Voted 'The 20th Century's Best Club' by FIFA Real Madrid have been European Campions no less than 9 times, have also won a record 29 La Liga titles and are by far the most successful club in Europe.
The 80,000 seat Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the capital city of Madrid is home to ‘los merengues’ or more recently nicknamed ‘los galácticos’ and is one of the toughest stadiums to come and play in.
The Club was founded on March 6, 1902 by Juan Padros Rubio although they were formed under another name in 1895and their first manager was Englishman Arthur Johnson. Their first trophy came in the shape of the Copa del Rey in 1905
The rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona is legendary and the ‘Classico between the two teams is always eagerly awaited by all football fans alike. They also receive feirce competition from cross-town rivals Athletico Madrid when their Derby game takes place. From the start the clubs were seen as representatives of the two rival regions of Spain, Castile and Catalonia.
Alfredo di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Hugo Sanchez, Quinta del Buitre are just some of the more legendary players to pull on the all white uniform of Real Madrid. More recently in 2000, a new era of star players saw the Galacticos moving into the Santiago Bernabéu. Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, David Beckham, Michael Owen are just some of the high profile names that had been brought in. One of the most notorious signings was that of Luis Figo who left Barcelona to go and play for Real which did not sit too well with the Catalan  Giants and their fans. One fan went as far as to throw a pigs head onto the field when Figo played his first game back at Barcelona after the transfer.
Despite signing further high profile players, Real Madrid had failed to win a major trophy since 2003. This failure has also seen a high turnover in non-playing staff and the club has had four managers and four directors of football in four years. Hard to believe from a team that won Five European Cups in a row in their heyday.

Even though they have won back to back La Liga titles from 2007 and 2008 it has failed to stop the manager merri-go-round.