Soccer+in+Spain

=__Soccer in Spain__=

By Anthony Piganelli

History of Spanish soccer


After the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, Spain finally got the ball rolling with the development of soccer. Franco's regime greatly slowed the growth of soccer, which is why the 1950's were considered a rebuilding point.

Spanish league soccer started in 1927, and the top league today is the Liga National de Fútbol Profesional (LFP). One of the premier leagues in the entire world of soccer, it has two divisions with 42 teams total. Twenty of the top teams belong in the first division, while the bottom tier is made up of the remaining 22 teams. From the very beginning league soccer in Spain has been controlled by three clubs and by their corresponding politics. These three premier soccer teams are Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Athletic de Bilbao, and the social groups they represent are the Castilians, the Catalans, and the Basques. The political significance of these teams increased greatly during Franco's regime.

Amongst those teams in the top division, Barcelona had the premier team for a little while in the mid 19th century as it won various titles against teams from France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. The success of this soccer team helped fuel the industrial revival of Barcelona. However, their dominance was short lived as they were defeated many times by Real Madrid, who was considered not only the best team in Spain, but the best team in all of Europe as well.

Between 1956 and 1960, Real Madrid absolutely dominated soccer, as they were the champions of five straight European Cups. This was largely because they were one of the first teams to adopt a policy of hiring international stars, allowing them to have a team filled with some of the best players around the world. Their fans, which were of the middle to upper class region, were elated over the teams prestige as well as glamor. In addition, soccer was one of the few things that allowed them to openly show their opposition to the nationalist regime. With this in mind, games between Barcelona, or Athletic de Bilbao, and Real Madrid were of extreme political importance. Soccer in Spain was thought of to be a remedy. It allowed all of the people to put their troubles and worries away from time to time and be happy. However things took a turn for the worse, as the 1970's were dark times for Real Madrid, as they brought their country great shame in losing various times in the European cup and other cups as well. The people were depressed, and this did nothing to revive the old regime.

Modern day Spanish soccer
Football is now referred to as the king of all sports in Spain. The Spanish Royal Federation of Football, on June 30, 2007, noted that there were an astounding 697,795 players’ licenses along with 40,987 teams officially registered. To give you a perspective of where the other sports stand, basketball is the second most played sport in Spain, with 340,855 players’ licenses and 27,721 teams. In terms of economics, it is estimated that professional football accounts for 1.7% of Spanish Gross Domestic Product, provides 66,000 people with jobs both directly and indirectly, and produces a yearly income of 821 million euros. The only other cultural phenomenon in Spain that even comes close to soccer is the practice of Bullfighting.

To this day, FC Barcelona still has a huge impact on politics as well as peoples identities in not only Barcelona but in other places like Catalonia as well. The same applies to Real Madrid, and other major football clubs throughout Spain. Soccer isn't just a game, it's a culture, a lifestyle, and serves as an identity for fans and players all throughout the country. The following quote by writer Xavier Espadaler further emphasizes how important soccer teams, such as FC Barcelona, are to the people of Spain. "It [FC Barcelona] has tried to represent an idea about football and style of play that is akin to an idea about life. It is a club that has an opinion on things … That is to say that there are aesthetic and ethical dimensions to the style of play that make football, in an advanced society like this, still have predominance … That is to say that the idea of ‘more than a club’ is not only political but also social, anthropological if you like". (Espadaler [| 2004] ).

With this in mind, even though the death of Franco, the adoption of democracy, decentralization, and entry into the European Union, have all been contributing factors that have depoliticized soccer in Spain to a certain extent, traditional rivalries remain amongst the teams. Most importantly, soccer will continue to develop as countrywide phenomenon and it will always be a great and passionate source of identity for Spaniards. Below are some of the biggest rivalries in Spain, and as you can see Barcelona and Real Madrid is by far the most intense.



= Rivalries =

1. Athletic vs Real Sociedad 2. Atlético de Madrid vs Real Madrid 3. Barcelona vs Espanyol: A very political matchup, as Espanyol was a team granted royal patronage, where as Barcelona was a revolutionary club. Eventually, the political aspect of the rivalry died down and Espanyol's club name was changed to Catalan. 4. Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Also known as "El Clasico", this is considered one of the biggest rivalries in all of soccer. The last meeting was won by Barcelona(3-2) in the Spanish Super cup. 5. Betis vs Sevilla

Interview/youtube videos
(Interview with native spanish speaker from Spain, Macarena Tejada-Lopez). media type="file" key="Memo-1.m4a" width="300" height="50"

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media type="youtube" key="whvGr3-tbck" height="276" width="341" align="right"

References:

1.Goldblatt, David. //The ball is round: a global history of soccer//. N.p.: Penguin, 2008. //Google Book Search//. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

2. Shobe, Hunter W. //Place, Identity and Futbol Club Barcelona: A Critical Geography of Sport//. , 2005. Prin

3. Szymanski, Stefan. //Goal! Profit Maximization Versus Win Maximization in Soccer//. N.p.: Springer Science+Business Media, 2009. //Springerlink.com//. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

4. Gonza ́lez-Go ́mez, Francisco. //Can We Be Satisfied With Our Football// //Team? Evidence From Spanish Professional Football//. N.p.: The authors, 2010. //SAGE Journals Online//. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .