[Please note: to see my newest post on football in Spain, click the 'Spain' category.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
…
…
Spain’s Liga de Futbol Professional, almost universally known as La Liga, begins its 78th season on the weekend of 30th and 31st August.
The reigning champions are Real Madrid. The giant club from the capital city has won the title 31 times. Barcelona (second on the list, with 18 titles) had a disorganized season in 07/08, and hope to regroup. In fact they finished in 3rd place; 2nd place went to plucky Villarreal, who continue to punch above their weight. This is a club from a small town of 48,000, 35 miles north of Valencia. That they could actually be in Spain’s top flight is remarkable enough. But to make it to the Champions League Semi-Finals (in 2005-’06), and now place second in La Liga, is amazing. In 1999-2000, the season that they were first promoted to La Liga, Villarreal were drawing only around 8,ooo per game (they draw around 19,000 these days).
In the Group Stage of the 2008-’09 Champions League, Real Madrid are in Group H, with Juventus, Zenit St. Petersburg, and BATE Borisov (of Belarus). Villarreal are in Group E, with Manchester United, Celtic, and AaB Aalborg (of Denmark). Barcelona are in Group C, with Sporting [Lisbon], Shakhtar Donetsk (of Ukraine), and FC Basel (of Switzerland). Atletico Madrid are in Group D (see below).
Fourth place went to perennial underachievers Atletico Madrid, who seem poised to begin a new, more successful chapter in their club’s history, with their qualification for the Group Stage of the Champions League. Wednesday, Atletico won 4-0 over the German club FC Schalke 04 (who also are a big club that has underachieved in the recent past). This clinched advancement to the holy grail of the Champions League. Atletico Madrid have been drawn into a very competive group, with Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, and Marseille. All four of these clubs have a viable shot at advancement {See this (from the UEFA site)}.
Fifth place went to Sevilla, who failed to equal their impressive 3rd place finish of 06/07, and will have to content themselves with a 1st Round UEFA Cup appearance (a competition which they won, twice straight, in 2005 and 2006).
Sixth place went to Racing Santander. This is a medium sized club (with an average gate of around 17,000) whose defining characteristic has been the ability to survive the drop, year after year, without any sort of distinction. So their first-ever qualification for the UEFA Cup is definitely cause for celebration up north in Cantabria.
Spain’s final UEFA Cup spot went to Valencia, who had a disasterous La Liga season in 07/08 (with a 10th place finish). But Valencia salvaged the season with a win over Getafe in the Copa del Rey, thus qualifiying them for European competition.
There is one more Spanish club to qualify for the UEFA Cup, via the Intertoto Cup: Deportivo La Coruna. {Click here to see all the clubs in the 08/09 UEFA Cup.}
Here are the final standings from La Liga 07/08 {Click here (ESPN Soccer Net)}.
Here are the leading scorers from 07/08 {Click here}.
Thanks to Demis, of the Netherlands, for the base map {Click here}. Thanks to European Football Statistics {Click here}, for the attendance figures. Thanks to Ahmed, at Soccer Lens, for linking up with, and featuring, some of my recent maps.
