The History of the Spanish First Division at the Rhythm of Counterattack

By Oliver Maldini

DO YOU KNOW THE WHOLE HISTORY OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S TOP SOCCER COMPETITIONS?

 

After many difficulties, the first edition of the Spanish First Division could be held in the 1928-29 season, with an initial rivalry between Athletic of Iragorri and Bata and Real Madrid of Zamora, Olivares and Regueiro. The Civil War broke the championship and gave Atlético Aviación the opportunity to shine, but after a brief success of Gorostiza and Edmundo Suárez's Valencia, Real Madrid and Athletic would resume their duel in the 1940s.

 

César Rodríguez and Kubala's Barcelona put an end to the fight between the Basques and Madrid, with the permission of Atlético de Madrid led by Helenio Herrera, until Real Madrid returned to shine with legends such as Di Stéfano, Héctor Rial, Gento, Amancio or Pirri under Miguel Muñoz. Luis Aragonés and his Atlético de Madrid would try to put an end to the white hegemony that continued in the 70s with Santillana.

 

After the golden years of Basque soccer, Real Madrid became unstoppable again with Hugo Sánchez, Butragueño and the famous Quinta del Buitre, but then Barcelona led by Johan Cruyff began a long period of glory, with both teams dominating the recent past of the competition.

In this book you will discover the history and evolution of the Spanish first division, as a simple walk through time discovering the keys and remembering its main protagonists.

 

In this book you will find:

- The origin of soccer in Spain and the creation of the First Division National League Championship.

- The fight until the last day between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the first edition of the competition.

- The rivalry of the early years between the Athletic Club of Iragorri and Bata and the Real Madrid of Zamora, Olivares and Regueiro.

- The regulations that allowed foreign players to participate in the league, the loss of the royal status of some teams and the elimination of Anglicisms.

- The end of the Civil War and the rise of Atlético Aviación led by Ricardo Zamora.

- The successful years of Gorostiza's and Edmundo Suárez's Valencia.

- Telmo Zarra's Athletic Club's first title in its own right.

- The eternal duel between Real Madrid and Athletic Club in the 1940s

- Barcelona's dominance of César Rodríguez and Kubala led by Enrique Fernández and Daucik

- The championships of Helenio Herrera's Atlético de Madrid

- The Real Madrid of Di Stéfano, Héctor Rial, Gento and Puskás and the later 60's of Amancio and Pirri under the direction of Miguel Muñoz

- The Atlético de Madrid of Luis Aragonés and its struggle against the all-powerful Real Madrid.

- The 70's of all against Santillana's Real Madrid led by Miljanic

- The Basque domination of Satrústegui and Ufarte's Real Sociedad and Athletic Club led by Javier Clemente

- The successful Real Madrid of Hugo Sánchez, Butragueño or Valdano and the origin of "La quinta del buitre".

- The Dutch glory of the Barcelona of Stoichkov, Laudrup and Koeman coached by Johan Cruyff

- Real Madrid's resurgence with the everlasting presence of Raúl González.

- The golden era of Barcelona coached by Guardiola, the basis of a world champion Spanish national team.

- Atletico Madrid led by Simeone and their struggle against the dominance of Madrid and Barcelona

- The intense rivalry of the recent past of Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid and Messi's Barcelona and the leagues of records.

 

Enjoy the wonderful history of one of the best competitions in world soccer!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oliver Maldini
• Release date: Mar 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224467402

Book preview

Introduction

In the 1920s, football in Spain was an unknown sport from other countries such as England. But quickly, it spread throughout the country like an irremediable passion. As the different football clubs were created, a national league competition was necessary.

After many difficulties, the first edition of the First Division of Spain could be held in the 1928-29 season, with an initial rivalry between Athletic de Iragorri and Bata and Real Madrid de Zamora, Olivares and Regueiro.

The Civil War broke up the championship and gave Atlético Aviación the opportunity to shine, but after a brief success for Valencia de Gorostiza and Edmundo Suárez, Real Madrid and Athletic would resume their duel in the 1940s.

The Barcelona of César Rodríguez and Kubala was in charge of putting an end to the fight between Basques and Madridistas, with the permission of Atlético de Madrid directed by Helenio Herrera, until at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s Real Madrid He shone again with legends such as Di Stéfano, Héctor Rial, Gento, Amancio or Pirri under the leadership of Miguel Muñoz. Luis Aragonés and his Atlético de Madrid would try to put an end to a white hegemony that continued in the 70s with Santillana.

