Spanish BBVA Liga

The Spanish Premiere League is known as La Liga and is also sponsored by the biggest bank in the country, BBVA. It is one of the four biggest leagues in Europe, and draws some of the highest attendances in the world. The format is very similar to the English Premiere league in that the top 20 teams in the country are promoted into this top tier level. The regular season consists of each team playing each other twice and the champion being the team with the most wins.

The league was founded in 1929, and has grown to become one of the highest quality of leagues based on the UEFA coefficient rankings. While Barcelona and Real Madrid have dominated the league since it's inception other strong teams have also competed such as; Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Deportivo, Real Bettis, and Sevilla. Barcelona FC I thought it'd be fitting to try and better understand this Spanish professional league since Barcelona is one of my favorite clubs as a kid. This was because my mom had Spanish friends who would send us all sorts of Barca memorabilia (scarfs, jerseys, tshirts, posters, etc). As a kid growing up in the states, I hardly understood the format of European soccer and instead payed more attention to the NFL. I've always loved the sport of soccer though, and over the past couple years I have come to better understand these top quality European leagues. I continue to enjoy and support Barcelona FC for their winning tradition and their loyal creed "Mas Que un Club".

Team	Home city	Stadium	Stadium capacity
Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao	San Mamés	53,332
Atlético Madrid	Madrid	Vicente Calderón	54,960
FC Barcelona	Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,786
Real Betis	Seville	Benito Villamarín	52,745
Celta de Vigo	Vigo	Balaídos	31,800
UD Almería	Almeria	Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos	22,000
RCD Espanyol	Barcelona	Cornellà-El Prat	40,500
Getafe CF	Getafe	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	17,700
Granada CF	Granada	Nuevo Los Cármenes	22,524
Levante UD	Valencia	Ciutat de València	25,534
Málaga CF	Málaga	La Rosaleda	30,044
Elche CF	Elche	Martínez Valero	38,75
CA Osasuna	Pamplona	El Sadar	19,553
Rayo Vallecano	Madrid	Campo de Vallecas	15,489
Real Madrid C.F.	Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	85,454
Real Sociedad	San Sebastián	Anoeta	32,076
Sevilla FC	Seville	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	45,500
Valencia CF	Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Real Valladolid	Valladolid	Nuevo José Zorrilla	26,512
Villarreal CF	Villarreal	El Madrigal	24,890

History of Club Championships

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Seasons
Real Madrid	32	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, 2011–12
Barcelona	22	23	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, 2012–13
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
Valencia	6	6	1941–42, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1970–71, 2001–02, 2003–04
Real Sociedad	2	3	1980–81, 1981–82
Deportivo La Coruña	1	5	1999–00
Sevilla	1	4	1945–46
Betis	1	0	1934–35

El Classico

Since the inception of La Liga, there have been two dominant clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid. These two teams have established one of the greatest rivalries in sports known as "El Classio". Both their stadiums Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabeu are at full capacity when they play one another. 

These clubs have one of the richest/most successful heritage in Spain as well as the the world of futbol. It's quite fitting that the two best players in the world Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi face off against each other in this classic rivalry.


Best Players to Watch

1. Cristiano Ronaldo   Real Madrid (2009-present) Portugal (2003-present) Age 28
2. Lionel Messi           Barcelona (2004-present)   Argentina (2005-present) Age 26
3. Gareth Bale            Real Madrid (2013-present) Wales (2006-present) Age 24
4. Sergio Ramos        Real Madrid (2005-present) Spain (2005-present) Age 27
5. Andres Iniesta       Barcelona (2002-present) Spain (2006-present) Age 29
6. Neymar                 Barcelona (2013-present) Brazil (2010-present) Age 21
7. Xavi Hernandez    Barcelona (1998-present) Spain (2000-present) Age 34
8. Gerard Pique        Barcelona (2008-present) Spain (2009-present) Age 26
9. David Villa         Atletico Madrid (2013-present) Spain (2005-present) Age 32
10. Cesc Fabregas      Barcelona (2011-present) Spain (2006-present) Age 26

Rank	Nat	Name	Years	Goals	Apps	Ratio
1		Telmo Zarra	1940–1955	251	277	0.91
2		Hugo Sánchez	1981–1994	234	347	0.67
3		Raúl	1994–2010	228	550	0.41
4		Alfredo di Stéfano	1953–1966	227	329	0.69
5		Lionel Messi	2004–	223	259	0.86
6		César Rodríguez	1939–1955	223	353	0.63
7		Quini	1970–1987	219	448	0.49
8		Pahiño	1943–1956	210	278	0.76
9		Edmundo Suárez	1939–1950	195	231	0.84
10		Carlos Santillana	1970–1988	186	461	0.40