Real Madrid CF

1897 to 1928 - Foundation and early years

At the end of the 19th century, the sport of football slowly began to spread in Spain. In the capital Madrid only the small club Football Sky played this new sport, which had come from England. In 1897, a group of players left Football Sky and began organising games in meadows or backyards under the name Madrid Foot Ball Club. The first members included José de Gorostizaga, Manuel Mendía, the brothers Juan and Carlos Padrós, Adolfo Meléndez or Antonio Neyra, and Julián Palacios. However, it was not until five years later, on 6 March 1902, that these gentlemen officially registered their Madrid Foot Ball Club as a club. This date is therefore considered the official foundation date of Real Madrid. The first president of the club was Juan Padrós. The kit was white, the socks were black and the belt bore the Spanish national colours of red and yellow. With the exception of the 1925/26 season, during which they wore black shorts in imitation of London club Corinthian FC, white remained the traditional club colour. The first coach was the British Arthur Johnson. In January 1904, the club merged with the Madrid football teams Moderno, Amicale (which was largely composed of Frenchmen) and Moncloa. When the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris on 21 May 1904, Madrid F. C. , just two years after its registration as a club, was already the official representative of Spain.

On 16 April 1905, three years after the club was founded, the first major title was won. Athletic Bilbao were beaten 3-0 in the final of the cup-based Copa del Rey, the only competition in Spain at the time. They went on to win the trophy four times in succession, becoming the first club to retain the original copy of the trophy. However, these initial successes were followed by a sporting drought, during which the only titles won were in the regional championship. In 1912, Madrid F.C. moved into the first stadium in the club's history on O'Donnell Street. In 1917, after a nine-year hiatus, the club finally won the Copa del Rey again. Having lost out to Athletic Bilbao in the final the year before, this time they beat Arenas Club de Getxo 2-1, with French striker René Petit the star of the team at the time. This was to be their last cup win before the introduction of the Spanish championship in 1928, as in 1918 and 1924 they were defeated in the final by Real Unión de Irún. On 29 June 1920, by decree of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, the club was granted the honour of adding Real (Spanish for Royal) to its name. In 1923 Real Madrid moved from the already too small O'Donnell Stadium to the Ciudad Lineal Velodrome, and a year later to the much larger and club-owned Estadio de Chamartín.

1928 to 1936 - The start of the league and the successful 1930s

The Spanish league, which had been created in 1928, was won for the first time in the 1931/32 season, albeit under the old name of Madrid FC due to the ban on any monarchist symbols imposed during the Second Spanish Republic. In that season, which ended a 14-year drought, they did not lose a single game, relegating their biggest rivals of the time, Athletic Bilbao, to second place in the table. Madrid FC were coached by Hungarian Lippo Hertzka, managed by Santiago Bernabéu and starred with a defensive trio of centre-backs Jacinto Quincoces and Ciriaco Errasti, legendary goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora and wingers Luis Regueiro and Jaime Lazcano. The following year they successfully defended the title under English coach Robert Firth, again narrowly beating Athletic Bilbao. Manuel Olivares, who along with the centre-back pair had been signed from DeportivoAlavés in 1931, shone in the forwards in those days. In 1932/33 he became the league's top scorer, scoring 16 goals. Also playing an important role was his technically accomplished attacking partner Josep Samitier, who was brought in from arch-rivals FC Barcelona. In the following years they had to be content with three second places in the league, but in 1933/34 and 1935/36 they won the cup.

1936 to 1953 - Civil war and new beginning

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the club's entire infrastructure was destroyed and as a result the club was on the verge of being dissolved. The stands of the Estadio de Chamartín, where home matches were played at the time, were turned into firewood in embattled Madrid and the club office fell victim to bombing. Much of the former squad also ceased to exist, some falling in the war, others disappearing into exile or resigning. Only Antonio Bonet, Simón Lecue, Jacinto Quincoces and the Mexican José Ramón Sauto remained. Under the presidency of founding member Adolfo Meléndez and with the help of another board member from days gone by, Pedro Parages, as well as some new names - among them ex-player and coach Santiago Bernabéu - Real Madrid managed to get back on its feet. It didn't happen overnight, though; it took a full seven months before they played again and just as many years before they could celebrate another title.

