Today we are going to look at the history of two famous rivals: Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. We are not going to look at their history as rivals, but as individual teams. Let’s get started!
Real Madrid
This team was formed in 1897. The team was officially founded in 1902 and joined the Royal Spanish FIFA (Fútbol Federación Internacional de Association) in 1909. At first they only played in venues until their club president Santiago Bernabéu, opened a stadium that has his name on it (surprise, surprise!)
The Bernabéu Stadium opened in 1947 and holds about 80,000 people. The European Cup was first held during the 1955-56 season, Real Madrid was the tournament’s first winner. Real Madrid has won a total of 15 European Cups and Champions League titles.
FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona was formed in 1899 by Joan Gamper. The team’s first trophy was the Copa Macaya (Catalan Championship) in 1902. In total Barcelona has won 30 Copas del Rey (King’s Cup). La Liga is the top Spanish football league. Barcelona has won La Liga 26 times and has never been moved to a lower division.
They also won the European Cup Winners’ Cup 4 times! They have also won the Champions League 5 times and more! Barcelona’s local advisory is RCD Espanyol, but their biggest is Real Madrid. In the 2010 World Cup finals Spain 7 of 11 starters were from Barcelona.
