Real Madrid CF

"Real Madrid" redirects here. For the basketball team, see Real Madrid Baloncesto. For other uses, see Real Madrid (disambiguation).
"Los Blancos" redirects here. For the Argentine village, see Los Blancos, Salta.

Real Madrid
Full nameReal Madrid Club de Fútbol[1]
Nickname(s)Los Blancos (The Whites)
Los Merengues (The Meringues)
Los Vikingos (The Vikings)[2]
La Casa Blanca (The White House)[3]
Reyes de Europa (Kings of Europe)[4][5]
Madridistas (supporters)[6]
Short nameRMA
Founded6 March 1902; 122 years ago (1902-03-06) (as Madrid Football Club)[7]
GroundEstadio Santiago Bernabéu
Capacity78,297
PresidentFlorentino Pérez
Head coachCarlo Ancelotti
LeagueLa Liga
2023–24La Liga, 1st of 20 (champions)
Websiterealmadrid.com
Current season
Active departments of Real Madrid
Football Football B Football C Football U-19
Women's Football Women's Football B Basketball Basketball B
Closed departments of Real Madrid
Handball Rugby Volleyball

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal maˈðɾið ˈkluβ ðe ˈfuðβol] ⓘ), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football.

Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn a white home kit since its inception. The honorific title real is Spanish for "royal" and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 alongside with the crown in the club crest. Real Madrid have played their home matches in the 85,000-capacity Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting clubs, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club throughout its history. The official Madrid anthem is the "Hala Madrid y nada más", written by RedOne and Manuel Jabois.[8] The club is one of the most widely supported in the world and is the most followed football club on social media according to the CIES Football Observatory as of 2023.[9][10] It was estimated to be worth $6.6 billion in 2024, making it the world's most valuable football club.[11] In 2024, Real Madrid become the first football club to make €1 billion ($1.08bn) in revenue according to the club's announcement.[12]

In domestic football, the club has won 71 trophies; a record 36 La Liga titles, 20 Copa del Rey, 13 Supercopa de España, a Copa Eva Duarte and a Copa de la Liga.[13] In International football, Real Madrid have won a record 34 trophies: a record 15 European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles, a record six UEFA Super Cups, two UEFA Cups, a joint record two Latin Cups, a record one Iberoamerican Cup, and a record eight FIFA Club World championships.[note 1] Madrid was ranked first in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics Club World Ranking for 2000, 2002, 2014, 2017.[17] In UEFA, Madrid ranks first in the all-time club ranking.[18][19]

Being one of the three founding members of La Liga that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929 (along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona), Real Madrid has many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with Barcelona and El Derbi Madrileño with Atlético Madrid. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s and 60s, winning five consecutive and six overall European Cups and reaching a further two finals. This success was replicated on the domestic front, with Madrid winning 12 league titles in 16 years. This team, which included Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás, Paco Gento and Raymond Kopa is considered, by some in the sport, to be the greatest of all time.[20][21] Real Madrid is known for its Galácticos policy, which involves signing the world's best players, such as Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham to create a superstar team.[22] The term 'Galácticos policy' generally refers to the two eras of Florentino Pérez's presidency of the club (2000–2006 and 2009–2018); however, players brought in just before his tenure are sometimes considered to be part of the Galácticos legacy. A notable example is Steve McManaman, who like many other players also succeeded under the policy.[23] On 26 June 2009, Madrid signed Cristiano Ronaldo for a record-breaking £80 million (€94 million);[24] he became both the club's and history's all-time top goalscorer.[25][26][27][28] Madrid have recently relaxed the Galácticos policy, instead focusing on signing young talents such as Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham[29] and Kylian Mbappé.[30][31]

Real Madrid is recognised as the greatest football club of the 20th century by FIFA and as the best European club during the same timeframe by the IFFHS,[32] while also receiving the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit in 2004.[33] Real Madrid has the highest participations in the European Cup/Champions League (43),[18] a tournament in which they hold the overall record for the most wins, most draws and most goals scored.[34] Real Madrid is the only club to have won three consecutive titles (three-peat) in the European Cup/Champions League twice, first in 1955–56, 1956–57, and 1957–58, and second in 2015–16, 2016–17 and 2017–18. In June 2024, they won a record-extending 15th Champions League title (the fifth in nine seasons), recognised as such by Guinness World Records.[35] Real Madrid is the first club across all of Europe's top-five leagues to win 100 trophies in all competitions.[36] As of July 2024, Real Madrid are ranked 2nd in the UEFA club rankings and first in last 10 years (2013–2023) overall.[37][38]

