 2019–20, winning the season that was severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, COVID-19 pandemic.

2020s: present

The 2020–21 season started on 12 September, and was won by Atlético Madrid, with Real Madrid as runners-up. In August 2021, La Liga clubs approved a €2.7 billion deal to sell 10% of the league to CVC Capital Partners. The 2021–22 season was won by Real Madrid with four games to spare, while the 2022–23 season was won by Barcelona with four games to spare.

In 2023, La Liga rebranded itself with a new logo and new sponsor. EA (Electronic Arts) replaced the Spanish financial services giant Banco Santander, Santander that was the title sponsor of the league for seven years. LaLiga EA Sports and LaLiga Hypermotion are the names of the ''Primera'' and ''Segunda'' Divisions, starting in the 2023–24 season and for the following four seasons. Following the flash floods disaster that hit Spain at the end of October, claiming the lives of over 200 people, the Spanish league postponed all matches scheduled to be played in the Valencian Community, Valencian region on Thursday. The games played after the floods opened in a moment of silence.

In December 2024, La Liga obtained a court order that allowed them to compel internet service providers to block access to IP addresses belonging to Cloudflare within Spain in an effort to block piracy sites that were using CloudFlare's services. In February 2025, the order was implemented, causing access issues to websites and services unrelated to the piracy concerns within Spain. Several football teams such as Valencia and Girona FC, Girona, as well as the streaming platform Movistar Plus+ were affected by the blocks. Cloudflare and cybersecurity group RootedCon filed separate legal actions thereafter to overturn the order, but the Commercial Court No. 6 of Barcelona dismissed the challenges in March, "stating that no evidence was presented to show that blocking caused any damage." Software developers created tools in response to the blocks to ensure the legitimate websites and services could still be accessed during the period when the IP addresses of piracy websites are being blocked in Spain.

Clubs

20 teams already contest the league in its current season, including the top 17 sides from the 2023–24 La Liga, 2023–24 season and three promoted from the 2023–24 Segunda División. CD Leganés, Leganés and Real Valladolid were promoted directly, and RCD Espanyol, Espanyol won the 2024 Segunda División play-offs, promotion play-off.

Stadiums and locations

Seasons in La Liga

There are 63 teams that have taken part in 94 La Liga championships that were played from the 1929 La Liga, 1929 season until the 2024–25 La Liga, 2024–25 season. The teams in bold compete in La Liga currently. The teams in italics represent defunct teams. The year in parentheses represents the most recent year of participation at this level. Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, and Real Madrid are the only teams that have played La Liga football in every season.

