Introduction

Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. It is the most successful club in Spanish football in terms of international and overall trophies, and was voted by FIFA as the most successful football club of the 20th century, having won a record 31 La Liga titles, 18 Spanish "Copa del Rey" Cups, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la Liga, a record 9 UEFA Champions Leagues, 2 UEFA Cups, 1 UEFA Super Cup and 3 Intercontinental Cups.

Real Madrid was a founding member of FIFA and the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association. The word "Real" in the club's name is the Spanish term for "royal", and was given by the King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem - several other Spanish football teams also received this royal distinction: Real Sociedad, Real Union de Irun, Real Betis, and Real Zaragoza.

Founded in 1902, Real Madrid has never been relegated from La Liga, the top league of Spanish football. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s. In the 1980s, the club had one of the best teams (known as La Quinta del Buitre) in Spain and Europe, winning two UEFA Cups, five consecutive Spanish championships, one Spanish Cup and three Spanish Super Cups.

The team's traditional home kit colour is white, although it originally adopted a blue oblique stripe on the shirt. Its crest has been changed several times to modernise or re-brand it. The current crest is a modified version of the one first adopted in the 1920s. Real Madrid's home ground is the 80,354-seater Santiago Bernabeu football stadium in downtown Madrid, where it has played since 1947. The Bernabeu was the venue for the European cup (or UEFA Champions League) finals of 1957, 1969, 1980 and 2010.