Real Madrid CF facts for kids

Real Madrid
Full name	Real Madrid Club de Fútbol
Nickname(s)	Los Blancos (The Whites); Los Merengues (The Meringues); Los Vikingos (The Vikings); La Casa Blanca (The White House)
Founded	6 March 1902; 118 years ago; as Madrid Football Club
Ground	Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
Capacity	81,044
President	Florentino Pérez
Head coach	Zinedine Zidane
League	La Liga
2018–19	3rd

Real Madrid's players celebrate their 2008 Supercopa de España victory.

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, sometimes known as just Real Madrid, is a Spanish football club from Madrid, Spain. It was started in 1902 and competes in La Liga (the Spanish top league). The "Real" in the club's name is Spanish for "royal", because it was blessed by the King of Spain in 1920.

Real Madrid has won La Liga 33 times and the Copa del Rey (King's Cup) 19 times, the most out of any team in the league. It has also won the UEFA Champions League a record 12 times and the UEFA Cup twice.

Real Madrid was recognised as the FIFA Club of the 20th Century on 11 December 2000, and received the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit on 20 May 2004. In June 2017, the team succeeded in becoming the first club to win the Champions League twice in a row.

Since it began, Real Madrid has since spent all of its history in La Liga, and has never been relegated down to a lower level. This shows how strong they have been just to stay in the top flight of Spanish football. In the 1940s, the club, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and the Ciudad Deportiva were rebuilt after the Spanish Civil War. The club became a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s. In the 1980s, the club had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe (known as La Quinta del Buitre). They had won two UEFA Cups, five Spanish championships in a row, one Spanish cup and three Spanish Super Cups.

The club has bought and had many famous footballers, including Ronaldo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Owen, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and other very famous footballers. The most expensive player is Gareth Bale who was bought for 85.3 million pounds from Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League.

The club's traditional home colours are all white. Its crest has been changed several times in attempts to modernise or re-brand. The current crest is a modified version of the one first adopted in the 1920s. Real's home is the 81,044 capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, where it has played since 1947. Unlike most European football clubs, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club since it was opened. Real is the world's most valuable club.Real madrid have won 6 La Liga titles!

Rivalries

El Clásico

There is a strong rivalry between the two strongest teams in La Liga, which are Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, where the game between them is known as "El Clásico" ("The Classic").

Madrid Derby

The club's nearest neighboring club is Atlético Madrid, a rivalry shared between fans of both teams.

Champions league

In 2018, Madrid made history by becoming the first Club in recent memory to win the Champions league three times in a row .

Honours

Real Madrid CF honours
Type	Competition	Titles	Seasons
Domestic	La Liga	33	1931–32, 1932–33, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2016–17
	Copa del Rey	19	1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1917, 1934, 1936, 1946, 1947, 1961–62, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1992–93, 2010–11, 2013–14
	Supercopa de España	10	1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2012, 2017
	Copa Eva Duarte	1	1947
	Copa de la Liga	1	1985
Continent	UEFA Champions League	13	1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
	UEFA Cup	2	1984–85, 1985–86
	UEFA Super Cup	4	2002, 2014, 2016, 2017
Worldwide	Intercontinental Cup	3^s	1960, 1998, 2002
Worldwide	FIFA Club World Cup	4	2014, 2016, 2017, 2018

record
^S shared record

Most expensive players

Cristiano Ronaldo was the club's most expensive signing when he joined in 2009, costing €94 million.

Cristiano Ronaldo was bought from Manchester United F.C. for approximately £80m.
Toni Kroos was bought from FC Bayern Munich for £25m to £30m.
Sergio Ramos will cost around £34m for any team who will want him.
Ángel Di Maria was sold to Manchester United F.C. for £59.7m.
Karim Benzema might be get sold to Arsenal F.C. for £51m.
Luka Modrić was bought from Tottenham Hotspur F.C. for £30m.
Gareth Bale was bought from Tottenham Hotspur F.C. for £77m.

Images for kids

Julián Palacios, the first president of the club in 1900–1902
Madrid FC team in 1906
Alfredo Di Stéfano led the club to win five European Cups consecutively (currently the Champions League).
Amancio Amaro, captain of the Yé-yé team of the 1960s
Beckham and Zidane were considered Galácticos.
Zidane, with his Real Madrid players, standing to the right of Madrid mayor Manuela Carmena after Real had won their 33rd La Liga title, May 2017
Real Madrid in 1964. Nicknamed Los Blancos (the whites), the club has worn an all-white home kit except for one season in 1925
Real Madrid's jersey (worn by Luka Modrić in 2015) is manufactured by Adidas, with Emirates the shirt sponsor
Raúl is Real Madrid's all-time leader in appearances.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the first player ever to score against every team in a single season in La Liga
Gareth Bale is the club's joint record signing, costing €100 million in 2013.
The number of season tickets at the Bernabéu is capped at 65,000, with the remaining seats made available to the general public.
Scene from a 2011 El Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
Real Madrid fans displaying the white of their club before El Clásico. Real Madrid fans also often wave Spanish flags at El Clásico games.
Real Madrid supporters during the 2006 El Derbi madrileño match held at Santiago Bernabéu.
Real Madrid's Guti (left) and Athletic Bilbao's Javi Martínez (centre) and Amorebieta (right) during a match at the Bernabéu, 2010
Real Madrid players celebrating a goal against Bayern Munich in 2007
Pre-match display at the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Juventus
Spanish businessman Florentino Pérez is the current president of the club.