History of Real Madrid

By J. Santodomingo

Real Madrid is a Spanish football club, known world wide as being one of the best teams in the world.  
 
Football was first brought to Spain by a group of young men, many of whom were Oxbridge graduates. They officially founded the first club, Sky, in 1897 and in 1900, this club split into two: New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Madrid Football Club. Julián Palacios was the first president of Madrid Football Club and, in the first four years, the club won the Copa del Rey, the only nationwide championship, each and every time.  
 
In 1920, King Alfonso XIII gave the club the title of “Real” (meaning Royal), as he was a great supporter of both the sport and the team; this is also the reason behind the crown in the club emblem. However ten years later, the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic resulted in the club having to drop the title of “Real”, meaning the club went back to being called Madrid Football Club.  
 
In 1941, Franco was the dictator of Spain. He was a supporter of the team and there were rumours that he used to send policemen to intimidate the teams that the club was going to play against. He gave the title “Real” back to the club and was one of its biggest supporters.  
 
In 1955, acting upon the idea proposed by a French journalist Gabriel Hanot, Bedrignan, the club’s president, worked with Gusztáv Sebes, a Hungarian football player, to create an international tournament known as Champions league. This tournament was made for teams from all around Europe with the overall purpose of uniting countries from all around the world.  Since its establishment, Real Madrid has won the Champions league over twelve times. 
 
The club has supporters from all over the globe. This fame is a result of the team’s incredible success, along with the participation of one of the world’s best strikers, Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Ronaldo is not the only star on the team and it is said that the future for Real looks bright as the team is supposedly well stocked with young and promising players eager to fill Ronaldo’s shoes once he retires.  
 
 Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Madrid_C.F. 
http://www.realmadrid.com/sobre-el-real-madrid/historia/futbol/1911-1920-el-madrid-se-consolida-y-gana-el-titulo-de-real
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