Full name | Real Madrid Club de Fútbol |
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Nickname(s) |
Blancos (Whites) Merengues (Meringues) Vikingos (Vikings) |
Short name | RM |
Founded | 6 March 1902 as Madrid Football Club |
Ground | Santiago Bernabéu Stadium |
Capacity | 81,044 |
Chairman | Florentino Pérez |
Head coach | Zinedine Zidane |
League | La Liga |
2016–17 | 1st |
Website | Club home page |
Capacity | 85,454 |
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Field size | 107 m × 72 m (351 ft × 236 ft) |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 27 October 1944 |
Opened | 14 December 1947 |
Architect | Manuel Muñoz Monasterio, Luis Alemany Soler, Antonio Lamela |
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal maˈðɾið ˈkluβ ðe ˈfuðβol]; Royal Madrid Football Club), commonly known as Real Madrid, or simply as Real, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn a white home kit since inception. The word Real is Spanish for Royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. The team has played its home matches in the 81,044-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting entities, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club throughout its history.
The club was estimated to be worth €3.24 billion ($3.65 billion) in 2015, and in the 2014–15 season it was the world's highest-earning football club, with an annual revenue of €577 million. The club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Real Madrid is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division, along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with Barcelona and El Derbi with Atlético Madrid.
Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s, winning five consecutive European Cups and reaching the final seven times. This success was replicated in the league, where the club won five times in the space of seven years. This team, which consisted of players such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás, Francisco Gento and Raymond Kopa, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time.