The 1996–97 La Liga season was the 66th since its establishment. It began on 31 August 1996, and concluded on 23 June 1997. Five clubs were relegated to the Segunda División at the end of the season, as the number of La Liga clubs was reduced to 20 starting from the following season. This was thus the last La Liga season played with 22 teams.
Promotion and relegation Teams promoted from 1995–96 Segunda División Hércules Logroñés Extremadura
Teams relegated to 1996–97 Segunda División Albacete Mérida Salamanca
Team information
Clubs and locations 1996–97 season was composed of the following clubs:
Team Stadium Capacity Barcelona Camp Nou 98,772 Real Madrid Santiago Bernabéu 80,354 Atlético Madrid Vicente Calderón 55,005 Valencia Mestalla 55,000 Real Betis Benito Villamarín 52,132 Sevilla Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán 45,500 Espanyol Sarrià 44,000 Athletic Bilbao San Mamés 39,750 Deportivo de La Coruña Riazor 34,600 Real Zaragoza La Romareda 34,596 Celta de Vigo Balaídos 32,500 Real Sociedad Anoeta 32,200 Hércules José Rico Pérez 29,500 Valladolid José Zorrilla 27,846 Sporting de Gijón El Molinón 25,885 Real Oviedo Carlos Tartiere 23,500 Tenerife Heliodoro Rodríguez López 22,824 Racing de Santander El Sardinero 22,222 Logroñés Las Gaunas 16,000 Rayo Vallecano Vallecas 14,708 Compostela San Lázaro 12,000 Extremadura Francisco de la Hera 11,580
It was the last season with 22 teams in La Liga. To reduce the number of teams in the league, the last four teams, CF Extremadura, Sevilla FC, Hércules CF and CD Logroñés, were relegated and the fifth-to-last team, Rayo Vallecano, played a relegation playoff and was also relegated.
Personnel and sponsoring TeamHead coachCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsorAthletic Bilbao Luis Fernández Genar AndrinúaKappaNone Atlético Madrid Radomir Antić Roberto SolozábalPumaBandai/Tamagotchi Barcelona Bobby Robson Gheorghe PopescuKappaNone Betis Lorenzo Serra Ferrer Alexis TrujilloKappaOcaroil Celta Vigo Fernando Castro Santos Patxi SalinasUmbroCitroën Compostela Fernando Vázquez Javier BellidoZicoEscuris Deportivo Carlos Alberto Silva Francisco Javier González PérezUmbroFeiraco Espanyol Paco Flores Francisco Javier López AlfaroPumaDani Extremadura Iosu Ortoundo Juan Francisco Rodríguez HerreraKelmeExpo '98 Lisboa Hércules Quique Hernández Francisco Gabriel Escudero MartínezRasánJijona Logroñés Carlos Aimar Agustín AbadíaRasánLa Rioja Racing Santander Marcos Alonso Peña Jesús Merino LandaluceAustralCaja Cantabria Rayo Vallecano Francisco García Gómez Jesús Diego CotaJomaEstepona Oviedo José Antonio Novo Alberto Martínez DíazJoluviCajastur Real Madrid Fabio Capello Manolo SanchísKelmeTeka Real Sociedad Javier Irureta Lorenzo Juarros GarcíaAstoreKrafft Sevilla Vicente Miera Manuel Jiménez JiménezUmbroNone Sporting de Gijón Benito Floro Juan Carlos AblanedoJomaCajastur Tenerife Jupp Heynckes Felipe MiñambresPumaCanarias Valencia Jorge Valdano Andoni ZubizarretaLuanviFord Valladolid Vicente Cantatore Juan Carlos Rodríguez MorenoKelmeCaja España Zaragoza Víctor Espárrago Alberto BelsuéAdidasPikolin
League table
Results
Relegation playoff
First leg
Second leg
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 RonaldoBarcelona342 AlfonsoReal Betis253 Davor ŠukerReal Madrid244 RaúlReal Madrid21 RivaldoDeportivo La Coruña6 OliOviedo197 Luis EnriqueBarcelona17 OhenCompostela José Ángel ZigandaAthletic Bilbao10 Víctor FernándezValladolid16 Lyuboslav PenevCompostela Ismael UrzaizAthletic Bilbao
Attendances
Source:
# Club Avg. attendance Highest 1 FC Barcelona 86,429 115,000 2 Real Madrid 85,429 110,000 3 Sevilla FC 44,436 71,114 4 Valencia CF 42,624 50,000 5 Real Betis 40,786 47,500 6 Athletic Club 38,743 44,000 7 Atlético de Madrid 32,238 52,000 8 Real Zaragoza 28,000 35,000 9 Deportivo de La Coruña 23,571 33,000 10 RCD Espanyol 22,343 40,000 11 Real Sociedad 20,810 28,300 12 Real Sporting de Gijón 19,157 30,000 13 Real Valladolid 18,729 26,000 14 Celta de Vigo 17,595 30,000 15 Racing de Santander 17,000 21,000 16 Hércules CF 16,470 28,207 17 CD Tenerife 15,143 22,500 18 Real Oviedo 14,483 23,500 19 CD Logroñés 12,500 18,000 20 Extremadura CF 10,380 15,000 21 SD Compostela 9,714 14,000 22 Rayo Vallecano 8,738 13,000
References