La Liga (The Professional Football League)

La Liga (The Professional Football League) #1

Liga de Futbol Professional ("Professional Football League"), commonly known as La Liga or the Primera División is the highest football league in Spain. Founded in 1929, the league's annual competition held regularly. At present, there are 20 teams that joined the team in it. The team that won the most up to is Real Madrid with 31 times followed by FC Barcelona with 20 times. There are only three teams in the history of La Liga that has not been degraded, namely Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao.

La Liga (The Professional Football League) #2

The Primera División (First Division) of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP), commonly known as La Liga (The League) or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA (BBVA League) since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. It is contested by twenty teams, with the three lowest placed teams relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top three teams in that division. A total of 59 teams have competed in La Liga, nine of which have been crowned champions. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated the championship. The former have won the title thirty-one times while the latter have won it on twenty-one occasions. However, during the 1930s and 1940s and in the last two decades, La Liga has seen other champions including Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Deportivo, Real Betis and Sevilla . Barcelona have currently won the last three seasons of La Liga.

La Liga is currently the second strongest league in Europe according to UEFA's league coefficient. La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 28,286 for league matches in the 2009–10 season. This is the sixth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the third highest of any professional association football league, behind the German Bundesliga and English Premier League.

The Competition Format

The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a season, which lasts from September to June, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the highest-ranked club at the end of the season crowned champion. If points are equal between two or more clubs, the rules are:

The Trophy

·      If all clubs involved have played each other twice

·      If the tie is between two clubs, then the tie is broken using the head-to-head goal difference (without away goals rule)

·      If the tie is between more than two clubs, then the tie is broken, using the games the clubs have played against each other:

·         head-to-head points

·         head-to-head goal difference

·         head-to-head goals scored

·      If two legged games between all clubs involved have not been played, or the tie is not broken by the rules above, it is broken using:

·         total goal difference

·         total goals scored

·      If the tie is still not broken, the winner will be determined by Fair Play scales. These are:

Ø  yellow card, 1 point

Ø  doubled yellow card/ejection, 2 points

Ø  direct red card, 3 points

Ø  Suspension or disqualification to coach, executive or other club's personnel (outside referee decisions), 5 points

Ø  Misconduct of the supporters: mild 5 points, serious 6 points, very serious 7 points

Ø  Stadium closure, 10 points

·      If the Competition Committee removes a penalty, the points are also removed

·      If the tie is still not broken, it will be resolved with a tie-break match in a neutral stadium.

A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Primera División and the Segunda División. The three lowest placed teams in La Liga are relegated to the Segunda División, and the top two teams from the Segunda División are promoted to La Liga. The third team from the Segunda División to be promoted to La Liga is determined by the winner of the play-off played between the winner of the play-off between 3rd against 6th and the winner of the play-off between 4th placed against 5th. These placed teams should be considered excluding reserve teams.

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