
Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal maˈðɾið ˈkluβ ðe ˈfutβol] Royal Madrid Football Club), commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professionalfootball club based in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club and has traditionally worn a white home kit since. The word Real is Spanish for royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s.
Unlike most European football clubs, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club since its inception. The club is the richest football club in terms of annual revenue, generating €438.6 million in 2011 and the second most valuable, worth €1.4 billion. Real Madrid holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with FC Barcelona. The team has played its home matches in the 85,454-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947.
It is one of three clubs to have never been relegated from the top flight of Spanish football, along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. Domestically, Real Madrid has won a record 32 La Liga titles, 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Supercopas de España, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la Liga. Internationally it has won a record nineEuropean Cup/UEFA Champions League titles and a joint record three Intercontinental Cups, as well as two UEFA Cups, and one UEFA Super Cup.
What Real Madrid fan does not remember Di Stefano, Hugo Sanchez and Zidane, just to mention 3 historical figures of the club? What can we say about Raul Gonzalez or the club’s newest star, Cristiano Ronaldo? These are elite players who have stood out from the rest for their technique and wonderful football ability. Let’s run through the history of some of the greatest players of the club who have amazed fans and won important awards during their career at Real Madrid.
The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium is set to become one of the most modern football venues in the planet. It's façade will be modified to feature a state-of-the-art design and the venue itself will have leisure facilites and restaurants integrated in its structure. President Florentino Perez described the ambitious project as "providing our stadium with an outer skin that will be a crowning architectural achievement. The Bernabeu has to become a unique stadium, the best in the world, and the crowning achievement of 21st Century stadium architrecture."