Real Madrid was a founding member of FIFA and the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association. The word "Real" in the club's name is the Spanish term for "royal", and was given by the King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem – several other Spanish football teams also received this royal distinction: Real Sociedad, Real Unión de Irún, Real Betis, and Real Zaragoza.
Founded in 1902, Real Madrid has never been relegated from La Liga, the top league of Spanish football. 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 (known as La Quinta del Buitre) in Spain and Europe, winning two UEFA Cups, five consecutive Spanish championships, one Spanish Cup and three Spanish Super Cups.
The team's traditional home kit colour is white, although it originally adopted a blue oblique stripe on the shirt. Its crest has been changed several times 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. The Bernabéu was the venue for the European cup (or UEFA Champions League) finals of 1957, 1969, 1980 and 2010.
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 (€438.6m) in terms of revenue[4] and the second most valuable worth over €1.4mld in 2011.[5]
Raúl holds the record for most Real Madrid appearances, having played 741 first-team matches from 1994 to 2010. Manuel Sanchis, Jr. comes second, having played 711 times.[50] The record for a goalkeeper is held by Iker Casillas, with 575 appearances. With 127 caps (47 while at the club), Luís Figo of Portugal is Real's most capped international player.[51]
Raúl is Real's all-time top goalscorer, with 323 goals in 741 games (1994–2010).[52] Four other players have also scored over 200 goals for Real: Alfredo Di Stefano (1953–64), Santillana (1971–88), Ferenc Puskás (1958–66) and Hugo Sánchez (1985–92). Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for the most league goals scored in one season (40 in 2010–11). Di Stéfano's 49 goals in 58 matches was for decades the all-time highest tally in the European Cup, until it was surpassed by Raúl in 2005. The fastest goal in the history of the club (15 seconds) was scored by Brazilian Ronaldo on 3 December 2003 during a league match against Atlético Madrid.[53]
Officially, the highest home attendance figure for a Real Madrid match is 83,329, which was for a football cup competition, Copa del Rey, in 2006. The current legal capacity of Estadio Santiago Bernabeu is 80,354.[54] The club's average attendance in 2007–08 season was 76,234, the highest in European Leagues.[55] Real has also set records in Spanish football, most notably the most domestic titles (31 as of 2007–08) and the most seasons won in a row (5, during 1960–65 and 1985–90).[56] With 121 matches (from 17 February 1957 to 7 March 1965), the club holds the record for longest unbeaten run at home in La Liga.[57]
The Whites also hold the record for winning the UEFA Champions League nine times and for the most semi-final appearances (21).[58] Raúl González is the all-time UEFA Champions League top scorer, with 71 goals in total, 66 whilst playing for Real Madrid. The team has the record number of consecutive participation in the European Cup with 15, from 1955–56 to 1969–70.
In June 2009, the club broke its own record for the highest transfer fee ever paid in the history of football by agreeing to pay Manchester United €96 million ($131.5 million, £80 million) for the services of Cristiano Ronaldo.[59] The fee of €76 million (over $100 million, £45.8 million) for Zinedine Zidane's transfer from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001 was the previous highest transfer fee ever paid. That Zidane's record had been ephemerally broken previously in June 2009, when Real Madrid had agreed to buy Kaká from AC Milan for a fee that was, for a few days, the first one to exceed the Zizou's transfer in pounds sterling. The club's record sale came on 1 September 2008, when they sold Robinho to Manchester City for €42 million (£32.5 million).[60]
Support
During most home matches the majority of the seats in the stadium are occupied by season ticket holders, of which there are average of 68,670.[1] To become a season ticket holder one must first be a socio, or club member. In addition to members, the club has more than 1,800 peñas (official, club-affiliated supporters' groups) in Spain and around the world. Real Madrid has the highest average all-time attendance in Spanish football and regularly attracts over 65,000 fans to Santiago Bernabéu; it was the second best-supported La Liga team in the 2004–05 season, with an average gate of 71,900.[61] Real Madrid's hardcore supporters are the so-called Ultras Sur supporters. They are known for their extreme right-wing politics. The Ultras Sur have developed an alliance with other right wing groups, most notably S.S. Lazio Irriducibili fans. On several occasions they have racially abused opposing players, and have been investigated by UEFA for doing so.[62][63]El Clásico
Main article: El Clásico
There is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams in a national league, and this is particularly the case in La Liga, where the game between Real Madrid and Barcelona is known as 'The Classic' (El Clásico). From the start of national competitions the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival regions in Spain: Catalonia and Castile, as well as of the two cities. The rivalry reflects what many regard as the political and cultural tensions felt between Catalans and the Castilians, seen by one author as a re-enactment of the Spanish Civil War.[64]During the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and especially of Francisco Franco (1939–1975), all regional cultures were suppressed. All of the languages spoken in Spanish territory, except Spanish (Castilian) itself, were officially banned.[65][66] Symbolising the Catalan people's desire for freedom, Barcelona became 'More than a club' (Més que un club) for the Catalans. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way for the Catalans to demonstrate their identity was by joining Barcelona. It was less risky than joining a clandestine anti-Franco movement, and allowed them to express their dissidence.[67]
On the other hand, Real Madrid was widely seen as the embodiment of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime at management level and beyond (Santiago Bernabeu, the former club president for whom the Merengues stadium is named, fought with los nacionales).[68][69] However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs such as Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters.
