by: Mike McDougall
Football in Spain, much as it is in England, is undoubtedly the national game
with a passion for the sport that can only be matched in a handful of countries
around the world. Spain’s La Liga (Spain’s premier football league for those not in the know) is regarded in many circles as the best in Europe
and the international team have been tipped to bring home some silverware from
a major tournament for a long time (I might add they’ve yet to oblige
the nation). Taking all of this into account football is clearly tied in heavily
with Spain’s cultural fabric. To watch a game and to gauge the day to
day news and debate is to sample something of Spain and its people firsthand.
There aren’t many social areas which football doesn’t permeate;
whether it’s digesting the sports pages in a café, catching a
game in a bar or kids in the streets and playgrounds emulating the feats of
their heroes.
The two most famous clubs are Barcelona and Real
Madrid, the latter having
been regarded as the best team in the world for the last few years. With squads
reading like a who’s who of international football the clubs boast some
of the best players from around the globe. Football in Spain is a big deal
and the stadia, which constitute major tourist sites in both cities, certainly
reflect this passion; the Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona has a capacity of 100,000
whilst the Bernabeu stadium in Madrid boasts a capacity of close to 90,000
and both are amongst the largest in the world. Visitors to the cities should
certainly consider as tour of the stadiums for a chance to see just how big
they are. Both also offer excellent museums offering insight into the two clubs
glittering histories and also a chance to see the changing rooms – where
most Spanish schoolboys dream of sitting one day.
As you could imagine, the rivalry between Barcelona and Real is massive and
when they play the match is simply known in Spain as “El Derby”,
it is the biggest sporting fixture in the Spanish calendar and is quite possibly
the most fiercely contested (and supported) domestic match in all of football.
There’s even more to play for this season as Barcelona ended Madrid’s
dominance by claiming La Liga (Spain’s premier football league for those
not in the know) for the first time since 1999. Madrid will be looking for
revenge this season and have brought in some exciting new players to try and
reignite their title challenge.
One excellent indicator of how big football is in Spain (and particularly
at these two clubs), is just how much pressure is heaped on players and managers
alike by supporters and the media when results don’t go their way. Club
boards can be exceedingly fickle and the way in which club presidents are actually
elected by the season ticket holders, gives the fans a lot more power as those
running the club have, to some extent, to respond to their demands and whims
to keep their popularity. For these reasons La Liga is probably the toughest
European league to manage in and most clubs have an alarmingly high turnover
of head coaches. It’s certainly a cut-throat business and an area in
which the Spaniards are partisan, extremely passionate and always have an opinion.
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