History of Real Madrid Football Club

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Description
Full name: Real Madrid Club de Fútbol
Nickname: Los Blancos (The Whites), Los Merengues (The Meringues)
Founded: 6 March 1902 (as Sociedad Madrid FC)
Ground: Santiago Bernabéu Madrid, Spain (Capacity 80,400[3])
Chairman: Ramón Calderón
League: La Liga
Head Coach:  Bernd Schuster


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History
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is a professional Spanish football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902, it is one of the most successful football clubs of the 20th century, having won thirty La Liga titles, seventeen Copa del Rey cups and being European Champions for a record nine times. The team is also member of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.

Madrid's first attack into football began by the professors and students of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza in 1895 which split in 1900 to become New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Español de Madrid with Español de Madrid splitting again in 1902 to become Sociedad Madrid FC, a club which is now known throughout the world as Real Madrid.

One of the most vital cornerstones of the Real Madrid story comes in the shape of Santiago Bernabeu who became club president in 1945 after previously filling the roles of player, first-team captain, first-team manager and director. Under Bernabeu the club was rebuilt following the Spanish Civil War and, with a sweeping set of reforms, the club's organizational structure was completely reformed by the forward thinking visionary Bernabeu.

He was also one of the proponents of the European Cup in the mid 1950s, a competition Real Madrid haw dominated by winning the tournament a record nine times. Before passing away in 1978, Bernabéu left a lasting impression on Real Madrid by winning 1 Intercontinental Cup, 6 European Cups, 16 La Liga titles and 6 Spanish Cups.

The glory years of the great 1950s Real Madrid side of Alfredo di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas and Francisco Gento set the standard for Real Madrid as a club and their five European Cup wins in a row between 1955 and 1960. This earned them the UEFA Badge of Honour and this team and achievement still ranks as probably the greatest achievement of any club side in UEFA history. 

 
 
Alfredo Di Stefano
 
Created on: 5/19/2008
 
By: ob1
 
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By the early 1980s Madrid had lost their grasp on the La Liga title until a new batch of homegrown stars, known as 'El Quinta del Buitre', took the club to five back to back league titles. Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vazquéz, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza alongside Mexican superstar Hugo Sanchez only failed in one arena and that was the European Cup.

Deep in debt by 2000, the club controversially sold their training ground to the city of Madrid and used the money to begin to assemble the famous "Galactico" side including players such as Zidane, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos, Raul and David Beckham. The huge gamble didn't pay off and despite a European Cup win in 2002, the club had failed to win a major trophy since 2003 until they clinched the La Liga title in an amazing comeback in 2007.

 
 
Final Uefa Cup, Zidane Goal.
 
Created on: 5/19/2008
 
By: ob1
 
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The current legal capacity of Santiago Bernabéu is 80,400. Real Madrid's average attendance was 69,200 during the 2003–04 season and 71,900 in the 2004–05 season. Real Madrid has also set records in Spanish football, most notably the most domestic titles (30 as of 2006–07) and the most seasons won in a row (5, during 1960–65 and 1985–90).

Real also set the Champions League records for most wins (nine) and for most semifinal appearances (21). In addition, Raúl González with 59 goals is the best UEFA Champions League scorer so far. The team have also the record number of consecutive participations in the Champions' Cup with 15, from 1955–56 to 1969–70.