The 2015–16 La Liga season (known as the Liga BBVA for sponsorship reasons) was the 85th since its establishment. Barcelona were the defending champions. The season began on 21 August 2015, and concluded on 15 May 2016.
Barcelona successfully retained the title (their 24th Liga overall) following a 3–0 win against Granada on the final matchday. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid were engaged in an intense title race, with the three teams finishing with 91, 90 and 88 points respectively.
Barcelona's Luis Suárez finished as the league's top scorer, becoming the first player apart from Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to do so since the 2008–09 season.
Teams Promotion and relegation (pre-season) A total of twenty teams contested the league, including seventeen sides from the 2014–15 season and three promoted from the 2014–15 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, Real Betis and Sporting Gijón, and the winners of the play-offs, Las Palmas.
Almería and Córdoba were relegated to 2015–16 Segunda División in the previous season, after spending two and one years in La Liga, respectively. Elche was administratively relegated despite finishing in 13th. Following the competition rules, Eibar, who finished 18th, remained in the league.
Real Betis was the first team from the Segunda División to achieve promotion, after a one-year absence from La Liga, on 24 May 2015 after winning 3–0 over Alcorcón.
On 7 June 2015, Sporting Gijón secured promotion on the final matchday, after their 3–0 win against Betis allowed the club to leapfrog Girona, who drew their final match and could not retain second place and automatic promotion. Sporting returned to the top level after three years.
Las Palmas achieved promotion on 21 June 2015, after defeating Zaragoza in the promotion play-off final on away goals. Las Palmas won the second 2–0 leg at home after losing the first leg away 3–1, and returned to the first division after thirteen years away. They also became the first island team to play in La Liga since Mallorca's relegation from the top flight in the 2012–13 season. During those thirteen seasons, the club spent two of them in the third-tier Segunda División B.
Stadiums and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity Athletic Bilbao Bilbao San Mamés 53,289 Atlético Madrid Madrid Vicente Calderón 54,907 Barcelona Barcelona Camp Nou 99,354 Celta Vigo Vigo Balaídos 30,000 Deportivo La Coruña A Coruña Riazor 34,600 Eibar Eibar Ipurua 6,267 Espanyol Barcelona RCDE Stadium 40,500 Getafe Getafe Coliseum Alfonso Pérez 17,393 Granada Granada Nuevo Los Cármenes 23,156 Las Palmas Las Palmas Gran Canaria 32,150 Levante Valencia Ciutat de València 26,354 Málaga Málaga La Rosaleda 30,044 Rayo Vallecano Madrid Vallecas 14,708 Real Betis Seville Benito Villamarín 52,500 Real Madrid Madrid Santiago Bernabéu 85,454 Real Sociedad San Sebastián Anoeta 32,076 Sevilla Seville Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán 42,500 Sporting Gijón Gijón El Molinón 29,029 Valencia Valencia Mestalla 55,000 Villarreal Villarreal El Madrigal24,890
Personnel and sponsorship Team Head coach Captain Kit Shirt sponsor Athletic Bilbao Ernesto Valverde Carlos Gurpegui Nike Kutkabank Atlético Madrid Diego Simeone Gabi Nike Plus500, Azerbaijan Land of Fire, Huawei Barcelona Luis Enrique Andrés Iniesta Nike Qatar Airways, Beko, UNICEF Celta Vigo Eduardo Berizzo Hugo Mallo Adidas Citroën, Estrella Galicia 0,0 , Abanca Víctor Sánchez Manuel Pablo Lotto Eibar Daniel García Puma AVIA, Wiko , Eibar Energia Hiria Espanyol Constantin Gâlcă Javi López Joma Power8/Rastar, Riviera Maya Getafe Juan Esnáider Pedro León Joma Tecnocasa Group, Gedesco Granada José González Diego Mainz Joma Solver Sports Capital, Banco Mare Nostrum, Coviran, Caja Rural Granada Las Palmas Quique Setién David García Acerbis Gran Canaria, Grupo DISA, Islas Canarias/Air Europa, CajaSur, BeCordial Hotels & Resorts, Binter/Domingo Alonso, Volkswagen Levante Rubi Juanfran Nike East United/BetEast, Baleària, Valencia, BetEast Málaga Javi Gracia Duda NikeBenahavis Rayo Vallecano Paco Jémez David Cobeño Kelme Qbao.com, Halcón Viajes Real Betis Gus Poyet Jorge Molina Adidas UED Sports, Wiko Real Madrid Zinedine Zidane Sergio Ramos Adidas Fly Emirates Real Sociedad Eusebio Sacristán Xabi Prieto Adidas Qbao.com, Kutxabank, Canal+ Sevilla Unai Emery Reale Seguros, Andalucía , ZTE Sporting Gijón Abelardo Fernández Alberto Lora Kappa Gijón, Ternera Asturiana, Telecable, Nissan Valencia Pako Ayestarán Paco Alcácer Adidas Codere (only in UEFA matches), Gol Televisión/beIN Sports, Codere Villarreal Marcelino Bruno Soriano Xtep Pamesa Cerámica, Endavant 1. On the back of shirt. 