logo	Liga BBVA.png
pixels	200
country
confed	UEFA
ranking	2
founded	1929
teams	20
relegation	Segunda División
levels	1
domest cup	Copa del Rey
confed cup	Champions LeagueEuropa League
champions	Barcelona (21st title)
season	2010–11
most successful club	Real Madrid (31 titles)
sponsorship name	Liga BBVA
tv	Digital+, GolT, laSexta
website	lfp.es
current	2011–12 season }}

The Primera División (First Division) of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP), commonly known as La Liga (The League) or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA (BBVA League) since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. It is contested by twenty teams, with the three lowest placed teams relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top three teams in that division. A total of 59 teams have competed in La Liga, nine of which have been crowned champions. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated the championship. The former have won the title thirty-one times while the latter have won it on twenty-one occasions. However, during the 1930s and 1940s and in the last two decades, La Liga has seen other champions including Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Deportivo, Real Betis and Sevilla . Barcelona have currently won the last three seasons of La Liga.

La Liga is currently ranked the best football league in the world according to the IFFHS and the second strongest league in Europe according to UEFA's league coefficient, based on recent European performances. La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 29,124 for league matches in the 2008–09 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.

Competition format

The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a season, which lasts from September to June, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 games. 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 at the end of the season crowned champion. 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 (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

** c) head-to-head goals scored

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 Fair Play scales. These are:

* yellow card, 1 point

* doubled yellow card/ejection, 2 points

* direct red card, 3 points

* Suspension or disqualification to coach, executive or other club's personnel (outside referee decisions), 5 points

* Misconduct of the 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.

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 are promoted to La Liga. The third team from the Segunda División to be promoted to La Liga is determined by the winner of the play-off played between the winner of the play-off between 3rd against 6th and the winner of the play-off between 4th placed against 5th. These placed teams should be considered excluding reserve teams.

Qualification for European competitions

The top teams in La Liga qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the first, second, and third placed teams directly entering the group stage and the fourth placed team entering the third qualifying round. The fifth and sixth placed teams qualify for the first round of the UEFA Europa League.

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 Primera División in 1929. 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, Espanyol and Europa qualified as Copa del Rey runners-up and Racing 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.

The 1930s

Although Barcelona won the very first Liga in 1929 and Real Madrid won their first titles in 1932 and 1933, it was Athletic Bilbao that set the early pace winning Primera División in 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1936. They were also runners-up in 1932 and 1933. In 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 Republican area of Spain, with the notable exception of the two Madrid clubs, competed in the Mediterranean League and FC Barcelona emerged as champions. Seventy years later, on 28 September 2007, Barcelona requested RFEF to recognise that title as a Liga title. This action was taken after RFEF recognised Levante FC's Copa de la España Libre win as equivalent to Copa del Rey trophy.

The 1940s

When the Primera División resumed after the Spanish Civil War it was Atlético Aviación (nowadays Atlético Madrid), Valencia and Sevilla that initially emerged as the strongest clubs. Atlético Aviación were only awarded a place during the 1939–40 season as a replacement for Real Oviedo, whose ground had been damaged during the war. The club subsequently won their first 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 had also remained intact and in the post-war years matured into champions, gaining three Liga titles in 1942, 1944 and 1947. They were also runners-up in 1948 and 1949. Sevilla 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 Barcelona began to emerge as a force when they were crowned 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 under catenaccio mastermind Helenio Herrera, the 1950s saw the beginning of the 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 circumvented by Real Madrid and Barcelona who naturalized Alfredo di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Ladislav 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. Madrid won the first division for the first time as Real Madrid in 1954 and retained its title in 1955. They were winners again in 1957 and 1958, with only Athletic Bilbao interrupting their sequence. During this period, Real Madrid also won an unprecedented five consecutive European Cups. 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 the Primera División being crowned champion 14 times. This included a five-in-a-row sequence from 1961 to 1965 and two three-in-a-row sequences (1967–1969 and 1978–1980). During this era only Atlético Madrid offered Real Madrid any serious challenge, adding four more titles to their tally in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. Of the other clubs, only Valencia in 1971 and the Johan Cruyff-inspired Barcelona of 1974 managed to break the dominance 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 Barcelona to a solitary title in 1985 before Real Madrid won again another five in a row sequence (1986–1990) 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 Barcelona as manager in 1988, and assembled the legendary Dream Team. Cruijff introduced players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristain, Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov. This team won Primera División four times between 1991 and 1994 and won the European Cup in 1992. Laudrup then moved to arch-rivals Real Madrid after a fall-out with Cruyff, and helped them end Barcelona's run in 1995. Atlético Madrid won their ninth Primera División title in 1996 before Real Madrid added another Liga trophy to their cabinet in 1997. After the success of Cruyff, another Dutchman - Ajax manager Louis van Gaal - arrived at the Camp Nou, and with the talents of Luís Figo, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo, Barcelona again won the title in 1998 and 1999. Meanwhile, Real Madrid also experienced success on the continental stage, winning the UEFA Champions League in 1998.

