Spanish La Liga

La Liga (Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División) is the name of the Spanish football league and has existed since 1929. The first division is called Primera División (which is commonly referred to La Liga) and the second is called Segunda División. Since 1997 are 20 clubs participating in the top league of La Liga.

History

The first football league in Spain was The Catalan football championship (Campionat de Catalunya), established in 1901. After the creation of the La Liga, The Catalan football championship co-existed with the national league for some years until it was cancelled in 1940.

La Liga, the first national football league in Spain was founded in 1929 (the first season started in February that year and ended in June). At this time, it consisted of one division, Primera División, and contained ten clubs. The numbers of clubs would later expand at several occasions. In 1987, it reached 20 clubs and that have remained except a short period (1995-1997) with 22 clubs.

League system

The first and second division was founded together in 1929. In 1977, Segunda División B was founded to replace Tercera División as the third tier. Tercera División has since that been the fourth tier. An overview of the current national league system is presented in table 1.

Table 1. Spanish football tiers

Club	Tier
Primera División (La Liga)	1
Segunda División	2
Segunda División B	3
Tercera División	4

Below the forth tier the national football is played with regional divisions.

Qualification for European Cups

Nowadays, the top four teams in La Liga are qualified for the Champions League and the team that is placed fifth will get the chance to play in Europa League (one place also goes to the winner of the Copa del Rey).

Relegations

Nowadays, the three teams placed at the bottom of the table (places 18-20) of Primera División are relegated to Segunda División.

Stats

Teams with most titles

Statistics of all Spanish clubs that have won the top division in Spain, concerning the period 1929-2024.

Table 2. Clubs and La Liga titles

Club	Titles	1st title
Real Madrid	36	1931-32
Barcelona	27	1929-30
Atlético Madrid	10	1939-40
Athletic Bilbao	8	1929-30
Valencia	6	1941-42
Real Sociedad	2	1980-81
Real Betis	1	1934-35
Sevilla	1	1945-46
Deportivo La Coruña	1	1999-00

Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated Spanish club football from early on. Between the first season in 1929 to present day, they have together won 60 of the 89 possible trophies. The number of Spanish champions (9) can be compared with 16 in Italy and 28 in Germany.

Teams with most La Liga participation

Statistics of the Spanish clubs that have participated more than 50 times in the Primera División during the period 1929-2022.

Table 3. Clubs and league participation

Club	Participation
Real Madrid	91
Barcelona	91
Athletic Bilbao	91
Espanyol	86
Valencia	85
Atlético Madrid	85
Sevilla	78
Real Sociedad	75
Zaragoza	58
Real Betis	56
Celta Vigo	56

Between the first season and the last, in total 62 clubs have participated in top division of the Spanish league.

Audience

Capacity of La Liga stadiums

Table 4 shows the capacity of the clubs participating in La Liga. Camp Nou, where Barcelona play since 1957, has the highest capacity with almost 100,000 seats. The average capacity in the league is 36,104.

Table 4. The stadium capacities in the La Liga season 2019-2020

Team	Stadium name	Capacity
Alavés	Mendizorrotza	19,840
Athletic Bilbao	San Mamés	53,289
Atlético Madrid	Wanda Metropolitano	67,703
Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,354
Celta Vigo	Balaídos	29,000
Eibar	Ipurua	8,050
Espanyol	RCDE Stadium	40,500
Getafe	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	17,393
Granada	Nuevo Los Cármenes	19,336
Leganés	Butarque	12,450
Levante	Ciutat de València	26,354
Mallorca	Son Moix	24,262
Osasuna	El Sadar	18,570
Real Betis	Benito Villamarín	60,720
Real Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	81,044
Real Sociedad	Anoeta	25,000
Sevilla	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	42,714
Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Valladolid	José Zorrilla	26,512
Villarreal	Estadio de la Cerámica	23,500

Former La Liga clubs and stadiums: Girona, Montilivi (13,500); Huesca, El Alcoraz (7,638); Rayo Vallecano, Vallecas (14,708).

Players

Top goalscorers

The league's all-time leading goalscorer is Lionel Messi who has (in May 2020) made 438 goals in Barcelona. Messi is also the only player to score 50 times during one season (it should be noticed that the numbers of games per season has shifted over times; as a comparison Telmo Zarra scored 38 times in the 1950-51 season when each team only played 30 games).

On the second place among goalscorers is Cristiano Ronaldo who did 311 goals in Real Madrid on 292 appearances (a goal ratio record in the league).

Other notable goalscorers in the league are Hugo Sánches (234 goals for Real Madrid 1981-1994), Raúl (228 goals for Real Madrid 1994-2010), and Alfredo Di Stéfano (227 goals for Real Madrid 1953-1966).

Players with most appearances

The player with most appearances is the former national team goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta. He played most of his matches in FC Barcelona and in total he did 622 La Liga appearances. Next to him is the Real Madrid player Raúl with 550 matches.

By Oscar Anderson

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Liga
https://www.laliga.es/estadisticas-historicas
Image source:
Roberto Vicario