La Liga
The Spanish football league is called La Liga. It is divided into various divisions. The top two: Primera división (First division) and Segunda división (Second division) have professional teams. The lower leagues are amateur.
The structure of Liga:
- Primera división (20 teams)
- Segunda división (22 teams)
- Segunda división B (4 groups, 20 teams each)
- Tercera división
- Regional divisions
- Primera catalana
- Preferente
- Primera regional
- Segunda regional
- Tercera regional
Liga championship rules
Each team of every division has to play with all the other teams of its division twice, once at home and the other at the opponent's stadium. This means that in Primera división the league ends after every team plays 38 matches.
Like many other leagues in continental Europe, the Primera takes a winter break once each team has played half its schedule. One unusual feature of the league is that the two halves of the season are played in the same order—that is, the order of each team's first-half fixtures is repeated in the second half of the season, with the only difference being the stadiums used.
Each victory adds 3 points to the team in the league ranking. Each drawn adds 1 point. At the end of the league, the winner is:
- The team that has most points in the ranking.
- If two or more teams are level on points, the winner is the team that has the best results head-to-head.
- If there is no winner after applying the second rule, then the team with the best overall goal difference wins.
Champions by year
Top flight champions in Spanish football
First Division Winners:- 29 wins: Real Madrid
- 17 wins: Barcelona
- 9 wins: Atlético de Madrid
- 8 wins: Athletic Bilbao
- 6 wins: Valencia
- 2 wins: Real Sociedad
- 1 wins: Sevilla, Real Betis and Deportivo de La Coruña
Classification 2004/05
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Teams 2005/06
- Albacete - Relegated to Second Division
- Barcelona
- Real Betis
- Athletic Bilbao
- Deportivo
- Espanyol
- Getafe
- Levante - Relegated to Second Division
- Málaga
- Mallorca
- Atlético de Madrid
- Real Madrid
- Numancia - Relegated to Second Division
- Osasuna
- Racing de Santander
- Sevilla
- Real Sociedad
- Valencia
- Villarreal
- Real Zaragoza
- Promotion to First Division from Second Division:
- Cádiz (clinched as of 18 June 2005)
- Celta de Vigo (clinched as of 18 June 2005)
- Alavés (clinched as of 11 June 2005)
Top Scorers 2004/05
- Diego Forlán - Villarreal: 25 goals
- Samuel Eto'o - FC Barcelona: 24 goals
- Oliveira - '\'Betis:'' 22 goals
- Ronaldo - Real Madrid: 21 goals
- Julio Baptista- Sevilla FC: 18 goals
Top Goalkeepers 2004/05
- Victor Valdes - FC Barcelona: 25 goals In 35 Matches
- Íker Casillas - Real Madrid: 30 goals In 37 Matches
- Leo Franco - Atletico de Madrid: 32 goals In 37 Matches
- Reina - Villarreal: 37 goals In 38 Matches
- Calizares - Valencia: 29 goals In 29 Matches
See also
External link