The 2000s

As Primera División 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 Barcelona, and in 2000, under Javier Irureta, they became the ninth team to be crowned champions. Real Madrid won two more Liga titles in 2001 and 2003 and also the UEFA Champions League in 2000 and 2002, and won their third league title in 2007 after a three year drought. They were challenged by a re-emerging Valencia in both competitions. Under the management of Héctor Cúper, Valencia finished as Champions League runners-up in 2000 and 2001. His successor, Rafael Benítez, built on this and led the club to a Liga title in 2002 and the winning a double with a league title and the UEFA Cup in 2004. The 2004–05 season saw a resurgent Barcelona, inspired by the brilliant Ronaldinho, win their first title of the new century, in addition to the Liga-Champions League double in 2005–06. Real Madrid won La Liga in 2006–07 and 2007–08 season.

The Barcelona Years

Barcelona won the league in 2009, as part of their treble winning season.On 20 May 2010, a study published by the University of Barcelona revealed that La Liga's debt had risen to €3.53 billion. There were only three clubs in the all divisions (Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Numancia) who had an operating profit. The study further revealed that 85% of club debt was accumulated from player wages. The debt crisis in La Liga and Spain as a whole has led to summits held by the presidents of each club, the goal being to renegotiate the Madrid and Barcelona dominated television rights, opting for a voting-bloc system much like the Premier League.Barcelona won the title in 2010 and again in 2011 as part of a Liga-Champions League double.

Teams

Deportivo La Coruña, Hércules CF from Alicante and UD Almería were relegated to the 2011–12 Segunda División after finishing in the bottom three spots of the table at the end of the 2010–11 season. Deportivo were relegated to the Segunda División after twenty seasons of continuous membership in the top football league of Spain, while Almería ended a four-year tenure in La Liga and Hércules made their immediate return to the second level.

The three relegated teams were replaced by three 2010–11 Segunda División sides. Champions Betis, who terminated their second-level status after two years, runners-up Rayo Vallecano, who returned to the top flight after eight seasons at lower levels, earned direct promotion.

The third promoted team was decided in the promotion play-offs where Granada returned to the league for the first time in 35 years, having spent 26 of them in Segunda División B and Tercera División.

Stadia and locations

! Team	! Home city	! Stadium	! Capacity
Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao		39,750
Atlético Madrid	Madrid		54,851
	Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,354
	Sevilla		52,745
	Cornellà de Llobregat	Estadi Cornellà-El Prat	40,500
	Madrid	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	17,700
	Granada	Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes	16,212
		Estadi Ciutat de València	25,534
	Málaga		28,963
	Palma de Mallorca		23,142
	Pamplona	Estadio Reyno de Navarra	19,800
			22,271
Rayo Vallecano	Madrid	Estadio Teresa Rivero	15,500
	Madrid		80,354
Real Sociedad	San Sebastián	Estadio Anoeta	32,076
	Sevilla		45,500
Sporting de Gijón	Gijón	El Molinón	29,538
			55,000
	Vila-real		25,000
	Zaragoza	La Romareda	34,596

La Liga clubs in Europe

In addition to their success in Primera División, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia are three of the most successful teams in European competition history. All three clubs are the only Spanish clubs to have won 5 or more international trophies. All three clubs are also in the top ten most successful clubs in European football in terms of total European trophies. In 2005–06, Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup. The Primera División became the first league to do the European "double" since 1997.

