Club Profile - Real Madrid
Real Madrid is a Spanish football club from Madrid. The Club was officially declared, through a vote, by FIFA as the most successful club in the 20th century. Real Madrid has won a record 31 La Liga titles, 17 Spanish Cups (known as Copa del Ray) and a record
9 European Cups in their history. It is sufficient to say that, at least in terms of history, there is no club bigger than Real Madrid. The Club has a tradition for dominating European football which means that they have attracted some of the world's biggest
names to their Stadium, Santiago Bernabeu. The stadium is one of the largest in Europe and seats over eighty thousand spectators. Since the formation of the club in 1902, Real has been owned and operated by the fans. This makes Real Madrid unique among the
European clubs.
Due to their illustrious history and vast resources, the Club's hierarchy has never been shy to make changes they deem are important. Managers are sacked, players are sold and bought at the whims of these officials who have been accused of impatience. In
recent years, the 'Galacticos' era has defined the Real Madrid team. When Florentino Perez took over the club, he had only one aim in mind. He set about recruiting the biggest names in world football to Madrid without worrying how his coach was going to fit
them all into the same team! During his first presidency the arrivals included Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo (Brazil) and David Beckham. The signing of Luis Figo, in particular, wrecked havoc in Spain as he was snatched directly from Real's most bitter
rivals, Barcelona. Zinedine Zidane's transfer from Juventus made him the most expensive footballer in the world at that time, a record that was later broken, once again by Real.
During Perez's first presidency, Real won 2 La Liga titles and their 9th European title but following the signing of David Beckham, the club took a back-seat to a resurgent Barcelona who were guided to dizzy heights by the unstoppable Ronaldinho. Perez was
voted out of office and a period of dominance by Barcelona was broken to an extent and Real reclaimed the La Liga title and retained it. After losing the title to Barcelona in 2009 though, Perez was once again elected and he sought about re-starting the Galacticos
revolution. Perez spent an astonishing 80 Million Pound on the record signing of Manchester United winger, and World Player of the year at the time, Cristiano Ronaldo. This signing came after the signing of AC Milan midfielder Kaka for just under 60 Million
pounds. Perez went on to add other players such as Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa to the team in what was, by far, the most expensive summer spending spree by any club in the world to date. Real had flexed their muscle and felt they were building a team that
would dominate European football like Barcelona had done the year before.
It didn't turn out like that though, as Real finished the 2009-2010 season in 2nd place behind Barcelona in the league. Real Madrid also failed to win the Copa del Ray and crashed out of the UEFA Champions league. The trophy-less campaign led to the dismissal
of the Coach Manuell Pellegrini who was replaced by a man widely regarded as the best football manager in the world at this moment, Jose Mourinho.
With Mourinho's inclusion in the club, the Los Blancos are leading the points table and the team is, like always, considered to be the favorites for winning the Spanish La Liga title. However, there is a big hurdle between them that they have to cross and
that is the best club in Spain at the moment, FC Barcelona.
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