La Liga League Official Football Club

La liga League official football club The Primera División (First Division) of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Professional Football League), commonly known as La Liga (The League) or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA (BBVA League) since 2008, is the top professional association football league in Spain. It is contested by twenty teams, with the three lowest placed teams relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top three teams in that division. A total of 59 teams have competed in La Liga, nine of which have been crowned champions. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated the championship. The former have won the title thirty-one times while the latter have won it on twenty occasions. However, during the 1930s and 1940s and in the last two decades, La Liga has seen other champions including Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Deportivo, Sevilla and Real Betis. Barcelona are currently back to back winners of La Liga.

La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 29,124 for league matches in the 2008–09 season. This is the eighth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the third highest of any professional association football league.La Liga is currently ranked the second strongest league in Europe according to UEFA's league coefficient, based on recent European performances.

The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a season, which lasts from September to June, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the highest-ranked club at the end of the season crowned champion. If points are equal between two or more clubs, the rules are

If all clubs involved have played each other twice:
If the tie is between two clubs, then the tie is broken using the head-to-head goal difference (without away goals rule)
If the tie is between more than two clubs, then the tie is broken, using the games the clubs have played against each other:
a) head-to-head points
b) head-to-head goal difference
c) head-to-head goals scored
If two legged games between all clubs involved have not been played, or the tie is not broken by the rules above, it is broken using:
a) total goal difference
b) total goals scored
If the tie is still not broken, the winner will be determined by Fair Play scales. These are:
yellow card, 1 point
doubled yellow card/ejection, 2 points
direct red card, 3 points
Suspension or disqualification to coach, executive or other club's personnel (outside referee decisions), 5 points
Misconduct of the supporters: mild 5 points, serious 6 points, very serious 7 points
Stadium closure, 10 points
If the Competition Committee removes a penalty, the points are also removed
If the tie is still not broken, it will be resolved with a tie-break match in a neutral stadium.

A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Primera División and the Segunda División. The three lowest placed teams in La Liga are relegated to the Segunda División, and the top two teams from the Segunda División are promoted to La Liga. The third team from the Segunda División to be promoted to La Liga is determined by the winner of the play-off played between the winner of the play-off between 3rd against 6th and the winner of the play-off between 4th placed against 5th. These placed teams should be considered excluding reserve teams.

Qualification for European competitions The top teams in La Liga qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the first, second, and third placed teams directly entering the group stage and the fourth placed team entering the third qualifying round. The fifth and sixth placed teams qualify for the first round of the UEFA Europa League.