The Primera División is currently second in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, behind the English Premier League in first and ahead of Germany's Bundesliga in third.

Champions

Performance by club

Club	! Winners	! Runners-up	! Winning Seasons	! Last Runner-up Season
	31	21	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, 2006–07, 2007–08
	21	22	1929, 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, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11
Atlético Madrid	9	8	1939–40, 1940–41, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1965–66, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1995–96
Athletic Bilbao	8	7	1929–30, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1935–36, 1942–43, 1955–56, 1982–83, 1983–84
	6	6	1941–42, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1970–71, 2001–02, 2003–04
Real Sociedad	2	3	1980–81 La Liga
[[Deportivo de La Coruña	1	5
	1	4
Real Betis	1	0		–
	0	1	–
Sporting de Gijón	0	1	–
Real Zaragoza	0	1	–
	0	1	–
Racing de Santander	0	1	–

Note on name changes

During Francoism, the teams' names were "hispanised", so FC Barcelona became CF Barcelona and Sevilla FC, Sevilla CF. Athletic de Madrid fell under the Air Forces control and became Atlético Aviación, and Sporting de Gijón and Racing de Santander became Real Gijón and Real Santander. Most teams changed their names, and some of them undid those modifications with the arrival of democracy in the seventies.

All-time La Liga table

The All-time La Liga table is an overall record of all match results, points, and goals of every team that has played in La Liga since its inception in 1929. The table is accurate as of the end of the 2010–11 season.

80 FC BarcelonaValencia CFAthletic BilbaoAtlético MadridRCD EspanyolSevilla FCReal SociedadReal ZaragozaReal BetisDeportivo de La CoruñaCelta de VigoReal ValladolidRacing de SantanderSporting de GijónCA OsasunaReal OviedoRCD MallorcaUD Las PalmasVillarreal CFCD MálagaHércules CFElche CFCD TenerifeMálaga CFGranada CFReal MurciaRayo VallecanoUD SalamancaDeportivo AlavésCE Sabadell FCGetafe CFCádiz CFCD LogroñésCD CastellónAlbacete BalompiéCórdoba CFLevante UDSD CompostelaRecreativo de HuelvaUD AlmeríaBurgos CF (I)Pontevedra CFCD NumanciaArenas Club de GetxoReal Burgos CFGimnàstic de TarragonaCF ExtremaduraCP MéridaCD AlcoyanoReal JaénReal UniónAD AlmeríaCE EuropaUE LleidaXerez CDCD CondalMoghreb TétouanCultural y Deportiva Leonesa

