Real Madrid C.F.

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish: Royal Madrid Football Club) or simply “Real Madrid”. Also known by the nicknames: Los Blancos (Spanish: “the White”), Los Merengues (The Meringues). Dominating , reputed and an early twentieth-century club, Real Madrid, is one of the most successful football franchises of Europe and the world, made up the realm of Spanish professional football with its many contributions and successes, as being one of the founding members of La Liga in 1929.

The club has never been relegated from the top domestic league. As a major football force of the world, at home it has won 32 La Liga, 19 Copa del Ray titles, with 10 European Cups and 2 UEFA Cups, among them 5 consecutive European Cups from 1956 to 1960. Idolized by Spain’s mass, the club equally returned the adoring audiences with its many achievements. Also, financially successful, the club is 2018’s highest earning football club and was worth about 3.4 billion dollars in 2018. Awarded as the FIFA Club of the 20th century in 2000, FIFA Centennial Order of Merit in 2004 and Best European Club of the 20th Century in 2010.

Present Lineup or Squad

Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas (No.1), Thibaut Courtois (No. 25), Luca Zidane (No. 30).

Defenders: Dani Carvajal (No.2), Jesús Vallejo (No.3), Sergio Ramos (Captain, No.4), Raphaël Varane (No.5), Nacho (No.6), Marcelo (No.12), Álvaro Odriozola (No.19), Sergio Reguilón (No.23).

Midfielders: Toni Kroos (No.8), Luka Modrić (No.10), Casemiro (No.14), Fede Valverde (No.15), Marcos Llorente (No.18), Marco Asensio (No.20), Brahim Díaz (No.21), Isco (No.22), Dani Ceballos (No.24).

Forwards: Mariano (No.7), Karim Benzema (No.9), Gareth Bale (No.11), Lucas Vázquez (No.17), Vinícius Júnior (No.28).

Summary of History

Founded initially as Sky Football club in 1897, the club officially founded as Madrid Football club on March the 6th, 1902. Later in 1920, the Spanish King awarded them the title “real” (Spanish: Royal), which was attached to their name from then on. Real Madrid won its first ever title, the Copa del Rey, beating Athletic Bilbao in the final of 1905, and won 4 consecutive Copa del Rey titles up until 1908. It’s been one of the founder of the Royal Spanish Football Federation in 1909. In 1929, as one of the co-founders of La Liga, the premier Spanish football league, Real Madrid ended up runners up in that initial tournament. Their first victory in La Liga came in 1931-32 and retained the following year’s. During the 30s the club also won 2 Copa Del Rey titles (1934, 1936), but nothing further. Then came the Great War of WW2 but unlike most countries, football continued in Spain.

The 50s had been a much better decade for the club, upon its inception in 1955–56, the European Cup, Real Madrid won the first tournament by beating French club Stade de Reims by 4-3 at Parc des Princes, Paris. Not only that, including the first European Cup title Real Madrid won 5 consecutive European titles from 1956 to 1960. The five successive European cup title-winning team was considered by many as the greatest club team of all time , was constituted by the likes of players, such as Puskas , Alfredo Di Stéfano, Francisco Gento and Raymond Kopa. Real Madrid was eventually awarded the European Cup trophy permanently in 1967. At home Real Madrid won 4 La Liga titles (1954, 1955, 1957, and 1958).

The 60s, the club begin with the 1959-60 European Cup, part of the 5 straight European cup titles and the later one in 1966 by beating Partizan Belgrade 2–1 in the final and been European Cup runners up in 1962 and 1964. Domestically the club won the decades 8 out of 10 La Liga titles, with two consecutive spells from 1961 to 1965 (5 titles) and 1967 to 1969 (3 titles), 1962 Copa del Rey, 1960 Intercontinental Cup. During the 60s under coach Miguel Munoz (1959, 1960–1974) Puskas, Luis del Sol, Stefano, Gento as forwards, in the defense Marquitos, Pachin and Santamaria, Real Madrid became an unstoppable team.

In a lesser successful 70s the club didn’t manage to win any major European or international titles, but quite a few domestic titles. Real Madrid won 5 La Liga titles (1972, 1975, ‘76,’78, 1979) and 3 Copa del Rey (1970, 1974, 1975,) titles. The 70s team consists of some outstanding players like Roberto Martinez, Miguel Angel, Del Bosque, Santillana, Pirri, Breitner, Benito, and Camacho. In the early 80s, the club’s performance was modest to mediocre and deficient of any great success. The club managed to win 1980 La Liga and Copa del Rey and 1982 Copa del Rey. But all changed during the later half of the 80s, with the induction of the players like Miguel Pardeza, Emilio Butragueño, Manuel Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel, Miguel Porlán Chendo, Hugo Sánchez and goalkeeper Francisco Buyo, Real Madrid regained its prominence and former posture. During this later half of the 80s, they own 5 successive La Ligas (1986 to 1990), 1 Copa del Rey of 1988–89, three Spanish Super Cups (1988 to 1990) and two UEFA Cups (1984–85, 1985–86).

