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mike rothwell
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« on: July 28, 2007, 03:40:14 PM » |
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Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Professional Football League), commonly known as La Liga, is the professional football league in Spain. It is considered to be one of the best leagues in the world along with the English Premier League and the Italian Serie A.
Nine clubs have been crowned Campeones de Liga. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have dominated the competition. The former have been champions 30 times while the latter have won it on 18 occasions. However during the 1930s and 1940s and in more recent seasons, La Liga has been more competitive. Other winners include Valencia CF, Sevilla FC, Atlético Madrid, Deportivo de La Coruña, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Betis.
In addition to their success in La Liga, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are two of the most successful teams in European competition history. In 2005/06 FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla FC won the UEFA Cup. La Liga became the first league to do the European "double" since 1997. [1]
La Liga is currently first in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, ahead of Serie A in second and the Premier League in third.[2] The 2005–06 average attendance of 29,029 for league matches is the sixth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. In professional football (soccer) leagues[3] La Liga was third-highest, behind the Bundesliga in first and the Premier League in second.
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