  1. ^ "Real Madrid Club de Fútbol" (in Spanish). Liga de Fútbol Profesional. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Los vikingos arrasan Europa". Ligadecampeones.com. 23 November 1960. Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  3. ^ The White House:
  4. ^ "Real Madrid remind the world they are, and always will be, the Kings of Europe". goal.com. 28 May 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Kings of Europe more than ever". marca.com. 27 May 2018. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  6. ^ "From Handel to Hala Madrid: music of champions". UEFA.com. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Real Madrid turns 106 (I) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Hala Madrid...y nada más (feat. RedOne), 27 May 2014, archived from the original on 25 March 2023, retrieved 23 June 2023
  9. ^ Dongfeng Liu, Girish Ramchandani (2012). "The Global Economics of Sport", p. 65, Routledge.
  10. ^ "Social media: Real ahead of Barcelona - CIES Football Observatory". football-observatory.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  11. ^ Ozanian, Mike; Tietelbaum, Justin (23 May 2024). "The World's Most Valuable Soccer Teams 2024". Forbes. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  12. ^ News, A. B. C. "Real Madrid first club in world to report €1bn in revenue". ABC News. Retrieved 24 July 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  13. ^ "World Football: The 11 Most Successful European Clubs in History". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  14. ^ Press Association Sport (27 October 2017). "Man United retrospectively declared 1999 world club champions by FIFA". ESPN FC. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ibero-American 1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ibero-American 2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Former Results". IFFHS (in German). 18 July 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  18. ^ a b "UEFA Champions League statistics 2022–23 handbook – All-time records 1955–2022" (PDF). UEFA. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  19. ^ "Member associations – UEFA rankings – Club coefficients". UEFA. 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 18 March 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Real Madrid 1960 – the greatest club side of all time". BBC. 23 May 2011. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  21. ^ "The great European Cup teams: Real Madrid 1955–60". The Guardian. 22 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  22. ^ Rai, Guillermo. "How to manage Los Galacticos. By Vicente del Bosque". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  23. ^ Townsend, Jon (2 April 2020). "Steve McManaman at Real Madrid: The most successful English player to head overseas". These Football Times. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  24. ^ X, Mr. "The Cristiano Ronaldo £80m Transfer from Man United to Madrid Analysed". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  25. ^ Bhargav (8 December 2021). "Ranking the 10 greatest Real Madrid players of all time". sportskeeda.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  26. ^ Ayamga, Emmanuel (8 January 2019). "3 reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo is easily the greatest footballer of all time". sportskeeda.com. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  27. ^ "Karim Benzema betters Raul record but still 81 behind Cristiano Ronaldo on Real Madrid goal chart | Goal.com". goal.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  28. ^ Babalola, Oluwatomiwa (6 July 2021). "Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele, Messi Top List of Greatest Goal Scorers in International Football". SportsBrief – Sport news. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  29. ^ "Jude Bellingham: Why Real Madrid move makes 'perfect sense'". BBC Sport. 14 June 2023. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  30. ^ "Official Announcement: Mbappé". Real Madrid CF. 3 June 2024. Archived from the original on 3 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  31. ^ "Mbappé signs for Real Madrid". Real Madrid CF. 3 June 2024. Archived from the original on 3 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  32. ^ "The FIFA Club of the Century" (PDF). FIFA. 1 December 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 April 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  33. ^ "FIFA Centennial Orders of Merit". FIFA. 20 May 2004. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  34. ^ UEFA.com. "All-time stats & rankings | UEFA Champions League". UEFA.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  35. ^ "Most wins of the football (soccer) European Cup / Champions League (team)". Guinness World Records. 28 May 2022. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  36. ^ "Centurions! Real Madrid won their 100th trophy with FIFA Club World Cup triumph". ESPN. 13 February 2023. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  37. ^ "UEFA rankings for club competitions". UEFA. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  38. ^ UEFA.com (July 2018). "Ten-year club coefficients | UEFA Coefficients". UEFA.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.


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