Real
Madrid Club de Fútbol (1902) is Spain's and the world's most
successful football club, according to FIFA's club ranking of
the 20th century, just ahead of Manchester United. Formed on
March 6, 1902, it competes in the Spanish first division or
Primera División, from which it has never been relegated since
the formation of Spain's national league in 1928. The club was
originally named Madrid Club de Fútbol, but were allowed to use
the title Real after King Alfonso XIII of Spain gave the club an
official blessing in June 1920.
The team play in an all-white uniform, which is the origin of
their nickname Los merengues. Their home stadium is the Santiago
Bernabéu in Chamartín, Madrid, which was founded on December 14,
1947. It has a capacity of 85,000 spectators and its field
measures 106x70 meters.
Since the middle of the 20th century, Real Madrid has
consistently been ranked as one of the top football clubs in
Europe. It has won the European Cup more times than any other
club, winning the first five European Cups. The rivalry between
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona is legendary, and draws as much
from Spanish politics as it does from footballing matters; Real
Madrid were the favoured club of Spanish dictator General Franco
and it was alleged in some quarters that results were
manipulated to their benefit by him.
In recent years, Real Madrid have become famous for signing some
of the world's best footballers, giving the club a new nickname
of Los galacticos. This trend began shortly after Euro 2000 with
the world record £37.5m acquisition of Portuguese playmaker Luis
Figo from FC Barcelona, who had risen to prominence with some
influential displays in the tournament. He was joined the
following year by then two-time FIFA World Player of the Year
Zinedine Zidane from the Italian side Juventus, again for a
world record fee - this time approximately £47.5m. The following
season, they purchased Ronaldo, top scorer in the 2002 FIFA
World Cup, for around £28m from Internazionale.
In the summer of 2003, their target was David Beckham, captain
of the English national side, who signed from Manchester United
for approximately £25m. Cynics argued that this particular
development had as much to do with finance as football, with the
Beckham brand ensuring increased revenue from merchandising.
However, Beckham made a good start with Madrid, despite their
relative underachievement in the 2003/2004 season (finishing
fourth in the Primera Liga). This poor display led to the
sacking of coach Carlos Queiroz, who had also made the trip to
Madrid from Manchester United in 2003 after leaving his position
as assistant manager at the English club.
Real's main target in the 2004 offseason was Patrick Vieira; the
club made an offer of €35 million (£23.1 million) to English
Premiership champions Arsenal for his services. Arsenal rejected
Real's overtures, and Real instead made two surprise signings,
of Liverpool's Michael Owen and Newcastle's Jonathan Woodgate,
who hasn´t played a single match since being signed.
The other two main clubs from Madrid are Atlético de Madrid and
(less famously) Getafe. A third club, Rayo Vallecano, was
recently relegated to the Segunda División B (Spanish third
level), after spending most of its history in the first two
levels.
|