	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!	!
1	Real Madrid C.F.>Real Madrid	|	3838	2534	1475	521	538	5285	2915	31	20	7	1929 La Liga>1929	1929 La Liga>1929	1
2	Barcelona ||	80	3709	2534	1407	529	598	5233	2925	21	22	12	1929 La Liga>1929	1929 La Liga>1929	1
3	Valencia ||	76	3044	2436	1092	559	785	4049	3173	6	6	9	1931–32 La Liga>1931–32	1987–88 La Liga>1987–88	1
4	|	80	3024	2534	1113	577	844	4319	3415	8	7	10	1929 La Liga>1929	1929 La Liga>1929	1
5	|	74	2976	2386	1101	552	733	4139	3132	9	8	12	1929 La Liga>1929	2002–03 La Liga>2002–03	1
6	Espanyol ||	76	2512	2398	874	550	974	3343	3550	-	-	4	1929 La Liga>1929	1994–95 La Liga>1994–95	3
7	Sevilla ||	67	2456	2180	887	477	816	3314	3076	1	4	4	1934–35 La Liga>1934–35	2001–02 La Liga>2001–02	1
8	|	64	2243	2074	775	514	785	2902	2922	2	3	2	1929 La Liga>1929	2010–11 La Liga>2010–11	1
9	Zaragoza ||	56	2032	1910	677	508	725	2610	2724	-	1	4	1939–40 La Liga>1939–40	2009–10 La Liga>2009–10	2
10	|	46	1673	1538	550	396	592	1945	2187	1	-	2	1932–33 La Liga>1932–33	2011–12 La Liga>2011–12	1
11	Deportivo La Coruña ||	41	1666	1378	532	337	509	1882	1941	1	5	4	1941–42 La Liga>1941–42	2010–11 La Liga>2010–11	1
12	|	46	1547	1508	519	348	641	2041	2347	-	-	-	1939–40 La Liga>1939–40	2006–07 La Liga>2006–07	4
13	|	40	1392	1390	445	359	586	1680	2062	-	-	-	1948–49 La Liga>1948–49	2009–10 La Liga>2009–10	4
14	|	43	1389	1390	449	321	620	1815	2305	-	1	1	1929 La Liga>1929	2002–03 La Liga>2002–03	2
15	|	39	1282	1344	444	332	568	1629	1949	-	1	1	1944–45 La Liga>1944–45	2008–09 La Liga>2008–09	2
16	Osasuna ||	33	1197	1166	389	284	493	1351	1567	-	-	-	1935–36 La Liga>1935–36	2000–01 La Liga>2000–01	4
17	|	38	1174	1192	408	292	492	1642	1951	-	-	3	1933–34 La Liga>1933–34	2000–01 La Liga>2000–01	3
18	Mallorca ||	25	1060	912	310	237	365	1097	1253	-	-	2	1960–61 La Liga>1960–61	1997–98 La Liga>1997–98	3
19	Las Palmas ||	31	937	1020	345	225	450	1249	1619	-	1	1	1951–52 La Liga>1951–52	2001–02 La Liga>2001–02	2
20	Villarreal ||	12	679	456	187	118	151	645	587	-	1	1	1998–99 La Liga>1998–99	2000–01 La Liga>2000–01	2
21	|	20	543	647	186	171	290	666	926	-	-	-	1949–50 La Liga>1949–50	1989–90 La Liga>1989–90	7
22	Hércules ||	20	538	628	184	149	295	716	1050	-	-	-	1935–36 La Liga>1935–36	2010–11 La Liga>2010–11	5
23	Elche ||	19	525	602	183	159	260	685	910	-	-	-	1959–60 La Liga>1959–60	1988–89 La Liga>1988–89	5
24	Tenerife ||	13	510	494	155	128	211	619	744	-	-	-	1961–62 La Liga>1961–62	2009–10 La Liga>2009–10	5
25	|	10	467	380	121	104	155	480	550	-	-	-	1999–2000 La Liga>1999–00	2008–09 La Liga>2008–09	8
26	Granada ||	17	448	514	162	124	228	610	777	-	-	-	1941–42 La Liga>1941–42	2011–12 La Liga>2011–12	6
27	|	18	445	586	145	143	298	607	992	-	-	-	1940–41 La Liga>1940–41	2007–08 La Liga>2007–08	11
28	|	12	436	452	123	120	209	513	728	-	-	-	1977–78 La Liga>1977–78	2011–12 La Liga>2011–12	9
