The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, better known as La Liga, is the top tier of Spanish football.
If you’re hoping to watch the most technically gifted teams and skilful stars the game has to offer, then look no further than Spain’s top flight. Indeed, La Liga clubs have collectively won the most UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup titles. Its players have been similarly dominant when it comes to football’s most prestigious individual prizes, scooping up the most Ballons d’Or and The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards.
A total of 9 football clubs have won La Liga in its history, with Real Madrid and Barcelona far and away the most dominant forces in Spain’s premier league.
📜 La Liga History
Established in 1929 with just 10 clubs competing, the Spanish La Liga is now one of the world’s top football leagues. Although most of these founding clubs are competing in the top league today, only 3 – Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Athletic Bilbao – have never been relegated from the Primera División. Over the years, the league has produced and nurtured some of the best players in the world like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
💯 La Liga Format & Scoring
There are 20 teams in La Liga and every season they play each other home and away for a total of 38 football matches apiece, with 3 points awarded for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a defeat. Teams are ranked on points, then head-to-head record.
The top 4 clubs qualify for the UEFA Champions League, while the bottom 3 are relegated to Spanish football’s second tier, the Segunda División, and are replaced by 3 promoted teams. The team that finishes 5th qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, as does the team that finishes 6th if the winners of the Copa del Rey also finish in the top 5. In those circumstances, the 7th-placed team is awarded qualification to the UEFA Europa Conference League, otherwise, that goes to 6th place.