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A beginner?s guide to football in Spain
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Author: Mike McDougall
Topic: Sports
Viewed: 60 time(s)
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Football in Spain, much as it is in England, is undoubtedly the
national game with a passion for the sport that can only be
matched in a handful of countries around the world. Spain?s
La Liga (Spain?s premier football league for those not in
the know) is regarded in many circles as the best in Europe and
the international team have been tipped to bring home some
silverware from a major tournament for a long time (I might add
they?ve yet to oblige the nation). Taking all of this into
account football is clearly tied in heavily with Spain?s
cultural fabric. To watch a game and to gauge the day to day
news and debate is to sample something of Spain and its people
firsthand. There aren?t many social areas which football doesn?t
permeate; whether it?s digesting the sports pages in a caf?,
catching a game in a bar or kids in the streets and playgrounds
emulating the feats of their heroes. The two most famous clubs
are Barcelona and Real Madrid, the latter having been regarded
as the best team in the world for the last few years. With
squads reading like a who?s who of international football the
clubs boast some of the best players from around the globe.
Football in Spain is a big deal and the stadia, which constitute
major tourist sites in both cities, certainly reflect this
passion; the Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona has a capacity of
100,000 whilst the Bernabeu stadium in Madrid boasts a capacity
of close to 90,000 and both are amongst the largest in the
world. Visitors to the cities should certainly consider as tour
of the stadiums for a chance to see just how big they are. Both
also offer excellent museums offering insight into the two clubs
glittering histories and also a chance to see the changing rooms
? where most Spanish schoolboys dream of sitting one day. As you
could imagine, the rivalry between Barcelona and Real is massive
and when they play the match is simply known in Spain as ?El
Derby?, it is the biggest sporting fixture in the Spanish
calendar and is quite possibly the most fiercely contested (and
supported) domestic match in all of football. There?s even more
to play for this season as Barcelona ended Madrid?s dominance by
claiming La Liga (Spain?s premier football league for those not
in the know) for the first time since 1999. Madrid will be
looking for revenge this season and have brought in some
exciting new players to try and reignite their title challenge.
One excellent indicator of how big football is in Spain (and
particularly at these two clubs), is just how much pressure is
heaped on players and managers alike by supporters and the media
when results don?t go their way. Club boards can be exceedingly
fickle and the way in which club presidents are actually elected
by the season ticket holders, gives the fans a lot more power as
those running the club have, to some extent, to respond to their
demands and whims to keep their popularity. For these reasons
La Liga is probably the toughest European league to
manage in and most clubs have an alarmingly high turnover of
head coaches. It?s certainly a cut-throat business and an area
in which the Spaniards are partisan, extremely passionate and
always have an opinion.
About the author:
For the last five years Mike McDougall has been working as a
travel writer and marketeer. He's currently working for a
Spanish language School (http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/) to
provide additional cultural and travel related material on Spain
and Latin America. This article is licensed under a Creative
Commons License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/uk/
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