2. On the sleeves. 3. On the shorts. 4. Barcelona made a donation to UNICEF in order to display the charity's logo on the back of the club's kit. 5. Deportivo had a phrase in Chinese characters on the back of its shorts meaning "La Liga is Diverse". 6. Sevilla featured these sponsors only for the 2016 Copa del Rey Final. 7. Referee kits were made by Adidas, sponsored by Würth, and Nike had a new match ball, the Ordem LFP. 8. Additionally, 14 teams showed the logo of Sockatyes in their socks as a result of a sponsorship agreement with the LFP (all except Athletic Bilbao, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Valencia). Also, in these agreement those teams showed the logo of EA Sports since matchday 13.
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment Real Madrid Carlo AncelottiSacked 25 May 2015Pre-season Rafael Benítez 3 June 2015 Getafe Pablo Franco 1 June 2015 Fran Escribá 26 June 2015 Eibar Gaizka Garitano Mutual consent 30 June 2015 José Luis Mendilibar 30 June 2015 Las Palmas Paco HerreraSacked 19 October 2015 19th Quique Setién 19 October 2015 Levante Lucas Alcaraz 26 October 2015 20th Rubi 27 October 2015 Real Sociedad David Moyes 9 November 2015 16th Eusebio Sacristán 9 November 2015 Valencia Nuno Espírito Santo Resigned 29 November 2015 9th Gary Neville 2 December 2015 Espanyol Sergio GonzálezSacked 14 December 2015 12th Constantin Gâlcă 14 December 2015 Real Madrid Rafael Benítez 4 January 2016 3rd Zinedine Zidane 4 January 2016 Real Betis Pepe Mel 10 January 2016 15th Juan Merino (caretaker) 3 February 2016 Granada José Ramón Sandoval 22 February 2016 20th José González 22 February 2016 Valencia Gary Neville 30 March 2016 14th Pako Ayestarán 30 March 2016 Getafe Fran Escribá 11 April 2016 19th Juan Esnáider 12 April 2016 Real Betis Juan Merino End of caretaker spell 9 May 2016 14th Gus Poyet 9 May 2016
Overview On 14 May 2016, Barcelona won their second consecutive and 24th overall La Liga title, following a 3–0 win over Granada at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes on the final matchday. Real Madrid finished one point behind Barcelona as runners-up, having gone on a twelve-match win streak to close out the season. Atlético Madrid ended the season three points off the top in third place, having been eliminated from title contention after a loss to Levante on the penultimate matchday.
Levante were the first team to be mathematically relegated to the Segunda División, following a 1–3 loss against Málaga on 2 May 2016. On 15 May 2016, Sporting Gijón ensured they would remain in the top flight after defeating Villarreal 2–0 and taking advantage of Getafe's loss against Real Betis, which saw Getafe relegated from La Liga for the first time in club history. Rayo Vallecano also went down despite winning their final match of the season.
League table
Standings
Results
Season statistics
Scoring First goal of the season: Salva Sevilla for Espanyol against Getafe (22 August 2015) Last goal of the season: Álvaro Medrán for Getafe against Real Betis (15 May 2016)
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Luis SuárezBarcelona402 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid353 Lionel MessiBarcelona264 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid24 NeymarBarcelona6 Antoine GriezmannAtlético Madrid227 Aritz AdurizAthletic Bilbao208 Gareth BaleReal Madrid19 Rubén CastroReal Betis10 Borja BastónEibar18
Top assists
RankPlayerClubAssists1 Lionel MessiBarcelona16 Luis SuárezBarcelona3 KokeAtlético Madrid144 NeymarBarcelona125 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid116 Marco AsensioEspanyol10 Gareth BaleReal Madrid Toni KroosReal Madrid Roberto SoldadoVillarreal10 Jonathan VieraLas Palmas9
Zamora Trophy The Ricardo Zamora Trophy was awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with the lowest ratio of goals conceded to matches played. A goalkeeper had to play at least 28 matches of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.
