La Liga is one of the most popular sports leagues in the world and sits alongside the Bundesliga and the Premier League as one of the most prominent and successful football leagues with millions of international viewers and fans. Today we’re going to look at a few amazing facts about football in La Liga.
The oldest footballer to debut in La Liga was actually an Englishman. Harry Lowe was an impressive 48 years old when he played his first game for Real Sociedad. The former Spurs and Fulham centre half had been coaching for 5 years when, due to one his player’s falling ill, had to don the jersey in a match against Valencia.
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In terms of UEFA’s league coefficient, Spain’s Primera Division is still the world’s best league and has been for the past 5 years. In 2017 the Champions League final featured Real Madrid and Atletico while Sevilla won the Europa League. In that same year, the Ballon d’Or and other top football awards went to players in La Liga including Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and Ronaldo.
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The oldest club in Spain is Recreativo de Huelva, currently playing in the second division. The team was originally founded by English doctor William Alexander Mackay and other British workers and Engineers at the Rio Tinto mining company. The first official game was played in Seville in 1890.
Previously, the all-time top scorer in Spanish top flight football was Telmo Zarra who scored 251 goals in 277 games for Athletic Bilbao from 1940 to 1955. This record was overtaken by both Ronaldo and Messi, with the latter having scored a record 383 goals in La Liga.
Several of Spain’s top teams have some pretty strange nicknames. Atletico are known as the colchoneros or “mattress men”, supposedly because their kit resembled early 20
th century mattresses. Espanyol are clal the perriquitos (budgies), perhaps because they once played in an area with lots of palm trees filled with the birds. Villareal are called el ‘submarino amarillo’ (The Yellow Submarine) due to their striking kit.
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Anyone who’s listened to Spanish football commentary may have heard the word “pichichi” whenever Ronaldo or Messi are mentioned. Pichichi is the word for “maximum goal scorer” in Spain and was the original nickname of Rafael Moreno Aranzadi – a prolific striker in the 1920’s who passed away at 29 and was immortalized when the sports newspaper Marca decided to name their trophy for top scorer after him.
Barcelona’s Nou Camp holds 99,000 people – making it the fifth biggest association ground in the world. The home ground of Eibar on the other hand, holds less than 6,000 people. That’s quite a discrepancy in crowd size in top flight Spanish football.
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One of Spanish football’s strangest occurrences involves the signing of Alfredo Di Stefano. Barcelona was initially set to sign the star when Spain’s football federation intervened and vetoed the move in favour of a deal that would see Di Stefano play alternate years at Barcelona and Real Madrid. Many believe Dictator Franco pressured the football authorities to bring the player to his beloved Madrid.
Many people argue that there are really two leagues in Spanish top flight: Real Madrid v Barca, and, everyone else. Real Madrid and Barcelona alone are two of the richest clubs in the entire world while the next largest club, Atletico Madrid only makes the top 20.
The “merengues”, as Real Madrid are known, are the most famous team to play in white. Theories on how the team’s founders chose the colour include a love of the London side Corinthian F.C. who played in white at the start of the 1900’s, and a penchant the players had for discarding their clothes and playing in their underwear. As Real were the oldest team in the capital, they were the only ones who didn’t have to wear a coloured sash to distinguish themselves.
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So if you’re a massive fan of Spain’s top flight, the make sure to
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