Real Madrid C.F.

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal maˈðɾið ˈkluβ ðe ˈfuðβol]; Royal Madrid Football Club), commonly known as Real Madrid, or simply as Real, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain.

Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the team has traditionally worn a white home kit since inception. The word Real is Spanish for Royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. The team has played its home matches in the 81,044-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting entities, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club throughout its history.

The club is the most valuable sports team in the world, worth €2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) and the world's highest-earning football club for 2013–14, with an annual revenue of €549.5 million. The club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Real Madrid is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division, along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with Barcelona and the El Derbi madrileño with Atlético Madrid.

Madrid

Madrid (/məˈdrɪd/, Spanish: [maˈðɾid], locally: [maˈðɾiθ, -ˈðɾi]) is a south-western European city, the capital of Spain, and the largest municipality of the Community of Madrid. The population of the city is almost 3.2 million with a metropolitan area population of around 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-largest in the European Union after London and Paris. The city spans a total of 604.3 km² (233.3 sq mi).

The city is located on the Manzanares River in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic and cultural centre of Spain. The current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid.

Celta de Vigo

Real Club Celta de Vigo (Galician pronunciation: [reˈal ˈkluβ ˈθelta ðe ˈβiɣo]), or simply Celta Vigo or sometimes just Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, currently playing in the Liga. It was founded on 23 August 1923 following the merger of Real Vigo Sporting and Real Fortuna Foot-ball Club. Nicknamed Os Celestes (The Sky Blues), they play in sky blue shirts and white shorts. The club's home stadium is Balaídos, which seats 29,000 spectators. Celta's name is derived from the Celts who were once present in the region. Its main rival is fellow Galician club Deportivo La Coruña with whom it plays the Galician derby.

Despite playing many seasons in La Liga, Celta have never won the league title nor Copa del Rey, although it has reached the final 3 times in the latter. One of the team's best seasons was 1970–71, when they finished unbeaten at home and were known as the "giant-killers." Celta came sixth that season and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. More recently, the club finished in their best-ever position of fourth in 2002–03, qualifying for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, where they were eliminated by Arsenal in the Round of 16.

Real Sociedad

Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (pronounced: [reˈal soθjeˈðað]; Royal Society) or La Real, is a Spanish football club based in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 September 1909. Its home stadium is Anoeta, which seats 32,200 spectators. Real Sociedad won the La Liga title in 1980–81 and 1981–82, and last finished runners-up in 2002–03. La Real has also won the Copa del Rey twice, in 1909 and 1987. The club play the Basque derby against Athletic Bilbao. Real Sociedad were founder members of La Liga in 1928, and their longest spell in the top flight was for 40 seasons from 1967 to 2007.

The club has competed in the UEFA Champions League twice. In the 2003–04 season the club made it to the round of 16 before losing to French club Olympique Lyon.

Real Sociedad has also several sports sections: women's football, track and field, field hockey and basque pelota.

Name and colours

The club's name means Royal Society of Football in Spanish. During the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939), it was renamed "Donostia Club de Fútbol". The club is nicknamed in Basque as Erreala or the txuri-urdin ("white-blue" due to the colours of their kit). The colours stem from the flag of San Sebastian: a blue canton on a white field.

Vigo

Vigo (/ˈviːɡoʊ/, Galician: [ˈbiɣo], locally: [ˈbiħo, -xo], Spanish: [ˈbiɣo]) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean in the province of Pontevedra, in Galicia, north-west Spain.

Vigo is the most populous municipality in Galicia, and the 14th in Spain.

Vigo is in the south-west of Galicia, in the southern part of Vigo Bay. In the north-east, it borders the municipality of Redondela, in the east Mos, in the south O Porriño and Gondomar, and in the south-west Nigrán. On the other side of the bay are the municipalities of Cangas and Moaña. They are all part of the southern Galician region called Rias Baixas. Vigo is located just north of the border with Portugal and its nearest larger city is Portugal's second largest city of Porto.

Vigo and its metropolitan area is one of the main economic agents of the region.

History

In the Middle Ages, the small village of Vigo was part of the territory of Galician speaking neighbouring towns, particularly Tui, and suffered several Viking attacks. However, the number of inhabitants was so small that, historically, Vigo was not considered to be a real village until around the 15th century, when the earliest records began.