RankPlayerClubGoalsagainstMatchesAverage1 Jan Oblak Atlético Madrid 18380.472 Claudio BravoBarcelona22320.693 Alphonse AreolaVillarreal26320.814 Keylor NavasReal Madrid28340.825 Gorka IraizozAthletic Bilbao37361.03
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Reference Cristiano Ronaldo5 Real Madrid Espanyol 6–0 (A) 12 September 2015 Report Imanol Agirretxe Real Sociedad Granada 3–0 (A) 22 September 2015 Report Charles Málaga Real Sociedad 3–1 (H) 3 October 2015 Report Neymar4 Barcelona Rayo Vallecano 5–2 (H) 17 October 2015 Report Kevin Gameiro Sevilla Getafe 5–0 (H) 24 October 2015 Report Luis Suárez Barcelona Eibar 3–1 (H) 25 October 2015 Report Aritz Aduriz Athletic Bilbao Rayo Vallecano 3–0 (A) 29 November 2015 Report Antonio Sanabria Sporting Gijón Las Palmas 3–1 (H) 6 December 2015 Report Gareth Bale4 Real Madrid Rayo Vallecano 10–2 (H) 20 December 2015 Report Karim Benzema Real Madrid Rayo Vallecano 10–2 (H) Report Lionel Messi Barcelona Granada 4–0 (H) 9 January 2016 Report Gareth Bale Real Madrid Deportivo La Coruña 5–0 (H) Report Luis Suárez Barcelona Athletic Bilbao 6–0 (H) 17 January 2016 Report Antonio Sanabria Sporting Gijón Real Sociedad 5–1 (H) 22 January 2016 Report Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Espanyol 6–0 (H) 31 January 2016 Report Luis Suárez Barcelona Celta Vigo 6–1 (H) 14 February 2016 Report Aritz Aduriz Athletic Bilbao Deportivo La Coruña 4–1 (H) 2 March 2016 Report Lionel Messi Barcelona Rayo Vallecano 5–1 (A) 3 March 2016 Report Cristiano Ronaldo4 Real Madrid Celta Vigo 7–1 (H) 5 March 2016 Report Luis Suárez4 Barcelona Deportivo La Coruña 8–0 (A) 20 April 2016 Report Paco Alcácer Valencia Eibar 4–0 (H) Report Youssef El-Arabi Granada Levante 5–1 (H) 21 April 2016 Report Luis Suárez4 Barcelona Sporting Gijón 6–0 (H) 23 April 2016 Report Luis Suárez Barcelona Granada 3–0 (A) 14 May 2016 Report 4 Player scored four goals5 Player scored five goals(H) – Home; (A) – Away
Discipline
Most yellow cards (club): 136 Granada Most yellow cards (player): 17 Rubén Pérez (Granada) Most red cards (club): 10 Rayo Vallecano Most red cards (player): 2 Aythami Artiles (Las Palmas) Gustavo Cabral (Celta Vigo) Nacho Cases (Sporting Gijón) Deyverson (Levante) Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) Víctor Sánchez (Espanyol) Simão (Levante)
Overall Most wins - Barcelona (29) Fewest wins - Deportivo La Coruña and Levante (8) Most draws - Deportivo La Coruña (18) Fewest draws - Barcelona and Atlético Madrid (4) Most losses - Levante (22) Fewest losses - Real Madrid (4) Most goals scored - Barcelona (112) Fewest goals scored - Real Betis (34) Most goals conceded - Espanyol (74) Fewest goals conceded - Atlético Madrid (18)
Attendance
Awards Seasonal La Liga's governing body, the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the La Liga Awards.
AwardRecipientBest Player (Atlético Madrid)Best Coach Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid)Best Goalkeeper Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid)Best Defender Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid)Best Midfielder Luka Modrić (Real Madrid)Best Forward Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Team of the Year
Team of the Year Goalkeeper Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid) Defence Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) Gerard Piqué (Barcelona) Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid) Marcelo (Real Madrid) Midfield Andrés Iniesta