Football in Spain

Fútbol or balompie is one of the most popular sports in Spain. The Real Federación Española de Fútbol is the national governing body and it organizes La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spain national football team. Modern football was introduced to Spain in the late 1800s by a combination of mostly British immigrant workers and visiting sailors and Spanish students returning from Britain.

History

Early Clubs

The oldest football club in Spain is Huelva Recreation Club, formed on December 23rd 1889 by Dr. Alexander McKay and British workers employed by the Rio Tinto Company. Although Gimnàstic de Tarragona was formed in 1886, the club did not form an actual football team until 1914. The first official football game played in Spain took place in Seville on March 8th 1890 at the Tablada Hippodrome. Huelva Recreation Club played the Colonia inglesa sevillana, a team made up of workers from the Seville Water Works. With the exception of two Spanish players on the Huelva team, all the players on both teams were British. The Seville team won 2-0

In the Basque Country during the early 1890s, British shipyard workers and miners formed Bilbao Football Club and Basque students returning from Britain founded the Athletic Club in 1898. This early British influence was reflected in the use of English names such as Recreation Club, Athletic Club and Football Club.

Campionat de Catalunya

Catalonia also began to produce a number of football clubs including Palamós Foot-Ball Club founded in 1898 and Catala SC and Foot-Ball Club Barcelona, both founded in 1899. Several clubs also emerged with a reference to Spain in their title. These included Hispania AC and Sociedad Española de Football, both formed in 1900, and FC Espanya. Soon there were enough clubs to organise a league and in December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, offered a trophy. The Copa Macaya eventually evolved into the Campionat de Catalunya, the first league championship ever played in Spain.

Copa del Rey

Several clubs also emerged in Madrid, most notably Madrid Football Club, formed in 1902. In the same year, Carlos Padrós, later president of Madrid FC, suggested a football competition to celebrate the coronation of Alfonso XIII. Four other teams entered the Copa del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, later to become the Copa del Rey. FC Barcelona, Club Español de Fútbol, Club Vizcaya and New Foot-Ball de Madrid. The competition featured the first recorded game between FC Barcelona and Madrid FC, with the former emerging 3-1 winners. Club Vizcaya eventually beat FC Barcelona in the final. Alfonso XIII subsequently became the patron of many Spanish football clubs, granting them permission to use Real in their name.

La Selección

Within Spain, regional teams, most notably, the Catalan Selección and the Basque national football team began to compete against each other from 1915 onwards. Despite not been officially recognised by FIFA, these teams continue to play today. The Spain national football team, commonly referred to as la selección made their international debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Belgium and came away with the silver medal. Spanish football did not turn profrssional until 1926.

La Liga

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 RFEF eventually agreed on the ten teams who would form the first Primera Division 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 Division.

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