It was the Basque teams, with Satrústegui and Ufarte's Real Sociedad and Athletic Club led by Javier Clemente, who ended up beating the almighty white team. But the historic team from the capital would not take long to resurface, now with football legends such as Hugo Sánchez, Butragueño and the famous Quinta del Buitre.

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With a Real Madrid that seemed unstoppable, Barcelona began an era of Dutch coaches like Johan Cruyff, Van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard that led to many years of glory with great players like Stoichkov, Laudrup, Koeman, Ronaldinho, Eto'o...

The defensive Valencia led by Rafa Benítez was a parenthesis in the domain of the Catalan team, which later gave rise to the constant rivalry between Real Madrid led by Raúl González first and Cristiano Ronaldo later and Messi's Barcelona led by Guardiola.

In its recent past, the Spanish league has been subjected to the absolute domination of Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​with Atlético de Madrid led by Simeone as the only team capable of rivaling them.

In this book you will discover the history and evolution of the Spanish first division, as a walk through time discovering the keys and remembering its main protagonists so that you can easily remember or learn its past and thus enjoy the present more.

I hope you enjoy the following pages.

Oliver Maldini.

The origin of the First Division of Spain

La mayor goleada en la historia de la Liga cumple 90 años - La Neta Neta

At the beginning of the 20th century, football was a very unknown sport in Spain, practiced with more popularity in other European countries such as England. However, little by little, this activity based on kicking a ball to introduce it into the rival goal, gained popularity in Spanish territory, creating the first amateur clubs in the main cities.

Although the first football matches in Spain were friendly between the first few societies that were created, the first small regional tournaments soon began to be established, such as the Macaya Cup in Catalonia in 1901, which aimed to face the rivals in league format. five existing Catalan teams so far. Although the tournament had three editions, disputes and abandonments were frequent, as it was a competition between fans.

The first national championship in Spain was the Copa de la Coronación in 1902, officially called the Concurso Madrid de Foot-ball Association due to the club that originated its creation, the current Real Madrid.

13 de mayo: inicia la Fórmula 1, se juega el primer Real Madrid-Barcelona y nace una leyenda del boxeo - La Tercera

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In its first edition there were only five participating teams, and due to its success it ended up becoming the Spanish Championship (later called the Copa del Rey).

However, the main annual league tournaments in Spain continued to be the regional championships, which were created and developed as football became more popular and the number of teams in each region increased.

The champions of each region then went on to meet and face each other in the Spanish Championship, this tournament already in knockout format.

Over the years, football grew in popularity, which led to the creation of the Spanish Federation of Football Clubs in 1909, later reconverted into the Royal Spanish Football Federation in 1913, with the aim of managing the sport in a growing process of professionalization, always following the English example.

With an increasingly large football team base, a greater impact on fans and an increasingly regulated landscape, a national competition in league format became more and more necessary. This would allow the creation of a better competition, which could give more benefits to the teams and where the players could become professionals.

This led to a first attempt to create a national league in the 1927-28 season, which failed due to disputes between the more prominent teams (those who had once won the national championship) and the less prominent (those who they had only won regional championships).

The main teams were looking for a smaller league, where only the elite would participate, and this led to the creation of two divided national competitions, the Tournament of Champions and the Maximum League.

This division did not solve the problem of creating a unified national championship, so for the following season a system of two interrelated leagues was established, the First Division National League Championship and the Second Division National League Championship.

Those who had been champions of the national championship participated in the First Division, which pleased the most outstanding teams, but at the same time in a second category it gave the rest the option to participate in the first division in the future if they played a good role. .

With this agreement, in the 1928-1929 season, the Spanish First Division of football began.

The first years of the competition and the rivalry between Athletic and Madrid in the 1930s

Fotos: El Atlético de Tetuán, en imágenes | Deportes | EL PAÍS

The first edition of the First Division, 1928-29 season, was made up of the six teams that had managed to win the Spanish Championship (Real Madrid, Athletic Club, Arenas de Guecho, Real Sociedad, Real Unión and FC Barcelona), which was joined by three of the teams that