29	Salamanca ||	12	375	423	123	102	198	422	581	-	-	-	1974–75 La Liga>1974–75	1998–99 La Liga>1998–99	7
30	Alavés ||	11	366	342	111	68	163	417	585	-	-	-	1930–31 La Liga>1930–31	2005–06 La Liga>2005–06	6
31	Sabadell ||	14	353	426	129	95	202	492	720	-	-	-	1943–44 La Liga>1943–44	1987–88 La Liga>1987–88	4
32	Getafe ||	7	344	266	92	68	106	332	340	-	-	-	2004–05 La Liga>2004–05	2004–05 La Liga>2004–05	6
33	Cádiz ||	12	343	448	104	127	217	393	662	-	-	-	1977–78 La Liga>1977–78	2005–06 La Liga>2005–06	12
34	|	9	293	346	96	92	158	291	489	-	-	-	1987–88 La Liga>1987–88	1996–97 La Liga>1996–97	7
35	Castellón ||	11	285	334	103	79	152	419	588	-	-	-	1941–42 La Liga>1941–42	1990–91 La Liga>1990–91	4
36	Albacete ||	7	277	270	76	76	118	320	410	-	-	-	1991–92 La Liga>1991–92	2004–05 La Liga>2004–05	7
37	Córdoba ||	8	210	244	79	52	113	263	362	-	-	-	1962–63 La Liga>1962–63	1971–72 La Liga>1971–72	5
38	Levante ||	6	198	212	56	48	108	230	345	-	-	-	1963–64 La Liga>1963–64	2010–11 La Liga>2010–11	10
39	|	4	190	160	52	45	63	199	241	-	-	-	1994–95 La Liga>1994–95	1997–98 La Liga>1997–98	10
40	|	5	188	186	50	46	90	202	296	-	-	-	1978–79 La Liga>1978–79	2008–09 La Liga>2008–09	8
41	|	4	170	152	43	41	68	166	231	-	-	-	2007–08 La Liga>2007–08	2010–11 La Liga>2010–11	8
42	Burgos CF ||	6	168	204	59	50	95	216	310	-	-	-	1971–72 La Liga>1971–72	1979–80 La Liga>1979–80	12
43	Pontevedra ||	6	150	180	53	44	83	165	221	-	-	-	1963–64 La Liga>1963–64	1969–70 La Liga>1969–70	7
44	Numancia ||	4	148	152	37	37	78	155	253	-	-	-	1999–2000 La Liga>1999–00	2008–09 La Liga>2008–09	17
45	Arenas de Getxo ||	7	107	130	43	21	66	227	308	-	-	1	1929 La Liga>1929	1934–35 La Liga>1934–35	3
46	Real Burgos ||	3	96	114	26	44	44	101	139	-	-	-	1990–91 La Liga>1990–91	1992–93 La Liga>1992–93	9
47	|	4	91	116	34	16	66	181	295	-	-	-	1947–48 La Liga>1947–48	2006–07 La Liga>2006–07	7
48	|	2	83	80	20	23	37	62	117	-	-	-	1996–97 La Liga>1996–97	1998–99 La Liga>1998–99	17
49	|	2	81	80	19	24	37	70	115	-	-	-	1995–96 La Liga>1995–96	1997–98 La Liga>1997–98	19
50	Alcoyano ||	4	76	108	30	16	62	145	252	-	-	-	1945–46 La Liga>1945–46	1950–51 La Liga>1950–51	10
51	|	3	71	90	29	13	48	121	183	-	-	-	1953–54 La Liga>1953–54	1957–58 La Liga>1957–58	14
52	|	4	56	72	21	14	37	153	184	-	-	-	1929 La Liga>1929	1931–32 La Liga>1931–32	6
53	|	2	52	68	17	18	33	71	116	-	-	-	1979–80 La Liga>1979–80	1980–81 La Liga>1980–81	10
54	Europa ||	3	42	54	18	6	30	97	131	-	-	-	1929 La Liga>1929	1930–31 La Liga>1930–31	8
55	|	2	40	68	13	14	41	70	182	-	-	-	1950–51 La Liga>1950–51	1993–94 La Liga>1993–94	16
56	Xerez ||	1	34	38	8	10	20	38	66	-	-	-	2009–10 La Liga>2009–10	2009–10 La Liga>2009–10	20
57	|	1	22	30	7	8	15	37	57	-	-	-	1956–57 La Liga>1956–57	1956–57 La Liga>1956–57	16
58	Atlético Tetuán ||	1	19	30	7	5	18	51	85	-	-	-	1951–52 La Liga>1951–52	1951–52 La Liga>1951–52	16
59	Cultural Leonesa ||	1	14	30	5	4	21	34	65	-	-	-	1955–56 La Liga>1955–56	1955–56 La Liga>1955–56	15