15 September 1943 is considered a significant date in the club's history books. On this day Santiago Bernabéu was elected president. His first step was to start building a new stadium. Just a few years after construction began, Real Madrid's new home, which today bears his name, already had a capacity of 120,000 spectators, making it the largest football stadium of the time. Bernabéu's plan brought him a lot of criticism at the time, as hardly anyone could imagine that the sport of football could move such crowds. In the press, he was called a "crazy visionary" and his construction project an "unfeasible chimera", but Bernabéu was proved right. On the sporting front, the consequences of the Civil War were still being felt at the time. While the 1939/40 league was dominated by city rivals Atlético Madrid (at that time, under the name Atlético Aviación, official club of the air force) and later by FC Barcelona, Real Madrid struggled with poor results. In 1942/43 they only finished tenth in the table and after a brief resurgence, with two cup wins in 1946 and 1947, they finally fought relegation for a long time in 1947/48 before eventually finishing eleventh, to this day the worst league finish in the club's history. In the years that followed, however, president Bernabéu gradually put together a new and powerful squad. New signings from Spain such as Miguel Muñoz, Luis Molowny, Juan Alonso and Francisco Gento were supplemented with players from the club's own youth ranks, such as Enrique Mateos and José María Zárraga, and legionnaires, some from South America, such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Héctor Rial and José Santamaría, and others from Europe, such as Raymond Kopa and Ferenc Puskás.

1953 to 1964 - The White Ballet

The signing of Argentine Alfredo Di Stéfano in 1953 is considered to be the start of the club's most successful era. In his first season, he led Real Madrid to their first league title in 21 years. The centre-forward, who also took on the role of playmaker, was top scorer with 27 goals and formed the Madrid attack that year, along with compatriot Roque Olsen and Luis Molowny. For the next season, Real Madrid signed Argentine striker Héctor Rial, a Di Stefanos recommendation, and winger and eventual captain Francisco Gento, two players who played a key role in the team's title defence and subsequent successes. The team was strengthened year after year thanks to Santiago Bernabéu's skilful transfer activities, and with Raymond Kopa in 1956 and Ferenc Puskás in 1958, two world stars were won for the club. Ferenc Puskás in particular formed a congenial duo with Di Stéfano, culminating in the 1960 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, where Di Stéfano scored three goals and Puskás four in a 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

In total, Real Madrid won eight Spanish championships and one cup during this period. The most important successes, however, were the titles in the most important European football competition, the then newly founded European Cup of Nations, which was won five times in a row starting with its first staging in the 1955/1956 season. The team thrilled the whole of Europe with their dominance and became known as the "white ballet" due to their traditional white jerseys and their technically advanced style of play, which saw them "dance" through their opponents' defences. They reached the final of the European Cup on two more occasions, losing to Benfica Lisbon and Inter Milan in 1962 and 1964 respectively.

On 18 May 1963, the Ciudad Deportiva (Sports City) was inaugurated, the construction of which had begun six years earlier. Located outside the city, on the extension of the Paseo de la Castellana, the site housed various professional and junior football pitches, swimming pools, tennis courts, a covered artificial ice rink and various club buildings. In 1966 the basketball arena Pabellón Raimundo Saporta was added. A sports complex of this dimension was a novelty for a football club at that time.

1964 to 1966 - El Madrid ye-yé

After losing the 1963/64 European Cup final, coach Miguel Muñoz, himself a player and captain until 1958, began to restructure and rejuvenate the team. Stars such as Raymond Kopa and Héctor Rial had already left the club or been released. Now the great Alfredo Di Stéfano, by this time already 38 years old, was also taken out of the team. Ferenc Puskás stayed on, but at the age of 37 was already nearing the end of his active career. The gaps were filled with young and talented Spanish players, and the acquisitions Amancio, Ignacio Zoco, Pirri, Manuel Sanchís and Manuel Velázquez and Ramón Grosso, who had come from the club's own youth, fought their way into the team. They promptly defended their title in the Spanish championship, and in 1966 they finally won the European Champion Clubs' Cup for a sixth time. The young team (nicknamed el Madrid ye-yé after the Beatles' She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)) was made up entirely of Spanish players, with only Francisco Gento remaining from the star-studded 1950s and early 1960s side, making him the only player to win the European Champions League six times.