* 94 seasons: Athletic Bilbao (2025), Barcelona (2025), Real Madrid (2025)
* 90 seasons: Valencia (2025)
* 88 seasons: Atlético Madrid (2025), RCD Espanyol, Espanyol (2025)
* 81 seasons: Sevilla FC, Sevilla (2025)
* 78 seasons: Real Sociedad (2025)
* 59 seasons: RC Celta de Vigo, Celta Vigo (2025), Real Betis (2025)
* 58 seasons: Real Zaragoza, Zaragoza (2013)
* 47 seasons: Real Valladolid, Valladolid (2025)
* 46 seasons: Deportivo La Coruña (2018)
* 44 seasons: Racing de Santander, Racing Santander (2012)
* 43 seasons: CA Osasuna, Osasuna (2025)
* 42 seasons: Sporting de Gijón, Sporting Gijón (2017)
* 38 seasons: Real Oviedo, Oviedo (2001)
* 36 seasons: UD Las Palmas, Las Palmas (2025)
* 32 seasons: RCD Mallorca, Mallorca (2025)
* 27 seasons: Granada CF, Granada (2024)
* 25 seasons: Villarreal CF, Villarreal (2025)
* 24 seasons: Elche CF, Elche (2023)
* 22 seasons: Rayo Vallecano (2025)
* 20 seasons: ''CD Málaga'' (1990), Hércules CF, Hércules (2011), Getafe CF, Getafe (2025)
* 19 seasons: Deportivo Alavés, Alavés (2025)
* 18 seasons: Real Murcia CF, Murcia (2008)
* 17 seasons: Málaga CF, Málaga (2018)
* 16 seasons: Levante UD, Levante (2022), Cádiz CF, Cádiz (2024)
* 14 seasons: CE Sabadell FC, Sabadell (1988)
* 13 seasons: CD Tenerife, Tenerife (2010)
* 12 seasons: ''UD Salamanca, Salamanca'' (1999)
* 11 seasons: CD Castellón, Castellón (1991)
* 9 seasons: ''CD Logroñés'' (1997), Córdoba CF, Córdoba (2015)
* 8 seasons: UD Almería, Almería (2024)
* 7 seasons: Arenas Club de Getxo, Arenas (1935), Albacete Balompié, Albacete (2005), SD Eibar, Eibar (2021)
* 6 seasons: Pontevedra CF, Pontevedra (1970), ''Burgos CF (1936), Burgos'' (1980)
* 5 seasons: Recreativo de Huelva, Recreativo Huelva (2009), Girona FC, Girona (2025), CD Leganés, Leganés (2025)
* 4 seasons: Real Unión (1932), CD Alcoyano, Alcoyano (1951), SD Compostela, Compostela (1998), Gimnàstic de Tarragona, Gimnàstic (2007), CD Numancia, Numancia (2009)
* 3 seasons: CE Europa, Europa (1931), Real Jaén, Jaén (1958), ''Real Burgos CF, Real Burgos'' (1993)
* 2 seasons: ''AD Almería'' (1981), ''UE Lleida, Lleida'' (1994), ''CP Mérida'' (1998), ''CF Extremadura, Extremadura'' (1999), SD Huesca, Huesca (2021)
* 1 season: ''Atlético Tetuán'' (1952), Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, Cultural Leonesa (1956), ''CD Condal, Condal'' (1957), Xerez CD, Xerez (2010)

La Liga clubs in Europe

The ''Primera División'' is currently third in the UEFA coefficient, UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, behind England's Premier League and Italy's Serie A, but ahead of Germany's Bundesliga and France's Ligue 1.

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid have been in the top ten List of UEFA club competition winners, most successful clubs in European football in terms of total European trophies. These three clubs, along with Sevilla and Valencia, are the only Spanish clubs to have won five or more international trophies. Deportivo La Coruña are the joint fifth-most participating Spanish team in the Champions League with Sevilla — after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Atlético Madrid — with five consecutive Champions League appearances, including a semi-finals appearance in 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, 2003–04.

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 2005–06 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Champions League and Sevilla won the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, UEFA Cup. This feat was repeated four times in five seasons: during the 2013–14 season Real Madrid won their 2013–14 UEFA Champions League, tenth Champions League title and Sevilla won their third 2013–14 UEFA Europa League, Europa League, during the 2014–15 season Barcelona won their 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, fifth Champions League title and Sevilla won their fourth 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, Europa League, during the 2015–16 season Real Madrid won their 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, eleventh Champions League title and Sevilla won their fifth 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, Europa League (becoming the first team to win the title three times in a row), and during the 2017–18 season Real Madrid won their 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, thirteenth Champions League title and Atlético Madrid won their third 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, Europa League.

In 2015, La Liga became the first league to enter five teams in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League group stage, Champions League group stage, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Valencia qualifying via their 2014–15 La Liga, league position and Sevilla qualifying by virtue of their victory in the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, Europa League, courtesy of a rule change.

Champions

Performance by club

Players

Eligibility of non-EU players

In La Liga in 2020, each club is allowed five non-EU players but are only allowed to name three non-EU players in each matchday squad.

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 five years. Sometimes, this can lead to a triple-citizenship situation; for example, Leo Franco, who was born in Argentina, is of Italian heritage yet can claim a Spanish passport, having played in La Liga for over five years.

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.

