On March 6, 1902, following a split between the members of La Sociedad – a club which was founded in 1897 – Real Madrid was formed after a new Board presided in Juan Padrós was elected. The club was initially named as the ‘Madrid Football Club’ and just three years on, won their first major honour after defeating Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final. The club played by the name Madrid FC for 18 years before eventually being granted the title of Real (Royal) by the King Alfonso XIII and the rest, as they say, is history. The Los Blancos are one of those three clubs in the Spanish league, who have never been relegated from the top division (with Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao being the other two). Real are unarguably one of the best clubs in the world of football and the fact that they have won 33 La Liga honours (most by any Spanish club) and 12 UEFA Champions League (most by any European club) is the perfect specimen of it.
