Atlético Madrid

Atlético de Madrid football club was established in spring of the year 1903 in the capital of Spain. This is one of the most successful clubs in the history of Spanish football. It was firstly created as an independent and professional club that used to be regarded as a branch of Athletic Bilbao. The squad consisted of Basque students that studied in Madrid. Then the club got officially registered in the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

From the beginning the club’s shirts were red and white striped ones. Since then they have been called ‘Los Colchoneros’ (The Mattress Makers). The team had no stadium of their own and had to rent different pitches.

During the 1920s the club won regional tournaments three times and in 1926 reached the Copa del Rey final were they didn’t manage to overcome Barcelona in injury time.

In 1928 Atlético was invited to the Primera where they came 6th by the end of the very first season. Nevertheless the following year they got relegated. They managed to win promotion back only in 1936 and if it was not for the civil war they would have been relegated again. The team lost 8 footballers during the war, still Atlético won the first post-war championship.

In 1947 Atlético thrashed their worst rival Real Madrid 5-0. That was the biggest win over Los Blancos and they are still proud of it.

In 1949 the new manager Helenio Herrera brought the club to two champion titles in the Primera. Alfonso Aparicio, Hendry Carlsson, Larbi Benbarek, Adrián Escudero.

After the manager left for Malaga the team gave away its positions. Over time, in 1996 the club became a champion once again. After that they managed to reach the second place in the championship for four times. Also they reached the final of Copa del Rey sevenfold and won it three times.

In the season 2013/2014 Diego Simeone led the team to the Spanish title and to the final of the Champions League.

In 1959 Atlético encountered Real Madrid in the final of European Champion Clubs’ Cup and after 3 games the Royal club won the trophy. However The Red and Whites made a revenge beating their co-townmen in the final match of the Copa del Rey. In 1961 the situation was similar and Atlético obtained the trophy again.