League or status at 2011–12: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; font-size:95%;" |- |width=10px bgcolor=ACE1AF| ||2011–12 La Liga |- |width=10px bgcolor=FBE08D| ||2011–12 Segunda División |- |width=10px bgcolor=EBC9FE| ||2011–12 Segunda División B |- |width=10px bgcolor=C1DDFD| ||2011–12 Tercera División |- |width=10px bgcolor=FFFDDF| ||Divisiones Regionales |- |width=10px bgcolor=FFFFFF| ||To be determined |- |width=10px bgcolor=FCFF13| ||No longer affiliated with RFEF |- |width=10px bgcolor=BBBBBB| ||Club disappeared |}

Players

Eligibility of non-EU players

In La Liga, 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 5 years. Sometimes, this can lead to a triple-citizenship situation e.g. Leo Franco, who is Argentine-born, of Italian heritage and can claim a Spanish passport, having played in La Liga for over 5 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

Many individual awards are conceded relating to La Liga, although not sanctioned by the LFP nor the RFEF they are widely regarded as official.

The most notable of these are four awarded by Spain's biggest sports paper, Marca, namely the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the top scorer of the season, the Ricardo Zamora Trophy for the goalkeeper with the least "goals-to-games" ratio, the Trofeo Alfredo di Stéfano, for the player judged to be the best overall player in the division, and the Zarra Trophy is awarded to the Spanish domestic player with the highest goal total in La Liga.

All-time top scorers

{|border=1 cellpadding=2 class="wikitable sortable" !Rank !width=50|Nat !width=150|Name !width=70|Years !width=70|Goals !width=70|Apps !width=70|Ratio |-align=center |1 | |align=left|Telmo Zarra |1940–1955||252||278||0.91 |-align=center |2 | |align=left|Hugo Sanchez |1981–1994||234||347||0.67 |-align=center |3 | |align=left|Raúl |1994–2010||228||550||0.41 |-align=center |4 | |align=left|Alfredo di Stéfano |1953–1966||227||329||0.69 |-align=center |5 | |align=left|César Rodríguez |1939–1955||226||353||0.64 |-align=center |6 | |align=left|Quini |1970–1987||219||448||0.49 |-align=center |7 | |align=left|Pahiño |1943–1956||210||278||0.76 |-align=center |8 | |align=left|Edmundo Suárez |1939–1950||195||231||0.81 |-align=center |9 | |align=left|Carlos Santillana |1970–1988||186||461||0.40 |-align=center |10 | |align=left|Juan Arza |1943–1959||182||349||0.52 |-align=center |11 | |align=left|Guillermo Gorostiza |1929–1945||178||256||0.70 |-align=center |12 | |align=left|Samuel Eto'o |1998–2009||162||280||0.58 |-align=center |13 | |align=left|Luis Aragonés |1960–1974||160||360||0.44 |-align=center |14 | |align=left|'''David Villa |2003– ¤||158||270||0.59 |-align=center |15 | |align=left|Ferenc Puskás |1958–1966||156||180||0.87 |-align=center |16 | |align=left|Julio Salinas |1982–2000||152||417||0.36 |-align=center |17 | |align=left|Adrián Escudero |1945–1958||150||287||0.52 |-align=center |18 | |align=left|Daniel Ruiz |1974–1986||147||303||0.49 |-align=center |19 | |align=left|Silvestre Igoa |1941–1956||141||284||0.50 |-align=center |} (Bold denotes players still playing in La Liga)

European Footballers of the Year

The following were all elected winners of the Golden Ball while playing in La Liga:

Alfredo di Stéfano - 1957, 1959 (Real Madrid) Raymond Kopa - 1958 (Real Madrid) Luis Suárez - 1960 (Barcelona) Johan Cruyff - 1973, 1974 (Barcelona) Hristo Stoichkov - 1994 (Barcelona) Rivaldo - 1999 (Barcelona) Luís Figo - 2000 (Barcelona) Ronaldo - 2002 (Real Madrid) Ronaldinho - 2005 (Barcelona) Fabio Cannavaro - 2006 (Real Madrid) Lionel Messi - 2009, 2010 (Barcelona)

See also

Copa del Rey

Supercopa de España

Football records in Spain

List of foreign La Liga players

List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues

List of football clubs in Spain

Notes and references

External links

Official La Liga Site Official RFEF Site Liga24 - España - Resultados en vivo, Clasificacion de liga en vivo live results and real time tables

Results and Tables

La Liga Results and News at Yahoo! Eurosport UK

Historical Database

Primera Liga : presentation — All time table and all results since 1928 with links to entire results and winners, second and third.

Livin La Liga List of Liga Winners, Pichichi Topscorers and History of La Liga

Map of La Liga Stadiums

Lionel Messi Scores 50 Goals In Season to Enter Record Books

Spain Category:1928 establishments 1

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