A History of Real Madrid

To tell the story of the world’s greatest football clubs you must of course begin with the greatest of them all. Real Madrid. Voted by FIFA as the greatest club of the 20th century. Winners of the European Cup/Champions League nine times, champions of Spain’s La Liga 29. The immediately recognizable all-white uniforms. The colossal Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Zamora, Di Stefano, Puskás, Butragueño, Raúl. If there could only be one football club in the world, this would be the one.

Madrid Foot Ball Club was founded on March 6, 1902 as a result of a split within Club Español de Madrid, itself created by the breakup of an earlier club, Football Sky. The original club colors (white shirts, white shorts, navy socks) where chosen in honor of the pioneering English club Corinthians. During this first year the club was instrumental in the creation of a tournament to honor the coronation of King Alfonso XIII - the Copa del Rey, Spain’s first national championship. The club would have to wait three years before first lifting that trophy (a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao) though they then proceeded to rattle off four consecutive titles.

The year before that first cup triumph, Madrid Foot Ball Club merged with three of the city’s other clubs - Moderno, Amicale and Moncloa. In 1912 the club’s first formal ground was inaugurated, the Campo O’Donnell. 1912 also marked the first team debut of the person who, more than any other, would shape the club’s destiny - Santiago Bernabéu. Eight years later the patronage of King Alfonso XIII was sought and achieved and the club’s name was changed to Real Madrid Football Club.

The Twenties were a largely barren period for the club. In fact from the 1917 Copa del Rey to the 1932 Spanish League not a single major trophy was won. But the decade did bring the construction of their first important stadium, the Chamartín, based in the neighborhood of the same name. The decade that followed was of course the most disastrous in modern Spanish history, centering around the Civil War which brought football (along with the rest of society) largely to a halt. From 1931 to 1941 the club changed its name to Madrid Club de Fútbol, a reflection of the Republican and anti-monarchical political trends of the day.

The end of the war brought a return to "normalcy" and the rise to power of Francisco Franco. The club was forever after associated with Franco, with conservative politics and with the Spanish Castilian center in opposition to the pull of the regions, Catalunya (and arch-enemy FC Barcelona) in particular. The club’s emblem remains a reflection of that - the crown symbolic of royal patronage, the diagonal blue stripe over white of Castille.

In 1941, the club reverted to its previous Real Madrid name (though keeping the Spanish Club de Fútbol aspect). Two other important changes came in the Forties – the election to the presidency of Santiago Bernabéu and the construction of a new stadium which would later bear his name. It was largely through his relentless fund-raising that the stadium was built and at its 1947 opening was widely regarded as the best in the world. Within a few short years the club would have a team worthy of similar plaudits.

In September of 1953, the player widely regarded as the best in the club’s history entered the field of the Chamartín - Alfredo di Stefano. He arrived at Real Madrid instead of Barcelona after bitter negotiations, just one more chapter in their eternal rivalry. Along with another major new arrival, Francisco "Paco" Gento, di Stefano led the club to its first league title in 21 years. A second consecutive title was added in 1955, which gave the club a berth in the inaugural European Cup the following season. Real Madrid battled their way to the first final in Paris, where they overcame a favored Stade de Reims side 4-3.

More was to come. Raymond Kopa was recruited from the vanquished French side the following season, adding a further jewel to the team which rolled to another European Cup title. And another in 1958. And another in 1959, the season which marked the addition of Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskás to the team. Oh, and let’s not forget that two more Spanish League titles were accumulated during this stretch. The magical run culminated in the 1960 European Cup final, where Eintracht Frankfurt were utterly crushed 7-3 in front of 127,000 fans at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.

There really is no comparison within the game for this stretch of comprehensive dominance at the highest level. And not just a dominance of results but a dominance achieved with such style and swagger that the players of that era have reached mythical status. The template for footballing greatness had been set. It has hardly even been approached in the ensuing years.

But like all good things, this magical era had to come to an end. Real Madrid were eliminated by arch-enemy Barcelona in the 1960-61 European Cup and, though they reached three European Cup finals during the 1960s (winning one of them), they would continually struggle under the weight of massive expectations. Domestic success became almost a given (14 titles in 20 years) but it wasn’t until 1981 that the club again reached the European Cup final. The disappointment continued as the match was lost 1-0 to Liverpool.

Just a few years after that loss the next great generation of Real Madrid players emerged, the Quinta del Buitre - the Vulture’s Cohort. Emilio Butragueño (The Vulture) was the centerpiece of this team, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza his trusted lieutenants. This group led the team through another period of success, including five consecutive League titles, two UEFA Cups and a Copa del Rey. But the greatest prize remained just beyond their reach.

In the late 1990s, the third great era of the club opened, this one marked by extraordinarily expensive players and, at long last, extraordinary success. The European Cup (by now renamed the Champions League) was finally regained after a 31-year wait - a Predrag Mijatovic goal being enough to defeat Juventus in the 1998 final. A string of superstars arrived - Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham - to complement the homegrown icon Raúl. Two more Champions League trophies were achieved in rapid succession, the club’s best stretch in Europe since the Golden Era.

This high-priced strategy seemed to run off the rails in the mid-2000s however as the club went three seasons without a single trophy, its worst stretch in over half a century. Presidents, coaches and players have passed through a rapidly revolving door. But even the club’s most bitter rivals understand that the rough waters will soon be weathered, the ship righted and a return to the pinnacle of the game achieved. The legend can only grow.