During the 1950s the rivalry was exacerbated further when there was a controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo di Stéfano, who finally played for Real Madrid and was key to their subsequent success.[70] The 1960s saw the rivalry reach the European stage when they met twice at the knock-out rounds of the European Cup.[71] In 2002, the European encounter between the clubs was dubbed the "Match of The Century" by Spanish media, and was watched by more than 500 million people.[72]
El Derbi madrileño
Main article: El Derbi madrileño
Between 1961 and 1989, when Real dominated La Liga, only Atlético offered it any serious challenge, winning Liga titles in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. In 1965, Atlético became the first team to beat Real at the Bernabéu in eight years. Real Madrid's record against Atlético in more recent times is very favorable.[74] A high point coming in the 2002–03 season, when The Whites clinched the La Liga title after an impressive victory at Atlético 0–4 at the Vicente Calderón Stadium.[75]
Finances and ownership
It was under Florentino Pérez's first presidency (2000–2006) that Real Madrid started its ambition of becoming the world's richest professional football club.[76] The club ceded part of its training grounds to the city of Madrid in 2001, and sold the rest to four corporations: Repsol YPF, Mutua Automovilística de Madrid, Sacyr Vallehermoso and OHL. The sale eradicated the club's debts, paving the way for it to buy the world's most expensive players such as Zinédine Zidane, Luís Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham. The city had previously rezoned the training grounds for development, a move which in turn increased their value, and then bought the site.[24] The EU-commission started an investigation into whether the city overpaid for the property, to be considered a form of state subsidy.[77]The sale of the training ground for office buildings cleared Real Madrid's debts of €270m and enabled the club to embark upon an unprecedented spending spree which brought big-name players to the club. In addition, profit from the sale was spent on a state-of-the-art training complex on the city's outskirts.[78] Although Pérez's policy resulted in increased financial success from the exploitation of the club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia, it came under increasing criticism for being too focused on marketing the Real Madrid brand, and not enough on the performances of the team.
By September 2007, Real Madrid was considered the most valuable football brand in Europe by BBDO.[79] In 2008, it was ranked the second most valuable club in football, with a value of €951 mil (£640 million / $1.285 billion),[80] only beaten by Manchester United, which was valued at €1.333 billion (£900 million).[81] In 2010, Real Madrid had the highest turnover in football worldwide.[82] In September 2009, Real Madrid's management announced plans to open its own dedicated theme park by 2013.[83]
A study at Harvard University concluded that Real Madrid "is one of the 20 most important brand names and the only one in which its executives, the players, are well-known. We have some spectacular figures in regard to worldwide support of the club. There are an estimated 287 million people worldwide who follow Real Madrid."[84] In 2010, Forbes evaluated Real Madrid's worth to be around €992 million (USD $1,323 million), ranking them second after Manchester United, based on figures from the 2008–09 season.[85][86] According to Deloitte, Real Madrid had a recorded revenue of €401 million in the same period, ranking first.[87]
Along with FC Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna, Real Madrid is organised as a registered association. Unlike a limited company, it is not possible to purchase shares in the club, but only membership.[88] The members of Real Madrid, called socios, form an assembly of delegates which is the highest governing body of the club.[89] As of 2010 the club has 60,000 socios.[90] At the end of the 2009–10 season, the club board of directors of the clud stated that Real Madrid had a net debt of €244.6 million, 82.1 million lower than the previous fiscal year.
Popular culture
Real Madrid was the featured club in the second edition of the Goal! football movie trilogy, Goal! 2: Living the Dream... (2007). The film follows former Newcastle United star Santiago Muñez as he is first scouted, and then signed by Real Madrid for the 2005–06 season. The film's creators wanted to put emphasis on the changes in Muñez's life after his move to Madrid. Production was done with the full support of UEFA, allowing the film crew to use many real life players in cameo roles. Real Madrid squad members featured in the film included Iker Casillas, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Sergio Ramos, Robinho, Thomas Gravesen, Michael Owen, Míchel Salgado, Júlio Baptista, Steve McManaman, Jonathan Woodgate, and Iván Helguera. Non-Real Madrid players to make cameo appearances included Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o, Andrés Iniesta, Pablo Aimar, Fredrik Ljungberg, Cesc Fàbregas, Santiago Cañizares and others. In the film, both Florentino Pérez and Alfredo Di Stéfano presented the fictional player Muñez to the club after his signing.[91]Real, The Movie is a 2005 part feature, part documentary film that showcases the world-wide passion for Real Madrid C.F. Produced by the club and directed by Borja Manso, it follows five sub-stories of fans from around the world and their love for Real Madrid. Along with the fictional portion of the film, it also contains real footage of the squad, during training at Ciudad Real Madrid, matches, and interviews. Although the film mentions all of the squad, it mainly focuses on galácticos such as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Raúl, Luís Figo, Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, and Roberto Carlos, among others. The film was originally produced in Spanish, but has been dubbed for their world-wide fanbase.
The book White Storm: 100 years of Real Madrid by Phil Ball was the first English-language history of Real Madrid. Published in 2002, it talks about the most successful moments of the club during its first centenary, having been translated into various languages.
Players
Main article: List of Real Madrid C.F. players
For a list of all former and current Real Madrid C.F. players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Real Madrid C.F. players.
Spanish teams are limited to three players without EU citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player; several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country. Also, players from the ACP countries—countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement—are not counted against non-EU quotas due to the Kolpak ruling.