Individual awards

Until the 2008–09 season, no official individual awards existed in La Liga. In the 2008–09 season, the governing body created the La Liga Awards, LFP Awards (now called La Liga Awards), awarded each season to individual players and coaches. The majority of these awards were discontinued after the 2015–16 La Liga, 2015–16 season. Additional awards relating to La Liga are distributed, some not sanctioned by the Liga de Futbol Profesional or RFEF and therefore not regarded as official. The most notable of these are four awarded by Spain's largest sports paper, ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'', namely the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the top scorer of the season; the Ricardo Zamora Trophy, for the goalkeeper with the fewest goals allowed per game (minimum 28 games); the Trofeo Alfredo Di Stéfano, Alfredo Di Stéfano Trophy, for the player judged to be the best overall player in the division; and the Zarra Trophy, for the top scorer among Spanish domestic players.

Since the 2013–14 season, La Liga has also bestowed the monthly La Liga Manager of the Month, manager of the month and La Liga Player of the Month, player of the month awards.

Transfers

The first La Liga player to be involved in a transfer which broke the List of most expensive association football transfers, world record was Luis Suárez (footballer, born 1935), Luis Suárez in 1961, who moved from Barcelona to Inter Milan for £152,000 (£ million in ). 12 years later, Johan Cruyff was the first player to join a club in La Liga for a record fee of £922,000 (£ million in ), when he moved from AFC Ajax, Ajax to Barcelona. In 1982, Barcelona again set the record by signing Diego Maradona from Boca Juniors for £5 million (£ million in ). Real Betis set the world record in 1998 when they signed Denílson de Oliveira Araújo, Denílson from São Paulo FC, São Paulo for £21.5 million (£ million in ).

Four of the last six world transfer records have been set by Real Madrid, signing Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo (plus a deal for Kaká days before Ronaldo which fell just below a world record due to the way the fee was calculated) and finally Gareth Bale, who was bought in 2013 for £85.3m (€103.4m or $140m at the time; £m in ) from Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur.

Brazilian forward Neymar was the subject of an Transfer (association football)#2013: Transfer of Neymar from Santos to Barcelona, expensive and complicated transfer arrangement when he joined Barcelona from Santos FC, Santos in 2013, and his outgoing transfer to Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 set a new world record fee at €222m via his buyout clause. Barcelona soon invested a large amount of the money received from this transfer in a replacement, Ousmane Dembélé, whose deal – €105m – was the second most expensive ever before Philippe Coutinho's transfer to Barcelona for €142m in January 2018.

Player records

Most appearances

:'

Boldface indicates a player still active in La Liga. ''Italics'' indicates a player still active outside La Liga.

Most goals

Boldface indicates a player still active in La Liga. ''Italics'' indicates a player still active outside La Liga.

Sponsors

* EA Sports FC, EA Sports
* Puma (brand), Puma
* Microsoft
* Mahou-San Miguel Group
* Sorare
* Balkrishna Industries, BKT Tyres
* Saudi Tourism Authority, Visit Saudi
* LaLiga Golazos (Dapper Labs)
* Gol-Ball
* El Corte Inglés
* Allianz
* Burger King
* Panini Group
* Nissan
* Nissin Foods
* vivo (technology company), vivo
* Solán de Cabras
* Legends The Home of Football
* Avery Dennison
* GreenPark Sports
* Fanatics, Inc., Fanatics
* Riyadh Season

Sponsorship names

* Liga BBVA (2008–2016)
* LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander (2016–2023)
* LALIGA EA Sports (2023–)

See also

* Football in Spain – overview of football sport
* Football records and statistics in Spain
* List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues, List of attendance at sports leagues
* List of foreign La Liga players
* List of La Liga broadcasters
* List of La Liga stadiums
* List of Spanish football champions
* Liga F

Notes

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liga, La
La Liga,
Football leagues in Spain, 1
1928 establishments in Spain
1929 establishments in Spain
Professional sports leagues in Spain
Sports leagues established in 1928
Top-level football leagues in Europe, Spain
CVC Capital Partners companies