DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY CLUBS THAT HAVE WON THE SPANISH LA LIGA SINCE INCEPTION IN 1929?

Since its formation in 1929, only eight football clubs have won the Spanish La Liga and they are FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilboa, Valencia CF, Real Sociedad, Real Betis, Sevilla FC and Deportivo La Corona. 

DID YOU KNOW THE FIRST AFRICAN PLAYER TO PLAY FOR FC BARCELONA?

Alex Song

Jorge Alberto Mendonça

The first African player to don the Blaugrana strip of FC Barcelona was the Portuguses-Angolan Jorge Alberto Mendonça, signed from Atlético Madrid in 1967/1968 season (67 years after the Catalan club was founded). The major trophy he won is the Spanish Copa del Rey trophy in his first season against bitter rivals Real Madrid CF until he left the club in 1970.

It wasn’t until 1996 that the the club signed its second African player, Emmmanuel Amunike from Sporting Lisbon. The next African player to don the FC Barcelona strip was Gbenga Okunowo, when Louis van Gaal was the team’s manager. Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong aka Alex Song is the latest and seventh African player to play for the club.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER DIEGO FORLAN PIPPED TO WIN THE TWO PICHICHI TROPHY AWARDS FOR THE TOP SCORER WHILE HE WAS IN THE SPANISH PRIMERA LIGA?

Diego Forlan is a two-time winner of the Pichichi Trophy for the top-scorer in the Spanish Primera Liga with two different clubsides. His first Pichichi Trophy was with Villarreal CF 2004–05 season when he scored 25 goals in 38 appearances (averaging a goal every 1.5 games) and helped Villarreal CF to their first ever UEFA Champions League spot. He also jointly won the European Soccer Magazine (ESM) Golden Boot award with Thierry Henry (then of Arsenal FC). Forlan's second Pichichi Trophy came in the 2008-2009 season while at Atletico Madrid and he notched up an impressive 32 goals in 33 matches (essentially a goal per game). Interestingly on both occasion, he came from behind to pip Samuel Eto'o then with FC Barcelona to the prize.

DO YOU KNOW THE STRIKER THAT WON TOP SCORER AWARDS IN THE SPANISH PRIMERA LIGA AND THE ITALIAN SERIE A?

Christian Vieri while at Atletico Madrid

The Italian goal bomber, Christian Vieri achieved a rare feat while he was playing active football. He is arguably the only footballer to have won the Pichichi and the Capocannoniere (top scorer) titles in Spain and Italy. He scored 24 goals in 24 Spanish Primera Liga matches for Atletico Madrid to win the Pichichi award in the 1997/1998 season while he won the Capocannoniere award at Inter Milan in the 2002/2003 season with 24 goals from 23 Italian Serie A matches.

DID YOU KNOW WHAT JESUS GIL RODE ON WHEN ATLETICO MADRID WON THE SPANISH PRIMERA LIGA?

Jesus Gil, the late maverick president of Atletico Madrid went through 39 managers in 17 years as well as 141 new signings with his first signing being 21-year-old Portuguese winger Paulo Futre . He bizarrely rode round the city of Madrid on an elephant after Atletico Madrid won the double in the 1995/1996 season under the management of Radomir Antic, a Serbian with players like José Luis Caminero, Kiko Narváez, Jose Molina and Diego Simeone.

DID YOU KNOW THIS MAN IS THE MOST EXPERIENCED MANAGER IN SPANISH FOOTBALL.

Before Luis Aragones was appointed manager of the La Furia Roja otherwise known as the Spanish National team in 2004 (where he won the UEFA European Championship in 2008) from RCD Mallorca, he was was arguably the most experienced manager in the Spanish game.


He steered Atletico Madrid to their 8th league title in 1976/1977 season and has won the Spanish Copa Del Rey four times (three times with Madrilenos in 1976, 1985, 1992 and once with F.C. Barcelona in 1988. He also won the Intercontinental Cup now the (FIFA World Club Cup) in 1974, Supercopa de España in 1985, Segunda Division in 2002 and Iberian Cup in 1991 all with Atletico Madrid in all his spell with the club.

His previous clubs have included Real Betis Balompie, city rivals F.C Sevilla, Real Oviedo, Valencia CF and  RCD Espanyol. He also managed Turkish side Fenerbache in the 2008/2009 season where he had a bad spell.