1966 to 1984 - European dry spell

The next international title was then to be a long time coming. In 1970/71, after 15 years as the only permanent visitor, Real Madrid missed out on the top European trophy for the first time - before that, the club had always qualified either by winning the championship at the right time or as defending champions, a unique series before the expansion of the qualifying places in the 1990s. However, this did at least allow the club to participate in the second highest competition, the European Cup Winners' Cup, for the first time, reaching the final at the first attempt: After a 1-1 draw in the first final match, they lost the replay, which was customary at the time in the event of a draw, 2-1 to Chelsea FC. Ten years later, in 1981, a compact side with no big names advanced to the final of the European Cup for the first time since its inception, but the team then known as Madrid de los Garcías (six players in the squad bore the surname García) lost 1-0 to Liverpool FC, the dominant club in Europe at the time. In 1983 Real Madrid lost a second European Cup Winners' Cup final, their opponents Aberdeen FC, coached by Alex Ferguson. Nationally, however, things were much better in that era, with the club, led by Pirri, Amancio, Zoco, Grosso or Velazquéz, winning three consecutive league titles between 1967 and 1969, as well as another championship in the 1971/72 season. After a disappointing eighth place in the league in the 1973/74 season, the Miguel Muñoz era ended and Montenegrin Miljan Miljanić took over as coach. Brought in from Red Star Belgrade, Miljanić became most famous for an intense physical and conditioning training programme, unheard of in Spanish football at the time. Under him, the team, led by players such as Germans Günter Netzer and Paul Breitner, as well as goalkeeper Miguel Ángel, striker Santillana, and youth-born Vicente del Bosque, Gregorio Benito, José Antonio Camacho, and Mariano García Remón, captured the championship and cup in their first season. The following year, Real Madrid successfully defended their title. However, the poor 1976/77 season, in which Real Madrid only finished ninth in the table, marked the end of the Miljanić era. Between 1978 and 1980, the team won three league titles in a row, with Santillana and Juanito leading the attack and the German Uli Stielike and Vicente del Bosque pulling the strings in midfield, while the young Camacho, Gregorio Benito and the experienced Pirri shone in defence. Their first two league titles came under coach Luis Molowny, while Serbian Vujadin Boškov won the league and cup double in 1979/80.

President Santiago Bernabéu passed away on 2 June 1978 at the age of 82. During his 35-year tenure, the club won a total of one World Cup, six European Champions Cups, 16 Spanish league titles and six cups, making him the most successful president in the club's history to this day. As well as rebuilding the club, Santiago Bernabéu was also actively involved in the creation of European competitions, which is why he was posthumously awarded the FIFA Order of Merit in 2002.

1984 to 1990 - La Quinta del Buitre

UEFA Cup victories in 1985 and 1986 saw the club end their international drought and celebrate two titles again. The main reason for this was the legendary Quinta del Buitre. The name referred to five players of the same vintage from the club's own youth set-up, who were brought into the professional squad in 1983/84 and would continue the club's success story until the early 1990s: Emilio Butragueño, nicknamed "El Buitre" (Spanish for vulture), Míchel, Manolo Sanchís, Martin Vázquez and Miguel Pardeza. In Europe at that time, the team attracted attention with impressive comebacks at the Bernabéu stadium, always after heavy defeats in the first legs. The 6-1 win over RSC Anderlecht and the 3-0 win over Inter Milan in 1984/85 are worth mentioning, as well as the 4-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach and the 5-1 win over Inter Milan one season later. Nationally, they captured the championship five consecutive times between 1986 and 1990. Alongside the "Quinta del Buitre", players such as Hugo Sánchez, Jorge Valdano, Santillana, Juanito, as well as José Antonio Camacho, Chendo and Ricardo Gallego, who also came from the club's own youth ranks, shaped the team picture.

