Spanish football : Spanish Primera Division 2009/2010 season preview

Brilliant Barcelona

Barcelona won their 19th Primera Division title with two games left last season. It was Barcaelona's second piece of silverware in a week after the Catalans overcame Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the King's Cup final. Barcelona also deposed Manchester United as European champions with a 2-0 victory in UEFA 2008/09 the Champions League final. Victory completed a European and domestic treble for the club in an extraordinary first campaign for coach Pep Guardiola. The Catalan club scored 154 goals in all competitions to become the first Spanish club to win the league, domestic cup and UEFA Champions League in one season.

• Champions and Spanish Cup winners: Barcelona (UEFA Champions League)
• Runners-up: Real Madrid (UEFA Champions League)
• Third place: Sevilla (UEFA Champions League)
• Fourth place: Atletico Madrid (UEFA Champions League play-off round)
• Fifth place: Villarreal (UEFA Europa League)
• Sixth place: Valencia (UEFA Europa League)
• Spanish Cup finalists: Athletic Bilbao (UEFA Europa League)
• Relegated: Betis, Numancia, Recreativo
• Promoted: Zaragoza, Xerez, Tenerife.

Real Madrid are second, while Sevilla secured third place and automatic qualification for the UEFA Champions League group stage. Fourth-placed Atletico Madrid sealed the final UEFA Champions League qualifying spot in Spain. Villarreal and Valencia were both winners in the last round of games to finish fifth and sixth and will play in this season's Europa League alongside King's Cup runners-up Athletic Bilbao. Numancia were relegated to the second division along with Recreativo Huelva and Betis. Zaragoza, Xerez and Tenerife were promoted to the Primera Division.

This table shows the overall number of titles since 1929, for each club in Spanish Primera Division and their league standings in the last five seasons.

Major overhaul at Real Madrid

Real Madrid confirmed in June that Manuel Pellegrini will coach the club this season. The 55-year-old replaces Juande Ramos, who took over at the Santiago Bernabeu in December after Bernd Schuster was fired. The Chilean coach had agreed to leave Villarreal after five seasons and local media reported that Real would pay Villarreal €4m in compensation. Pellegrini's arrival comes hours after Florentino Perez assumed the presidency of Real Madrid for the second time. The 62-year-old presided over Real from 2000 to 2006, the so called "galactico" era.

Perez has returned as Real president pledging a "spectacular sporting project" and the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso and others has lifted the hopes of the fans. Real have spent a quarter of a billion euros in a bid to overturn five years of failure in Europe, especially last season. Portuguese winger Ronaldo arrives from Manchester United for a record-breaking fee of €94m. Ronaldo's Old Trafford future had been the subject of intense speculation and Real finally have landed the World and European Player of the Year, who spent last June pushing for what he called at the time a "dream move" to Madrid.

This page is introduction to the 2009/2010 Spanish Primera Division season. Latest news, statistics, results and predictions you can find on our main Euro Football > Spain page.

Real Madrid have landed yet another big name signing Brazilian star playmaker Kaka, the 2007 FIFA world player of the year, in a reported €68m transfer from Milan. Lyon have also agreed to sell their star, France striker Karim Benzema, for a minimum fee of €35m, while Xabi Alonso becomes Real's fourth major acquisition under their ambitious president Perez. Liverpool have agreed to sell the Spain midfielder for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of €35m and his trensfer takes Real's close-season spending up to around €250m. Meanwhile, Real Madrid have sold Javier Saviola and the Dutch contingent of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic seals Barcelona move

Barcelona have already won one trophy this season, a thumping 5-1 aggregate win over Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup, with coach Pep Guardiola adding striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and left back Maxwell to his squad. Sweden striker Ibrahimovic moved to Barcelona from Inter Milan and Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o went the other way in a swap deal worth more than €66m. With Eto'o being valued at €20m, Barcelona announced they were paying a separate €46m fee for Ibrahimovic, 27, who has signed a five-year deal with the Catalans. Brazilian defender Maxwell also moves from Inter for an initial fee of €4.5m.

This table displays Spanish Primera league standings for season 2008/2009.

Coaching changes

Villarreal have appointed Ernesto Valverde as their new coach in place of Manuel Pellegrini, who has left to join Real Madrid. Valverde, who led Greek side Olympiacos to a league and cup double last campaign, has agreed a one-year contract with an option for a second season. The 45-year-old previously coached at Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol, guiding the Spanish league club to the 2007 UEFA Cup final. Valverde succeeds a coach who, in five seasons at the Villarreal helm, took the previously unfashionable club to a UEFA Champions League semi-final in 2006 and a club-best second place in the Liga in 2008.

Malaga have announced that their new coach will be Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz, who left Racing Santander after only one campaign in charge. He replaces Antonio Tapia, who quit at the end of last season and was appointed to take over at relegated Betis. Lopez Muniz has signed a two-year contract with Malaga. Racing Santander have appointed Juan Carlos Mandia as their new coach. The 42-year-old has penned a one-year deal with an option of a further 12 months. He failed to lead Hercules to promotion from the Segunda Division last season and Racing will be his first top-flight post. Mandia has also coached Logrones and Real Madrid's B team, Castilla.

Spanish Cup finals in last five years

2005   Betis - Osasuna   2:1
2006   Espanyol - Real Zaragoza   4:1
2007   Sevilla - Getafe   1:0
2008   Valencia - Getafe   3:1
2009   Barcelona - Athletic Bilbao   4:1