La Liga, Spain’s top men’s football division, is based in Spain and forms the highest level of the Spanish league system. Its formal name is the Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División.
The competition began in 1929 and is organised by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, commonly known as LaLiga. It normally features 20 clubs, with each team playing every other club twice for a 38-match season.
La Liga is one of Europe’s major domestic leagues, alongside England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1. Its best-known clubs include Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, although only nine clubs have won the championship.
The country can cause a common mix-up: “La Liga” means Spain’s top division, while Segunda División is the second tier. The league was suspended during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 and was also disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.