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| Full name | Real Madrid Club de Fútbol[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Los Blancos (The Whites) Los Merengues (The Merengues) Los Galácticos (The Superstars) | |||
| Founded | 6 March 1902 (as Madrid Football Club)[2] | |||
| Ground | Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid (Capacity: 80,354) | |||
| Honorary President | Alfredo Di Stéfano | |||
| President | Florentino Pérez | |||
| Head Coach | José Mourinho | |||
| League | La Liga | |||
| 2009–10 | La Liga, 2nd | |||
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 Current season | ||||
Founded in 1902, Real Madrid has spent its entire history in La Liga, the top league of Spanish football. In the 1940s, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and the Ciudad Deportiva had to be rebuilt following the Spanish Civil War. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s. In the 1980s, the club had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe (known as La Quinta del Buitre), winning two UEFA Cups, five consecutive Spanish championships, one Spanish Cup and three Spanish Super Cups.
The team's traditional home colours are all white, although it initially adopted a blue oblique stripe on the shirt. Its crest has been changed several times in attempts to modernise or re-brand it. The current crest is a modified version of the one first adopted in the 1920s. Real Madrid's home ground is the 80,354-seater Santiago Bernabéu football stadium in downtown Madrid, where it has played since 1947. In 2010 the Bernabéu held the final of the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid holds long-standing rivalries with other football clubs, most notably FC Barcelona, with matches between the two teams referred to as "el Clásico". Unlike most European football clubs, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club since its inception. The club is the world's richest football club (€401m) in terms of revenue and the second most valuable and was worth over €950m in 2008.[3][4]
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[edit] History
Main article: History of Real Madrid C.F.
In 1929, the first Spanish football league was founded. Real Madrid led the first edition until the last match, a loss to Athletic Bilbao, meant they finished runners-up to Barcelona.[7] Real Madrid won its first League title in the 1931–32 season. The Whites won the League again the following year, becoming the first side to have won the championship twice.[8]
Santiago Bernabéu Yeste became president of Real Madrid in 1945.[9] Under his presidency, the club, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and the Ciudad Deportiva were rebuilt following the Spanish Civil War. Beginning in 1953, he embarked upon a strategy of signing world-class players from abroad, the most prominent of them being Alfredo Di Stéfano.[10]
In 1955, acting upon the idea proposed by the French sports journalist and editor of L'Équipe Gabriel Hanot, and building upon the Copa Latina (a tournament involving clubs from France, Spain, Portugal and Italy), Bernabéu met in the Ambassador Hotel in Paris with Bedrignan and Gusztáv Sebes and created an exhibition tournament of invited teams from around Europe that would eventually become what today is known as the UEFA Champions League.[11] It was under Bernabéu's guidance that Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football. The club won the European Cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960, which included the 7–3 Hampden Park final against Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960.[10] Winning the competition five consecutive times saw Real permanently awarded the original cup and earning the right to wear the UEFA badge of honour.[12] The club won the European Cup for a sixth time in 1966 defeating FK Partizan 2–1 in the final with a team composed entirely of nationally born players (known as the Ye-yé team) – a first in the competition.[13] The name "Ye-yé" came from the "Yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus in the Beatles' song "She Loves You" after four members of the team posed for Diario Marca dressed in Beatles wigs. The Ye-yé generation was also European Cup runner-up in 1962 and 1964.[13]
In the 1970s, Real Madrid won 5 league championships and 3 Spanish Cups.[14] The club played its first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in 1971, being defeated by English side Chelsea 2-1.[15] On 2 July 1978, club president Santiago Bernabéu died while the World Cup was being played in Argentina. In his honour FIFA decreed three days of mourning during the tournament.[16] The following year, the club organized the first edition of the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy in the memory of its former president.
