Football News: By The Numbers: Real Madrid

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By The Numbers - Part 5: Real Madrid

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1900 In 1900 Juan Palacios called a general meeting to pick players who would form Madrid's first ever team.

1902 The wave of popularity of the new sport from England called football, saw Madrid Football Club created in 1902 with a board of directors led by Juan Padros. That same board proposed the set up of a competition in honour of King Alfonso XIII, which became the Spanish Cup, the Copa del Rey.

1 Their first trophy was the third edition of the Copa del Rey, which they won with a 1-0 win over Athletic Club in 1905.

1905 Madrid's first ever European game, of a sort, was played in 1905. They faced the champions of France, Gallia Sport, covering all the costs to bring them from Paris. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

5,000 The capacity at Madrid's first stadium, Villa y Corte was just 5,000, which forced them to move to O'Donnell Stadium in the early part of the twentieth century.

1913 A pivotal year for Madrid as one of their greats joined the club in this year. Santiago Bernabeu was a legendary forward who became captain and is still seen as one of the best they have ever had.

1920 Real Madrid is born as the King of Spain's high steward grants Madrid the title 'Real' (Royal) in 1920.

15,000 As the 1920s went on football in Spain was growing in popularity, helped by the national team winning silver in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp. The growth of the Madrid fanbase saw the team move from their O'Donnell stadium to the Velodromo de Ciudad Lineal and then on to the new 15,000 capacity Chamartin stadium.

5 The creation of the Campeonato de Liga in 1928 saw Real Madrid open the competition with its first-ever game against Barcelona. Madrid's 5-0 win made them the first to lead the league in Spain.

150,000 Madrid had been runners-up twice in La Liga and the Spanish Cup when they made a signing that would change their future for the better. Spain's best goalkeeper, Ricardo Zamora, arrived from Espanyol for a fee of 150,000 peseta (900 euros).

1932 The early 1930s were a period of dominance for the Whites, as their trio of Zamora, Ciriaco and Quincoces was claimed to make up the best defence in the world. The 1931-32 season saw them finish as unbeaten league champions.

1936 The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, just a month after Madrid had beaten Barcelona in the final to win the Spanish Cup once more, ended their period of dominance. Many players quit playing or fled the country and went into exile. Madrid would not put a team together until after the war ended.

1939 The end of the civil war saw Real Madrid pretty much have to start again from scratch. The 19th of April 1939 they held their first assembly to begin the rebuilding process, naming Adolfo Melendez as their new president, with the job of leading Madrid into the new Franco era.

11 The real birth of the rivalry between Madrid and Barca happened in 1943 during the cup semi-final. Barca took a 3-0 lead in the first leg at their home stadium but where then destroyed 11-1 in the second leg to launch a rivalry that has only grown since then.

15 1943 also saw the legendary Santiago Bernabeu take the presidency of the club on 15th of December. With him in charge they rebuilt their team and their Chamartin stadium.

1,000 After Madrid beat Valencia in the Copa de Espana in 1946, each player received a leather purse with a 1,000 peseta (about 6 euros) note inside.

5 Real Madrid won the first 5 European Cups in a row, with the great Alfredo Di Stefano spearheading their attack.

1960 Madrid won the fifth of their five European Cups in 1960, under the guidance of new manager Miguel Munoz, who became the first person to win it as player and manager. He had won it three times while playing for Madrid before taking charge and winning it again with them. He also led the Merengues to win the first ever Intercontinental Cup in 1960, beating Penarol of Uruguay 5-1.

18 Santiago Bernabeu had a dream of creating a sports centre for the club to house the youth academy and, on 18th May 1963, he opened it. It had football pitches, athletic tracks and tennis courts. A basketball court, swimming pools and an ice skating rink were added later.

11 The great Alfredo Di Stefano played for Real Madrid for 11 seasons, scoring 308 official goals while in the famous white shirt. His last game for Madrid was in 1964, but it was 3 years later, in 1967, before his testimonial match against Celtic.

5 Madrid seem to like to win 5 in a row, as they won 5 La Liga titles in a row between 1961 and 1965. It was the first time they had managed 5 league titles in a row.

8 During the 1976-77 season, Madrid president Santiago Bernabeu and general secretary Agustin Dominguez were invited by Borussia Moenchengladbach to watch them play Dynamo Kiev. After the match, Bernabeu turned to Dominguez and said: "The number 10 is a good player, but we have to sign the number 8." The number 8 was Uli Stielike and hours later, on the 29th April 1977, Stielike had committed his future to Madrid on a piece of hotel paper, until the contract could be drafted.

1980 The Copa del Rey final in 1980 was an all-Real Madrid affair. It was played in the Bernabeu between Real Madrid and its reserve team, Castilla! The first team won 6-1 in the end to clinch the league and cup double.

251 Mexican striker Hugo Sanchez scored 251 goals in his 7 seasons with Madrid, finishing as La Liga's top scorer in 4 of those seasons.

1994 Legendary Madrid striker Raul made his debut as a youngster fresh from the youth academy in 1994. He was just 17 years old and was an instant success.

32 It took 32 years for the Whites to go from 6 European Cups to 7, when Fabio Capello led a team that included iconic players such as Roberto Carlos, Clarence Seedorf and Pedja Mijatovic to victory over Juventus in the final at Ajax's Amsterdam Arena in 1998.

13 Madrid have the most European Cup/Champions League wins with 13 in total.

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Written by Tris Burke July 04 2021 18:16:10