Despite Impressive finishing of the 80s, considering clubs performance, the 90s was mostly unremarkable, apart from 1998 European Cup title, reclaiming it after 32 years by beating Juventus 1-0 in the final and the Intercontinental Cup in the same year. In the domestics league, the club added 2 La Liga (1994–95, 1996–97), Copa del Rey (1992–93),2 Spanish Super Cup (1993, 1997) titles. Along with key domestic players like Raul, and Fernando Hierro, and the arrival of foreign players like Fernando Redondo, Roberto Carlos, Predrag Mijatović, Davor Šuker, Clarence Seedorf, and Bodo Illgner, and later the arrival of Steve McManaman and Nicolas Anelka, brought some success, as Real won the 2000 European Cup.

Following Florentino Pérez being elected as the club’s new president, he began assembling a world-famous team, beginning with the Figo, later joined by Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, David Beckham, and Fabio Cannavaro, often with world-record transfer fees. Along with some more signings in the 2005-06 season, like Júlio Baptista, Sergio Ramos, and Robinho. During Perez’s first spell (2000-06) they won 2 La Liga (2000–01, 2002–03), 2 Spanish Super Cup (2001,2003),2002 European Cup beating Bayer Leverkusen, 2002 UEFA Super Cup and 2002 Intercontinental Cup.

Perez was succeeded by Ramón Calderón, during his presidency the club won 2006–07 and 2007–08 La Liga titles, Spanish Super Cup in 2008. In 2009 Perez was re-elected as president and immediately embarked on his previous path of acquiring football superstars, beginning with Kaká from Milan and Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. Following seasons were mixed for Real Madrid, in 2010 they won Copa del Rey beating their arch rival Barcelona 1-0 in the extra time, 2011-12 La Liga by beating Athletic Bilbao, 2012-13 Spanish Super Cup on the basis of away goals after being tied on aggregate goals with Barcelona. In 2014 Real Madrid become the first and only team to win 10 European Cup titles by beating Atlético Madrid 4–1 in the extra time, they also won 2013-14 Copa del Rey. After that, they won fewer domestic titles than international, one La Liga in 2016–17 and Spanish Super Cup in 2017. But Real Madrid won three successive European Cup titles in 2015–16, 2016–17 and 2017–18; UEFA Super Cups in 2014, 2016 and 2017 and 4 FIFA World Club Cups in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Honours

Most Notable Players

In its colorful and long history, many standing out players made Real Madrid their home. Among them few distinguished players are:

• Santiago Bernabéu Yeste (Forward, 1911–1927, 51 appearances, 46 goals)
• Alfredo di Stéfano (Forward, 1953–1964, 282 appearances, 216 goals)
• Raymond Kopa (Midfielder,1956–1959,79 appearances, 24 goals)
• Ferenc Puskás (Forward, 1958–1966, 262 appearances, 242 goals)
• Francisco Gento (Forward, 1953–1971, 428 appearances, 128 goals)
• Emilio Butragueno (Forward, 1984–1995, 341 appearances, 123 goals)
• Michel (Midfielder, 1981–1996, 559 appearances, 130 goals)
• Hugo Sánchez (Forward, 1985–1992, 282 appearances, 208 goals)
• Fernando Redondo (Midfielder, 1994–2000, 165 appearances, 4 goals)
• Luís Figo (Forward, 2000–2005, 245 appearances, 58 goals)
• Zinedine Zidane (Midfielder, 2001–2006, 227 appearances, 49 goals)
• Roberto Carlos (Defender, 1996–2007, 527 appearances, 69 goals)
• Raúl González (Forward, 1994–2010, 741 appearances, 323 goals)
• Kaká (Midfielder, 2009–2013, 85 appearances, 23 goals)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Forward, 2009–2018, 292 appearances, 311 goals)
• Sergio Ramos (Defender, 2005–, 598 appearances, 83 goals)

Sources:
https://www.realmadrid.com/en/about-real-madrid/history/football
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Madrid_CF
https://www.footballhistory.org/club/real-madrid.html
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Real-Madrid