By the early 1980s, Real Madrid had lost its grasp on the La Liga title until a new batch of home-grown stars brought domestic success back to the club.[17] Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias gave to this generation the name La Quinta del Buitre ("Vulture's Cohort"), which was derived from the nickname given to one of its members, Emilio Butragueño. The other four members were Manuel Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.[18] With La Quinta del Buitre (reduced to four members when Pardeza left the club for Zaragoza in 1986) and notable players like goalkeeper Francisco Buyo, right-back Miguel Porlán Chendo and Mexican striker Hugo Sánchez, Real Madrid had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe during the second half of the 1980s, winning two UEFA Cups, five Spanish championships in a row, one Spanish cup and three Spanish Super Cups.[18]
In the early 1990s, La Quinta del Buitre split up after Martín Vázquez, Emilio Butragueño and Míchel left the club. In 1996, President Lorenzo Sanz appointed Fabio Capello as coach. Although his tenure lasted only one season, Real Madrid was proclaimed league champion and players like Roberto Carlos, Predrag Mijatović, Davor Šuker and Clarence Seedorf arrived at the club to strengthen a squad that already boasted the likes of Raúl, Fernando Hierro, Iván Zamorano, and Fernando Redondo. As a result, Real Madrid (with the addition of Fernando Morientes in 1997) finally ended its 32-year wait for its seventh European Cup. In 1998, under manager Jupp Heynckes, The Whites defeated Juventus 1–0 in the final thanks to a goal from Predrag Mijatović.[19]
In July 2000, Florentino Pérez was elected club president.[20] His campaign vowed to erase the club's debt and modernize the club's facilities. However, the primary electoral promise that propelled Pérez to victory was the signing of Luís Figo.[21] The following year, the club controversially got its training ground rezoned and used the money to begin assembling the famous Galáctico side including players such as Zinédine Zidane, Ronaldo, Luís Figo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl and David Beckham. It is debatable whether the gamble paid off, as despite a European Cup win in 2002, followed by the League in 2003, the club failed to win a major trophy for the next three seasons.[22]
Ramón Calderón was elected as club president on 2 July 2006 and subsequently appointed Fabio Capello as the new coach and Predrag Mijatović as the new sporting director. Real Madrid won the La Liga title in 2007 for the first time in four years but Capello was sacked.[23] In the 2007–08 season, The Whites won the domestic league for the 31st time, achieving their first consecutive league title in eighteen years.[24] On 1 June 2009, Florentino Pérez regained Real Madrid's presidency.[25][26] Pérez continued with the Galácticos policy pursued in his first term, buying Kaká from A.C. Milan[27] then purchasing Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for a record breaking £80 million.
[edit] Crest and colours
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Real's traditional away colours are all black or all purple. The club's kit is currently manufactured by Adidas whose contract extends from 1998.[32][33] Real Madrid's first shirt sponsor, Zanussi, agreed for the 1982–83, 1983–84 and 1984–85 seasons. Following that, the club was sponsored by Parmalat and Otaysa before a long-term deal was signed with Teka in 1992.[34][35] In 2001, Real Madrid ended their contract with Teka and for one season used the Realmadrid.com logo to promote the club's website. Then, in 2002, a deal was signed with Siemens Mobile and in 2006, the BenQ Siemens logo appeared on the club's shirt.[36] Real Madrid's current shirt sponsor is bwin.com following the economic problems of BenQ Siemens.[37][38]
[edit] Stadium
The capacity has changed frequently, peaking at 120,000 after a 1953 expansion.[40][41] Since then, there have been a number of reductions due to modernizations (the last standing places went away in 1998–99 in response to UEFA regulations which forbids standing at matches in the UEFA competition), countered to some extent by expansions.[40] The last change was an increase of about five thousand to a capacity of 80,354, effected in 2003. A plan to add a retractable roof has been announced.[42]
The Bernabéu has hosted the 1964 European Championship final, the 1982 FIFA World Cup final, the 1957, 1969 and 1980 European Cup finals and the 2010 Champions League Final.[43] The stadium has its own Madrid Metro station along the 10 line called Santiago Bernabéu.[44] On 14 November 2007, the Bernabéu has been upgraded to Elite Football Stadium status by UEFA.[45]
On 9 May 2006, the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium was inaugurated at the City of Madrid where Real Madrid usually trains. The inaugural match was played between Real Madrid and Stade Reims, a rematch of the 1956 European Cup final. Real Madrid won the match 6–1 with goals from Sergio Ramos, Cassano (2), Soldado (2), and Jurado. The venue is now part of the Ciudad Real Madrid, the club's new training facilities located outside Madrid in Valdebebas. The stadium holds 5,000 people and is Real Madrid Castilla's home ground. It is named after former Real footballer Alfredo i Stéfano.[46]
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