Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - La Liga

Episode Date: March 22, 2021

Soccer, aka football, is the most popular sport in the world. Of all the professional leagues in the world, there is one that has achieved a level of success and competition above all others. Spain’s Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, otherwise known as La Liga. Learn more about La Liga, and the history of football in Spain, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Soccer, aka Football, is the most popular sport in the world. Of all the professional leagues in the world, there is one that has achieved a level of success and competition above all others. Spain's Compiagnato Nacional de Liga de Primera Division, otherwise known as La Liga, has that distinction. Learn more about La Liga and the history of football in Spain on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by the Tourist Office of Spain. I've talked about many of the festivals and traditions you can find in Spain, but Spain is also a great place to attend sporting events. You can catch an El Classico game in Madrid or Barcelona.

The Spanish Grand Prix is held on May 9th in the Cirque de Barcelona. The Majorca Championships are a professional tennis event held in the home of Raphael Nadal in June. Or you can catch the Andalusia Valderrama Masters in Andalusia, which was named Europeans Golf Destination of the Year. You can start researching your dream trip to Spain today by visiting Spain. Info, where you can get everything you need to know to plan your Spanish adventure. Once again, that's Spain. Info. Soccer, which I shall hereby refer to as football for the rest of the episode, to appease my European listeners,

didn't originate in Spain, but it did arrive there rather quickly. In the late 19th century, Spanish workers and students who lived in England brought back with them the game of football. The first football club formed in Spain was Recreativa de Hualva, which was founded in 1889. by British workers for the Rio Tinto Company. The club still exists today and currently plays in the second division in Spain's Professional League. Football clubs spread quickly through Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1902, the idea was floated to have a single elimination knockout tournament in honor of the coronation of King Alfonso the 13th.

It was called the Copa de la Coronation, and it was won by a team from Bilbao, which was the precursor to athletic Bilbao, the current team which represents the city of Bilbao. The next year in 1903, the tournament was brought back, this time being called the Copa del Rey, or the King's Cup. The first two Copa del Reyes were won by Athletic Bilbao. To date, Barcelona has won the Cup 30 times, with Alec Bilbao winning 23 times, and Real Madrid winning 19. And here I'll take just a brief detour to explain my favorite Spanish team, Athletic Bilbao. There are several things about them that make the team unique. First is their nickname, the Lions.

They got the nickname because their first stadium was next to the church of San Mameez. San Mamez was the saint that was thrown to the lions who then pacified them. Their new stadium, which just opened up in 2013, is called San Mameh Stadium. The other unique thing about them is that they only have players from the greater Basque region. They've done this since 1912 and have still found a great deal of success. So they won't be spending millions to bring in some superstar ringer like some other teams. Everyone in their club is homegrown talent. Athletic Bilbao is back in the finals of the Copa del Rey both last year and this year.

Because of COVID, the 2020 finals weren't played. So the finals for both the 2020 and 2021 cups will be played in April 2021, and Bilbao is in both games. The reason Athletic Bilbao is my favorite team is simply that I visited their headquarters in their stadium when I visited Bill Bow. And they gave me a whole bunch of Bilbao swag. It's pretty easy to buy my support when I don't have any personal skin in the game. For the first few decades in the 20th century, football kept growing in popularity in Spain. The idea of a professional league was floated, and in 1929, the Premara Division, now known as La Liga, was created with 10 teams,

all the previous Copa del Rey winners and runners-up. Of the 10 original teams in the Premier Division, three have never been relegated down to a lower league since 1929. Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Athletic Bilbao. Over the course of the history of La Liga, there have been 62 teams that have made it up to the Premier League. Today, the league has 20 teams, and each season is conducted in a double round-robin format. Each team plays every other team, both home and away. Since 1929, of the 62 teams which have appeared in the league, the competition has been dominated by just a few teams. The only season which was canceled was the 1936-1937 season, which was canceled due to the Spanish Civil War.

To date, Real Madrid has won the league 34 times and has been runner-up 23 times. Barcelona has won 26 times and been runner-up 26 times. Athletico Madrid has won 10 times and has been runner-up 10 times. And Athletic Bilbao is won 8 times and has been runner-up 7 times. You'll notice a huge gap between the top two teams. Barcelona and Real Madrid have dominated Spanish football for decades. Over the last 10 years, Barcelona has never finished worse than second, and Real Madrid has never finished worse than third.

And between the two of them, they have won every single championship. They have been listed as the number one and number two most valuable football teams in the world. They have the top two followings of any football club on social media. Those two teams are so dominant that whenever they meet, the game is called El Classico. El Classico will occur at least twice a year during the regular La Liga season, but it can occur more than that. It's possible to meet in the Coba del Rey or in the European Champions League, which consists of the top teams from each of the national leagues in Europe. The lifetime record between the teams in competitive matches is 97 wins for Real Madrid to 96 wins for Barcelona. It's almost like the Packers' bear rivalry if the bears were actually good.

The Barcelona-Rial Madrid rivalry has transcended sports, and it's been used as a proxy over the years for politics in Spain, with various groups throwing their support to one team or the other. The league as a whole, led by the dominance of Barcelona and Real Madrid, has extended into European and global competitions as well. Seven of the last ten FIFA Club World Cups have been won by Barcelona or Real Madrid. They are the only clubs in the world to have won the cup more than three times. La Liga teams have won the most Uwafa Champions League titles, UEFA Europa League titles, and UEFA Super Cup titles, and UEFA is the Union of European Football Associations. La Liga has also had UEFA's top ranking in the strength of each European league more than any other.

It has produced more awards for individual players as well. La Liga players have accumulated the highest number of Balanda O awards, Fifa World Player of the Year, and UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. financially La Liga has the sixth highest revenue of any sports league in the world, behind only the four major North American leagues and the English Premier League. So, yeah, the competition in La Liga is pretty good. If and when you next visit Spain, I'd highly recommend you take the time to catch a football match

so you can observe and take part in the mania, which is Spanish La Liga. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please donate over at page. patreon.com. There is content only available to supporters, merchandise, and even opportunities for a show producer credit. If you know someone you think would enjoy the show, please share it with them. Also remember, if you leave a five-star review, I'll read your review on the show.