Football in Spain

Association football is the most popular sport, and a widespread passion in Spain. Football is the sport with the most registered players (a total of 874,093 of which 829,220 are men and 44,873 women), and most registered clubs (a total of 21,649) among all Spanish sport federations according to data issued by the sports administration of Spain’s government in 2014.

In a survey of sports habits of the Spanish population made in 2010, football was the second most popular recreational sport practised by the population (17.9%). A total of 75.9% of people said they had ever bought tickets to attend a football match. In addition, a total of 67.3% of the people said that they saw all, almost all, many, or some of the football matches broadcast on television. In another survey made in 2014, the practice of football decreased to 14% of the population, being overtaken by other sports, such as running, cycling and swimming for recreation. However, in this survey football was still the sport that interests the majority of Spain’s people (48%). A total of 67% of the population said they were fans or had sympathy for a particular club. In addition, 74.9% said they watched, whenever possible, the matches broadcast on television regarding their favorite teams; and 42.4% had, flags, badges or objects of their favorite teams. Data of this survey confirmed the widespread impression that most of Spain’s people are supporters of Real Madrid (37.9%) or FC Barcelona (25.4%), and the other teams have fewer supporters nationwide, as Atlético de Madrid (6.1%), Valencia CF (3.5%), Athletic Bilbao (3.3.) or Real Betis (3.2%).

Spanish football top scorers

This page details Spanish Association football (La Liga) top scorers. It is based on official records provided by the organizing body Liga de Fútbol Profesional and differ from the unofficial Pichichi award which is based on subjective criteria by the Spanish newspaper Diario Marca. Since in Spain there have never existed any official recognition of a league top scorer, the data is entirely based on official match reports provided by LFP from their historical database as no works based on that have ever been published. This data should be taken for what it is and is disputed in several instances by statistical works on Spanish football, one of whom is listed under literature.

One example would be the year 1932 when according to official match reports the top scorer that season was Agustín Sauto Arana with 13 goals while independent research by several statistical authors on Spanish football instead show that year the top scorer was Guillermo Gorostiza with 12 goals even though he only scored 9 according to official match reports. The historical ranking further down on this page is compiled from goal scoring records based on the official match reports, as such it is neither 100% accurate nor the definite goal scoring count as for example César Rodríguez Álvarez is considered to have scored 192 goals for FC Barcelona in the Spanish League according to LFP while independent research by the club itself only verify 190 goals.

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.

Liga

Liga or LIGA can refer to:

Name

Sports

Other

People

Football Weekly

Football Weekly is a podcast about football, hosted by The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom. Originally provided weekly (as its name suggests), its popularity led to a mid-weekly spinoff, Football Weekly Extra. Football Weekly airs on Mondays during the European football season, after the weekend's fixtures, while Football Weekly Extra airs on Thursdays. During the Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014 tournaments the podcast aired daily.

It is presented by James Richardson, who is joined by various Guardian journalists and correspondents, most regularly Barry Glendenning. Despite being an English production, the show takes a notably Eurocentric view of world football matters. Particular emphasis is placed on the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.

Origin and listening figures

The podcast began on 11 May 2006 as The World Cup Show, produced daily throughout the 2006 World Cup, and returned during the season under its new name on 29 August 2006, due to popular demand.