Atletico Madrid Facts, Net Worth, Stadium and Club History

Sportblis presents you with the History and Facts of Club Atletico de Madrid popularly known as Atletico Madrid. This article is full coverage of Atletico Madrid’s History, Trophies, Net Worth, Stadium, Facts, and History Timeline. To begin with, Atletico Madrid is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga.

Atletico Madrid History:

Athletic Club de Madrid was founded on the 26th day of April 1903 by three Basque students living in Madrid. The founders consider their newly founded club as a youth branch of Athletic Bilbao (their childhood team). From the onset, the club first wore blue and white shirts. Apparently, their jersey design was inspired by Blackburn Rovers. Eight years later, they would change their jersey design to red and white shirt under the influence of Southampton.

After the 1939 Spanish civil war, Athletic had to merge with Aviacion Nacional (a Zaragoza football club founded the same year) to ensure their continuity. Hence, the newly merged club functioned with the name; Athletic Aviación de Madrid. In no distant time, Athletic Aviación won its first La Liga in 1940. A few years after that, in 1947, the club changed its name for the last time to Club Atletico de Madrid.

10 Facts About Atletico Madrid:

1. The Grand Breakthrough in Spanish Football:

The 1950s started off well for the Los Rojiblancos, as the club won two more La Liga titles under the leadership of Helenio Herrera. However, after Helenio’s departure in 1953, the club had to settle for being the third-best team in Spain, behind the untouchable Real Madrid and Barcelona.

2. Atletico Madrid Net Worth:

Do you know?… Forbes.com ranked Atletico Madrid as the twelfth wealthiest football club behind PSG. At the time of compiling these Facts, Atletico Madrid has an estimated Net Worth of $953 Million. The Spanish club makes about $475 million from Broadcasting and $363 million as their annual revenue.

3. Atletico Madrid Stadium:

From their inception, Los Rojiblancos played their home games at Ronda de Vallecas until 1923. Afterwards, they moved to the Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid, where they played from 1923 to 1966. What’s more?… Atletico moved to Vicente Calderon Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 54,907 in 1966. There, they played their home games until 2017. Lastly, the club moved to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 68,000 in 2017.

4. Fan Once Called Them “animals”:

Under the management of Juan Carlos Lorenzo (1973–1975), Fans gave Atletico the ill sounding nickname; “animals”. The nickname came after the European Cup semi-final against Celtic. Although Atletico achieved a goalless away draw, they ended up with three red cards and many yellow cards after the match.

Also, their hard markings gave away about 51 free kicks to Celtic. Hence, many fans discrete their playing pattern, which was based on an all-out defence and a terrific marking style that seems too hazardous to opponent’s players.

5. Jesus Gil’s Era:

The club had to wait until 1987 before Jesús Gil emerged as its new president. Even though Gil started spending large amounts of money on big-name signings, his ruthless philosophy of changing the coaches at a rapid rate did not yield results right away. After settling for two Copa del Rey titles in 1991 and 1992, Atletico finally won its long-awaited 9th La Liga title in 1996. That same year, they added another Copa del Rey to the collections of their team’s trophy. In 2000, Gil ended his regime with the Los Rojiblancos due to the disagreement that existed between him and the club’s board.

6. The Diego Simeone Era:

Diego Simeone’s appointment as head coach in 2011 saw the club return to its former paths of glory without big names to feature for the team. Under his leadership, the club won a Europa League in 2012, a Copa del Rey in 2013 and its tenth La Liga in 2014. After the team’s victory in the UEFA Super Cup in 2018, Simeone became the most successful manager in the club’s history.

7. Atletico Madrid Trophies and Awards:

At the time of compiling these facts about Atletico Madrid, the Spanish team has won no UEFA Champions League. However, we have prepared the list of all their trophies and league titles. See for yourself, the awards that the Spanish team has amassed for itself since its inception.

La Liga: 10
Segunda Division: 1
Copa del Rey: 10
Supercopa de España: 2
Copa de los Campeones de Espana: 1
European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1
UEFA Europa League: 3
Copa Eva Duarte: 1
UEFA Super Cup: 3
Copa Presidente FEF: 1
Intercontinental Cup: 1
Globe Soccer Special Award: 1 (2014)
Globe Soccer Best Club of the Year: 2 (2012, 2018)
IFFHS The World’s Club Team of the Year: 1 (2018)

8. Rivalry:

For many years, there exists a fierce rivalry between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. With both clubs enjoying their primes, their clashes on the soccer field have often been termed as the Madrid Derby.

9. Atletico Madrid History Timeline

1903 The club is established (as Athletic Club de Madrid).
1912 The team changed their jersey to red and white shirts.
1929 Their First season in the Primera División.
1939 Athletic merged with Aviación Nacional. Hence, the new club is named Atlético Aviación de Madrid.
1923 The club move to the Stadium Metropolitano.
1940 First time national league champions.
1947 The Team is renamed as Club Atlético de Madrid.
1948 The first foreign player is transferred (Larbi Ben Barek, Morocco).
1959 Winning their first Copa del Rey trophy.
1962 First European cup trophy (UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup).
1974 First European Cup title.
2010 First UEFA Europe League title.
2014 First Champions League title.
2017 The club move to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

10. Quick Facts About Atletico Madrid