Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club was formed in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, and played its first competitive match on 13 May 1902, when it lost 3–1 in the semi-final of the Campeonato de Copa de S.M. Alfonso XIII against Barcelona. Real Madrid played against other local clubs in various regional tournaments, that served as qualifiers for the Copa del Rey, from 1902 to 1940. In 1929, the club became one of the founding members of La Liga, Spain's first national league. As of 2024, Real is one of only three clubs never to have been relegated from the top level of Spanish football, the others being Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona.
From 1902 to 1929, Real won the Copa del Rey five times and the regional championship 15 times. Real Madrid had a successful start in La Liga, finishing second in the competition's first season, and winning the league in 1932 for the first time. In the 1947–48 season, Madrid finished eleventh, which remains, as of 2026, the club's lowest final position. Real Madrid won La Liga four times and the European Cup five times during the 1950s. However, the most successful period for the club in terms of domestic titles was the 1960s, when Real Madrid won eight league championships. It won its first double of league championship and national cup in 1962. Real is also the only Spanish football team to win five consecutive titles, a feat which it has achieved on two occasions (1960–65 and 1985–90).
In addition to their domestic success, Real Madrid's reputation as a major club was established by their outstanding record in the European Cup. To date, they have been crowned champions of Europe a record fifteen times. Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and other famous players helped the club win the European Cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960, which included a memorable 7–3 Hampden Park final against German side Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960. The club won the trophy for a sixth time in 1966 with a team known as the Ye-Ye that defeated Yugoslavian club Partizan 2–1 in the final while being composed entirely of Spanish-born players, a first in the competition. They were also runners-up in 1962, 1964 and 1981. Winning the competition five consecutive times saw Real permanently awarded the original cup and earning the right to wear a multiple-winner badge since 2000. They have also won the UEFA Cup twice and were twice runners-up in the European Cup Winners' Cup.
In 1996, president Lorenzo Sanz appointed Fabio Capello as coach. Although his tenure lasted only one season, Real Madrid were proclaimed league champions and several important players arrived at the club, such as Roberto Carlos, Predrag Mijatović, Davor Šuker and Clarence Seedorf, to strengthen a squad that already boasted the likes of Raúl, Fernando Hierro and Fernando Redondo. As a result, Real Madrid, with the addition of Fernando Morientes in 1997, finally ended its 32-year wait for the seventh European Cup in 1998 under manager Jupp Heynckes, defeating Juventus 1–0 in the final thanks to a goal from Mijatović. Real Madrid would go on to win again in 2000, 2002 (under manager Vicente del Bosque), 2014 (under manager Carlo Ancelotti), 2016, 2017, 2018 (under manager Zinedine Zidane), 2022 and 2024 (again under Ancelotti). Madrid are also eight-time winners of the Intercontinental Cup/FIFA Club World Cup, defeating Peñarol, Vasco da Gama, Club Olimpia, San Lorenzo, Kashima Antlers, Grêmio, Al Ain and Al Hilal in 1960, 1998, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022 respectively.
Early years
Real Madrid's origins go back to when football was introduced to Madrid by the academics and students of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza. They founded (Sociedad) Sky Football in December 1897, commonly known as La Sociedad (The Society) as it was the only club based in Madrid, playing on Sunday mornings at Moncloa. In 1900, conflict between members caused some of them to leave and create a new club, called Nueva Sociedad de Foot-ball (New Society of Football), to distinguish themselves from Sky Football. Nueva Sociedad was founded in October 1900 in a tavern on Calle de la Cruz. The dissenters were led by Julián Palacios, recognized as the first Real Madrid president.
The other dissenters included brothers and future presidents of Real Madrid, Juan Padrós and Carlos Padrós, as well as Adolfo Meléndez, Antonio Neyra, Manolo Mendía, Varela, and the Giralt brothers (Armando, José and Mario). In October 1901, Nueva Sociedad de Foot-ball was renamed as Madrid Football Club.Ball, Phil p. 117. The first field the club used to play matches was a camp in Moncloa, located on the current Vallehermoso street. They utilised the El Solar de Estrada in 1901, which was owned by Claudio Estrada, a member of the club and the father-in-law of president Julián Palacios. The club later played matches at the Tiro del Pichón between 1901 and 1902.
On 6 March 1902, after a new Board presided by Juan Padrós had been elected, Madrid Football Club was officially founded. The Padrós brothers summoned other football enthusiasts to a meeting in the back room of Al Capricho, the family's fashion business. They viewed football as a mass sport that should be accessible to representatives of all social classes, and thought the new club should embody that idea. The brothers proposed the name, Madrid Football Club, which was unanimously accepted. The membership fee was also set, two pesetas a month, and the color of the shirt was chosen to be white in honour of a famous English team Corinthian, which Juan Padrós had met on one of his trips. The club had 28 founding socios (members).