1990 to 1997 - Barcelona takes command

In the 1990s, Real Madrid initially lost ground both domestically and internationally, with arch-rivals FC Barcelona taking over in Spain. Under coach Johan Cruyff and his squad, dubbed the 'Dream Team', the Catalans won four league titles in a row. The 1991/92 and 1992/93 seasons were particularly bitter for Real Madrid, however, as they lost out on the title on the final day of each campaign to CD Tenerife. Until today the Canary Island is cursed for the Madridistas. The spell was not broken until 1994/95, when the Jorge Valdano-coached side, led by stars such as Raúl, Iván Zamorano, Fernando Redondo and Michael Laudrup, broke Cruyff's FC Barcelona winning streak. The joy did not last long, as the following year the Madrilenians finished a disappointing sixth in the table and failed to even qualify for the UEFA Cup. Another championship followed after Fabio Capello ordered a total squad shake-up in the summer of 1996 and the arrival of players such as Roberto Carlos, Predrag Mijatović, Christian Panucci, Bodo Illgner and Clarence Seedorf.

1997 to 2003 - Return to Europe's throne

In 1998, under coach Jupp Heynckes, the club returned to the top of the European league, beating the then favourites JuventusTurin 1-0 in the Champions League final to win the European top flight for the seventh time in around thirty years. The "Madrid goal" in the semi-final against Borussia Dortmund was a curiosity that season and achieved a high profile.

Despite a poor championship in 1999/2000, when they could only finish fifth, Real Madrid repeated their success in the Champions League, with a final victory over Valencia. In the summer of 2000, the Spanish building contractor Florentino Pérez surprisingly won the presidential elections, in addition to the economic rehabilitation of the club, the purchase of the Portuguese Luís Figo, from arch-rivals FC Barcelona, was one of his election promises. Real Madrid won the Spanish championship in their first season, and in 2001/02, the 100th anniversary of the club's foundation, they won the UEFA Champions League for the ninth time, beating Bayer Leverkusen in the final. The man of the match was new signing Zinédine Zidane, who scored the final 2-1 with a superb volley. At the same time, they lost the Copa del Rey final 2-1 at home to Deportivo La Coruña. After signing Brazilian striker Ronaldo, they won the 2002/03 Spanish championship, two World Cups (1998 and 2002), a UEFA Super Cup (2002) and two Spanish Super Cups (2001 and 2003), making it one of the club's most successful cycles. The large number of stars in the squad led to the team being christened The Galactics (Los Galácticos in Spanish) by the press.

2003 to 2009 - The end of the Galactic

In the summer of 2003, the contract with successful coach Vicente del Bosque was not renewed. Some important players like captain Fernando Hierro, Claude Makélélé and Fernando Morientes left the club. However, apart from English football star David Beckham, no other player was signed. Carlos Queiroz, until then assistant coach at Manchester United, took over as head coach. Initially, Real Madrid started the season well, winning the Spanish Supercup, holding the lead in the league for a long time and reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League with relative ease. However, defeat in the Spanish Cup final on 17 March 2004 to Real Zaragoza led to an abrupt drop in form. The 2003/04 Champions League quarter-final match was surprisingly lost to eventual finalists AS Monaco, and the team also saw its championship campaign plummet to fourth place. Critics cited the short-staffed and qualitatively unbalanced squad as the main reason for the club's poor performance. Numerous coaches such as José Antonio Camacho, Mariano García Remón, Vanderlei Luxemburgo and Juan Ramón López Caro tried to get the club back on the road to victory, but in both the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons they could only manage second place in the league, behind arch-rivals FC Barcelona. The sporting crisis led to the surprise resignation of acting president Florentino Pérez on 27 February 2006, which ultimately led to new elections the following summer.

This was won by the lawyer Ramón Calderón. The election was highly controversial due to the cancellation of the 10,500 votes cast by postal ballot. Under coaches Fabio Capello and German Bernd Schuster, the club won two consecutive championships in 2006/07 and 2007/08, but were eliminated in the last 16 of the Champions League and Cup on both occasions. After a poor first half of the 2008-09 season, Schuster was sacked in December 2008 and Juande Ramos was brought in as the new coach. On 16 January 2009, president Ramón Calderón, suspected of manipulating a meeting of the club's delegates, resigned and was replaced by vice-president Vicente Boluda, who in turn announced early elections for the end of the 2008-09 season.

2009 to 2018 - The Ronaldo era and European dominance under Zidane

On 1 June 2009, Florentino Pérez became president of the club for the second time, three years after the end of his first term. He immediately brought the first building blocks for the second generation of the 'Galactics' to Madrid. The highlight of the transfer drive was the €94 million signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, who would go on to break numerous club records in the years that followed. Other signings included Kaká, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa. Due to the large number of new purchases, the club subsequently parted company with numerous players. The Chilean Manuel Pellegrini became the new coach.

