Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football.
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and has won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football. Ferguson is often credited for valuing youth during his time with Manchester United, particularly in the 1990s with the "Class of '92", who contributed to making the club one of the richest and most successful in the world.
Zinedine Yazid Zidane, popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most successful coaches in the world. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Zidane was a playmaker renowned for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control, and technique. He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or.
Raúl González Blanco, known as Raúl, is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of Real Madrid Castilla, the reserve team of La Liga club Real Madrid. Raúl is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation.
The Intercontinental Cup, also known as the Toyota European/South American Cup for sponsorship reasons, from 1980 to 2004, was an international football competition endorsed by UEFA (Europe) and CONMEBOL, contested between representative clubs from these confederations, usually the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the South American Copa Libertadores. It ran from 1960 to 2004, when it was succeeded by the FIFA Club World Championship, although they both ran concurrently in 2000.
Rafael Benítez Maudes is a Spanish professional football manager and former player. He was most recently manager of La Liga club Celta Vigo.
Carlo Ancelotti is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Real Madrid. Nicknamed "Don Carlo", he is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. Ancelotti is the most decorated manager in UEFA Champions League history, having won the trophy a record four times as coach. He is also the first and only one to have managed teams in five Champions League finals. As a player, he won the European Cup twice with AC Milan in 1989 and 1990, making him one of seven people to have won the European Cup or Champions League as both a player and a manager. Ancelotti is also the first and only manager ever to have won league titles in all of Europe's top five leagues. He has won the FIFA Club World Cup three times, and is also the manager with the joint-most UEFA Super Cup triumphs, having won the trophy on four occasions, managing Milan and Real Madrid.
The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship. It was not held from 2001 to 2004 due to a combination of factors in the cancelled 2001 tournament, most importantly the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure (ISL), but since 2005 it has been held every year. Views differ as to the cup's prestige: it struggles to attract interest in most of Europe, and is the object of heated debate in South America.
Marcello Romeo Lippi is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to have won the World Cup, the Champions League, the European Championship and the Intercontinental Cup.
This page indexes the individual year in association football pages. Each year is annotated with one or more significant events as a reference point.
Toni Kroos is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, he is known for his vision, passing, creativity, crossing and set-piece ability. Kroos plays mainly as a central midfielder, but has also been deployed as a deep-lying playmaker in his career.
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 FC 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.
Federico Santiago Valverde Dipetta is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a central-midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Uruguay national team. Known for his pace, stamina, work rate and shooting ability, he is regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world. Mainly a central-midfielder, he is also able to deploy as a defensive-midfielder, a right-winger and occasionally a right-back.
