REAL MADRID
Early years (1902–1945)
Real Madrid's origins go back to when football was introduced to Madrid by the academics and students of the Institución libre de enseñanza, which included several Cambridge and Oxford University graduates. They founded Football Club Sky in 1897, playing on Sunday mornings at Moncloa. It split into two clubs in 1900: New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Club Español de Madrid.[6] The latter club split again in 1902, resulting in the formation of Madrid Football Club on 6 March 1902.[2] Three years after its foundation, in 1905, Madrid FC won its first title after defeating Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final. The club became one of the founding sides of the Royal Spanish Football Federation on 4 January 1909, when club president Adolfo Meléndez signed the foundation agreement of the Spanish FA. After moving between grounds the team moved to the Campo de O'Donnell in 1912.[7] In 1920, the club's name was changed to Real Madrid after King Alfonso XIII granted the title of Real (Royal) to the club.[8]
In 1929, the first Spanish football league was founded. Real Madrid led the first league season until the last match, a loss to Athletic Bilbao, meant they finished runners-up to Barcelona.[9] Real Madrid won its first League title in the 1931–32 season. Real won the League again the following year, becoming the first side to have won the championship twice.[10]
[edit]Santiago Bernabéu Yeste and European success (1945–1978)
Santiago Bernabéu Yeste became president of Real Madrid in 1945.[11] Under his presidency, the club, its stadium Santiago Bernabéu and its training facilities Ciudad Deportiva were rebuilt after the Spanish Civil War damages. Beginning in 1953, he embarked upon a strategy of signing world-class players from abroad, the most prominent of them being Alfredo Di Stéfano.[12]
In 1955, acting upon the idea proposed by the French sports journalist and editor of L'Équipe Gabriel Hanot, Bernabéu, Bedrignan andGusztáv Sebes created an exhibition tournament of invited teams from around Europe that would eventually become what today is known as the UEFA Champions League.[13] It was under Bernabéu's guidance that Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football. The club won the European Cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960, which included the 7–3 Hampden Park finalagainst Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960.[12] After these five consecutive successes, Real was permanently awarded the original cup and earning the right to wear the UEFA badge of honour.[14] The club won the European Cup for a sixth time in 1966 defeating FK Partizan 2–1 in the finalwith a team composed entirely of same nationality players, a first in the competition.[15] This team became known as the "Ye-yé". The name "Ye-yé" came from the "Yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus in The Beatles' song "She Loves You" after four members of the team posed for Diario Marca dressed in Beatles wigs. The Ye-yé generation was also European Cup runner-up in 1962 and 1964.[15]
In the 1970s, Real Madrid won 5 league championships and 3 Spanish Cups.[16] The club played its first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in 1971 and lost to English side Chelsea 2–1.[17] On 2 July 1978, club president Santiago Bernabéu died while the World Cup was being played in Argentina. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) decreed three days of mourning to honour him during the tournament.[18] The following year, the club organized the first edition of the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy in the memory of its former president.