Under Pellegrini, the club disgraced itself in the 2009/10 Copa del Rey with an elimination against third division side AD Alcorcón. The club collected 96 points in the league, but lost out to rivals Barcelona in the title race despite their club record. After failing to reach the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League once again, Pellegrini was sacked at the end of the season and replaced by José Mourinho for the 2010/11 campaign. In his three-year tenure, the club managed to compete with FC Barcelona once again. While the first Clásico under his management was lost 5-0, he led Real Madrid to their first cup win against the Catalans since 1993 and in the 2011/12 season to their 32nd league title with a new points and goals record. Furthermore, the Madrilenians rehabilitated themselves internationally under Mourinho and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League three times in a row, in which they had previously been eliminated in the round of 16 six times in a row. Despite the successes, Mourinho was never without controversy in Madrid due to numerous controversies. After his side won only the Super Cup in 2012/13, missed out on the Champions League final once again and lost the cup final to local rivals Atlético Madrid, Mourinho's contract was terminated by mutual consent at the end of the season.

For the 2013/14 season, Italian Carlo Ancelotti succeeded Mourinho. After the transfers of Gareth Bale and Isco, another cup victory was achieved against FC Barcelona. Furthermore, under Ancelotti, the club won the 'Décima', the tenth Champions League title in the club's history, after a 12-year wait and a 4-1 extra-time final victory over city rivals Atlético. After missing out on major titles in the 2014/15 season, Ancelotti was released. His successor, Spaniard Rafael Benítez, lasted only six months in charge after disappointing results in the league and cup, and was replaced in January 2016 by Zinédine Zidane, who had previously only gained experience as Ancelotti's co-coach and head coach of the B team. Zidane's two-and-a-half-year tenure proved successful, with Real Madrid winning three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles between 2016 and 2018 following final victories over Atlético Madrid, Juventus Torino and Liverpool FC, a feat last achieved over 40 years earlier by Bayern Munich (1974-1976) in the European Champion Clubs' Cup. The club have also won a league title, a Supercopa and two FIFA Club World Cups and UEFA Super Cups under Zidane. In the process, the Madrilenians remained unbeaten for 40 consecutive games in the 2016/17 season.

Since 2018 - Present

A few days after winning another Champions League title, Zinédine Zidane resigned as head coach. His successor was Julen Lopetegui, most recently coach of the Spanish national team. Cristiano Ronaldo, the club's record goalscorer after nine years with the club, 438 competitive games and 450 goals, also departed for Juventus Turin during the summer break. Lopetegui was sacked and replaced by Santiago Solari when the team found themselves mid-table after ten matchdays following a 5-1 Clásico defeat. Under Solari, the team initially stabilised and won the Club World Cup. However, after a Champions League round of 16 exit, preceded by a record two home defeats, and further Clásico defeats in the cup semi-finals and the league second round, any chance of winning the title was gone by early March. As a result, Zinédine Zidane returned as head coach on 12 March 2019. Under him, the season finished in 3rd place.

In the 2019/20 season, Zidane led the club to their 34th league title. In the Champions League, however, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Manchester City and in the Copa del Rey they lost to Real Sociedad San Sebastián in the quarter-finals. The 2020/21 Primera División went without a title, with a runners-up finish, a Champions League semi-final exit to eventual winners Chelsea FC and a Copa del Rey third-round exit to third-division side CD Alcoyano. Zidane then left the club at the end of the season.

Carlo Ancelotti will return to Real Madrid as head coach for the 2021/22 season.

In German-speaking countries, the synonyms "Real" or "Die Königlichen" are often used for Real Madrid, although neither is common in the club's home country. In Spain, numerous institutions are given the suffix "Real" (Spanish for royal) by royal decree, not least several Primera División clubs. For example, "La Real" usually applies to the Basque club Real Sociedad. Correct and common is "El Real Madrid" or the short form "El Madrid".

In the course of its history, the club changed its name three times. On 29 June 1920, King Alfonso XIII granted the club the title Real (engl.: royal). In 1931, due to the ban on monarchist symbols during the Second Spanish Republic, this suffix was removed from the name. Since 1941, the club bears the current name Real Madrid Club de Fútbol.