La Liga League

The 76th Spanish championship began very predictable on 27th of August. This was one of the most interesting seasons in history, when on the 17th of June Real Madrid were once again crowned as the champions, just getting an edge over main rivals - Barcelona.

Celta de Vigo, Real Sociedad and Gimnàstic de Tarragona were all relegated.

Barca was in first place for much of the season while arch-rivals Real Madrid were six points behind and in fourth. However Barca began playing inconsistently after January, while Madrid's form improved in that same period. On May 12, 2007, Real Madrid took the league lead for the first time all season by defeating Espanyol 4-3, coming back from 1-3 first half deficit. The Sunday after Madrid won their epic battle with Espanyol, Barca dropped points with a 1-1 draw to struggling Real Betis. By virtue of their superior head to head record, Madrid sat at the top of La Liga with both teams having four league games left. On the penultimate day of the season, Barca failed to overcome city-rivals Espanyol in the Catalonia derby, drawing 2-2 thanks in part to a one-game suspension to Ronaldinho. In the final La Liga match, Barca thrashed Gimnastic 5-1, but Madrid came back from a 0-1 deficit to beat Mallorca 3-1 and clinch the title on head-to-head superiority.

Real, of course, needed help from the ex-Man United player, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who scored 25 goals in La Liga that season.

The Spanish national football championship, commonly known as the Primera División or simply La Liga, is the top professional football league in Spain.

Nine clubs have been crowned Campeones de Liga. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have dominated the competition. The former have been champions 31 times while the latter have won it on 18 occasions. However during the 1930s and 1940s and in more recent seasons, the Primera División has been more competitive. Other winners include Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Deportivo de La Coruña, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Betis.

In addition to their success in Primera División, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are two of the most successful teams in European competition history. In 2005/06 Barça won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup. The Primera División became the first league to do the European "double" since 1997.

The Primera División is currently second in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, behind the English Premier League in first and ahead of Italy's Serie A in third. The 2005–06 average attendance of 29,029 for league matches is the sixth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. Among professional football (soccer) leagues, Primera División was third-highest, behind the Bundesliga in first and the Premier League in second.

In April 1927 Jose Maria Acha, a director at Arenas Club de Getxo, first proposed the idea of a national league in Spain. After much debate about the size of the league and who would take part, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol eventually agreed on the ten teams who would form the first Primera División in 1928. FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Arenas Club de Getxo and Real Unión were all selected as previous winners of the Copa del Rey. Athletic Madrid, RCD Español and CE Europa qualified as Copa del Rey runners-up and Racing Santander qualified through a knockout competition. Only three of the founding clubs, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, have never been relegated from the Primera División.

Although FC Barcelona won the very first Liga in 1929 and Real Madrid won their first titles in 1932 and 1933, it was Athletic Bilbao that set the early pace winning Primera División in 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1936. They were also runners-up in 1932 and 1933. In 1935 Real Betis, then known as Betis Balompie, won their only title to date. Primera División was suspended during the Spanish Civil War, but clubs in the Republican area of Spain, with the notable exception of the two Madrid clubs, competed in the Mediterranean League. FC Barcelona emerged as champions in 1937.

Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated the Primera División, being crowned champion 14 times. This included a five-in-a-row sequence from 1961 to 1965 and two three-in-a-row sequences (1967-69 and 1978-1980). During this era only Atlético Madrid offered Real any serious challenge, adding four more titles to their tally in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. Of the other clubs, only Valencia CF in 1971 and the Johan Cruyff-inspired FC Barcelona of 1974 managed to break the might of Real Madrid.

As Primera División entered a new century, the Big Two found themselves facing new challengers. Between 1993 and 2004, Deportivo La Coruña finished in the top three on ten occasions, a better record than either Real Madrid or FC Barcelona, and in 2000, under Javier Irureta, they became the ninth team to be crowned champions. Real Madrid won two more Liga titles in 2001 and 2003 and also the UEFA Champions League in 2000 and 2002, and won their third league title in 2007 after a three year drought. They were challenged by a re-emerging Valencia CF in both competitions. Under the management of Héctor Cúper, Valencia finished as Champions League runners-up in 2000 and 2001. His successor, Rafael Benítez, built on this and led the club to a Liga title in 2002 and a Liga/UEFA Cup double in 2004. The 2004-05 season saw a resurgent Barcelona, inspired by the brilliant Ronaldinho, win their first title of the new century, in addition to the Liga-Champions League double in 2005-06. Sevilla FC also won the UEFA Cup in 2006 and again in 2007, when the Andalusians defeated fellow Spaniards RCD Espanyol 3-1 on penalties. After 3 years of misery, Real Madrid finally won the La Liga in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 season.