Spanish football
Football is the most popular sport in Spain, that’s a fact. And perhaps even more so now following Sevilla FC’s excellent win over Inter Milan in last Friday’s Europa League final - the fourth time they have lifted this trophy in seven years.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (Real Federación Española de Fútbol) is the national governing body that organises La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the country’s national team, which won the European Championship twice (2008 & 2012) and the World Cup (2010).
Football was introduced to Spain in the late 19th century by a combination of mostly British immigrant workers, visiting sailors and students who had travelled over from the U.K.
The oldest football club in Spain is Recreativo de Huelva which was formed in December 1889 by Dr. William Alexander Mackay and a group of Brits employed by the Rio Tinto Company.
Although records show that Gimnàstic de Tarragona was founded in 1886 and Sevilla four years later, these two clubs did not form an actual team until 1914 and 1905 respectively.
The first official match played in Spain took place in Sevilla FC on 8 March 1890, at the Tablada Hippodrome when the aforementioned Recreativo de Huelva played a team of workers from the Sevilla Water Works.
With the exception of two Spaniards, both in the Huelva team, the other 20 players were all Britishborn, and consequently this is the main reason why Sevilla FC is so named and not Sevilla CF ('club de fútbol' in Spanish). Sevilla won that first-ever game by 2-0 in front of 1,100 ‘interested’ spectators.
In the Basque Country during the early 1890s, a group of British shipyard workers and coalminers formed the Bilbao FC, and soon afterwards, in 1898, a number of Basque students, returning from Britain, decided to form Athletic Bilbao.
This early British influence was reflected in the use of English names such as Recreation Club, Athletic Club and Football Club.
Fact File
CF Barcelona is the most successful Spanish club with 94 competition triumphs, made up of 26 La Liga titles, 30 Copa del Rey wins, 13 SupaCopa Espana victories, 17 European tournament prizes, five other domestic trophies and three FIFA World Club Cup wins.
■ Real Madrid lie in second place, with 91 trophies. including
34 La Liga, 19 Copa del Rey titles and 19 European triumphs. And, as all fans of Spanish football know, the Los Blancos/Los Merengues won the first five European Cup finals: 1956-60.
■ In La Liga's 85-year history (excluding the three seasons when the competition was suspended due to the Spanish Civil War), Real and Barcelona have won 60 championships between them.
■ Chasing the big two for prizes are: Athletic Bilbao (31, including 23 La Liga wins), Atletico Madrid (20), Valencia (14), Sevilla (12) and Real Zaragoza (6).
■ Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has scored more La Liga goals than any other player in history - 444 in a record 485 appearances. His goal-tally for ‘Barca’ at all levels is 645 in 763 games. Andreas Iniesta made 674 appearances for Barcelona.
■ Ex-Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo, now with Juventus, netted 450 goals in 438 games for the Bernabeu club (311 in 292 La Liga outings).
■ Raúl made 741 appearances in all competitions for Real Madrid (323 goals) while Sergio Ramos has so far amassed 650 appearances with 97 goals scored, a record for a defender.
■ The retired David Villa is Spain’s top-scorer with 59 international goals, while Ramos is now his country’s most decorated player with 170 full caps to his name.
■ Spain’s biggest stadium is Barcelona’s Camp Nou with a capacity of 99,354.
Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid, can house 81,044 spectators, followed by Sevilla’s La Cartuja with 60,000 and even Barcelona’s second team ground holds 55,926. Valencia’s Mestalla, can accommodate 55,000 fans, the Vicente Calderón, home to Atletico Madrid has a capacity of 54,907 and Athletic Bilbao’s San Mamés holds 53,289.