The club played its first ever match on 9 March 1902. It featured two teams of Madrid FC players and was played between the streets of Alcalá and Goya, next to the old Plaza de Toros. The two teams wore blue and red respectively, with the blue team winning the match 1–0. Madrid paid an annual rent of 150 pesetas for the pitch, and the players changed into their playing kits in a tavern called La Taurina. The regulations governing the club, comprising 22 articles, were drafted on 18 April and approved by provincial governor José Sanchez Guerra on 22 April 1902. Madrid FC played its first match against another club on 2 May 1902 at the Hipódromo in a friendly against New Foot-Ball Club that ended in a 1–1 draw.
Carlos Padrós, wanting to demonstrate that the club could organize matches against other teams, helped organize the 1902 Copa de la Coronación in honour of the coronation of Alfonso XIII. He convinced the mayor of Madrid, Alberto Aguilera, to donate a silver cup as the prize for the winning team. Padrós contacted the captains of Barcelona, Club Español de Foot-Ball, Bizcaya (a combination of Athletic Club and Bilbao Football Club) and New Foot-Ball Club and invited them to enter the competition. The event was the first national football tournament played in Spain and was held at the Hipódromo. Madrid FC contested its first competitive match in the semi-finals of the Copa de la Coronación on 13 May. Arthur Johnson scored the club's first competitive goal in a 1–3 loss to Barcelona. This was also the first El Clásico. Madrid secured its first competitive victory defeating Club Español de Football (now Espanyol) 3–2 on 16 May 1902. On 23 May 1902, Alfonso Albéniz became the first player to leave FC Barcelona in order to join Madrid.
Madrid was invited to participate in festivities at El Escorial in August 1902, part of which included a match against Moncloa. The match was played next to the facade of the monastery on 11 August and ended with a 6–5 score favourable to Madrid. The club was awarded two ceramic plates which represent the first trophy in its history. Carlos Padrós initiated the establishment of the Madrid Association of Foot-ball Clubs, a football association responsible for the administration of the sport in Madrid, in December 1902. He also became the association's first president. The Association organized the 1903 Campeonato de Madrid, the inaugural edition of the regional championship of Madrid. Padrós resigned as president of the association in December 1903, and it dissolved in March 1904. Madrid played their first match outside of the Community of Madrid against Club Español de Fútbol at the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona on 24 February 1903. The club participated in the inaugural edition of the Copa del Rey held at the Hipódromo in 1903. Madrid defeated Espanyol 4–1 in the competition's first match on 6 April 1903. The club finished runners-up after losing 3–2 in the final to Athletic Bilbao. The match was also the first El Viejo Clásico.
The club faced a major crisis during the 1903–04 season. A dispute between the members in October 1903 resulted in several players leaving the club to form Club Español de Madrid. They included Antonio Neyra, Enrique Aruabarrena, Pérez, Manuel Vallarino, Ramón Cárdenas, and brothers Mario, Armando and José Giralt. Five other Madrid players also left the club to join Moncloa. This precipitated a merger with Moderno on 30 January 1904. Carlos Padrós was elected president post-merger. The club officially adopted the name Madrid–Moderno due to the merger, although most members, players and fans generally continued to refer to it as Madrid. The club dropped the Moderno name before the next season. Madrid retroactively secured the 1903 Campeonato de Madrid trophy, won by Moderno, as a result of their merger. The club won the first Madrid derby defeating Atlético Madrid 6–0 on 13 November 1904 in a friendly at the Plaza de Toros. Madrid was a founding member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on 21 May 1904.
Madrid qualified for the 1905 Copa del Rey by defeating Moncloa 2–0 to win the 1905 Campeonato de Madrid at the Plaza de Toros on 2 April 1905. Madrid defeated Athletic Bilbao 1–0 in the 1905 Copa del Rey final thanks to a goal by Manuel Prast, to win the first official title in their history. The club secured four consecutive titles by winning again in 1906, 1907 and 1908, becoming the first team to win four consecutive Copa del Rey titles. Madrid was allowed to keep the original trophy following its third consecutive victory in 1907. The club also won four consecutive regional championships between 1905 and 1908. On 23 October 1905, Madrid organised a friendly against French side Gallia to commemorate the visit of French President Émile Loubet to Madrid. It was the club's first match against a foreign side and the first international match to take place in Madrid. In 1907, Madrid lost a match to a team of seminarians from Royal English College in Valladolid, with Edward Power scoring five goals in a 6–2 victory. In 1957, then-club president Santiago Bernabéu was quoted as saying that the "game changed the whole history of football in Spain by showing us how football should be played." Madrid 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 football association.
Club vice-president and player José Ángel Berraondo, who was instrumental in helping Madrid secure four Copa del Rey titles, left the club in 1909. He returned to his hometown of San Sebastián and became one of the founding members of Real Sociedad. Arthur Johnson was appointed as manager of Madrid FC in 1910 becoming the first manager in the club's history. Santiago Bernabéu made his debut for the club on 3 March 1912 when he was only 16 years old in a friendly against English Sports Club. In 1912, Madrid moved to their first permanent home ground called Campo de O'Donnell, after previously moving between some minor grounds. The venue was inaugurated on 31 October 1912 with a match against Sporting Club de Irún. By 1912, Real Madrid had around 450 members.