Football is the most popular sport in Spain, with 61% of the population interested in it. Spain has some of the most influential teams in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, and others) as well as many players (mostly unprofessional) and teams registered in all categories (1,063,090 players in 21,148 clubs). Moreover, football is the sport that interests the majority of Spanish people (48%) and a total of 67% of the population said they were fans of or had a liking for a particular club.
In a survey of the sports habits of the Spanish population made in 2010, football was ranked as the second most popular recreational sport practiced by the population (17.9%). 75.9% said they had purchased tickets to a football match. In addition, 67.3% of the people said they saw all, almost all, many, or some of the football matches broadcast on television. In another survey undertaken in 2014, football practice decreased to 14% of the population, being overtaken by other sports such as running, cycling, and swimming for recreation. However, in this survey, football was still the sport that interested most of Spain's people (48%). 67% of the population said they were fans of or sympathized with a particular club. In addition, 74.9% said they watched, whenever possible, the matches broadcast on television regarding their favourite teams, and 42.4% had flags, badges, or objects of their favourite teams. Data from this survey confirmed the widespread impression that most of Spain's people are supporters of Real Madrid (32.4%) or FC Barcelona (24.7%), and the other teams have fewer supporters nationwide, such as Atlético de Madrid (16.1%), Valencia CF (3.5%), Athletic Bilbao (3.3%), or Sevilla FC (3.2%).
A relationship between football, politics, intercultural relations, identity, and attitudes toward regionalism in Spain has also been reported.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (Spanish: Real Federación Española de Fútbol) – the country's national football governing body – organizes two Cup competitions: the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España. The Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) (English: Professional Football League), integrated by a total of 42 football clubs, forms part of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) but has autonomy in its organization and functioning. It is responsible for organising state football leagues in coordination with RFEF.
The Spain national football team has won the FIFA World Cup twice and succeeded in the UEFA European Championship and the Olympic tournament. The biggest success achieved by the national team was the historic treble of winning tournaments in a row: the
UEFA European Championship in 2008, the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and 2026, and the UEFA European Championship in 2012. They also won the UEFA European Championship in 1964 and in 2024. The Spain women's national football team became world champions following their victory in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, therefore making Spain only the second nation after Germany to win both the men's and women's senior World Cup, and the first nation to hold both titles simultaneously. In all categories, Spain's men's national teams have won 27 titles in FIFA, UEFA, and Olympic tournaments within the European continent and beyond. In qualifying for the UEFA championships, the team ranked highest in the number of shots (227) and possession (70%) and completed with the highest pass percentage (91%) out of all qualifying teams. The team was also the first to retain the Henri Delaunay trophy.
The First Division of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional – commonly known in the English-speaking world as La Liga – is one of the strongest football leagues in both Europe and the world. At the club level, Spanish football clubs have won a total of 66 international tournaments. They are the most successful in different current European competitions, such as UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and UEFA Europa League; and were also the most successful in the extinct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
During its most successful time, Tiki-taka was the characteristic football style of play developed by the Spain national football team (and at the club level, by FC Barcelona). This football style is characterized by possessing the ball for large portions of the game and moving the ball quickly from one player to the next, with short and quick passes, keeping the ball away from the opponent, and then delivering an incisive pass to score a goal.
Professional football in Spain is a sociocultural event that significantly contributes to the Spanish economy in terms of demand and supply. In economic terms, during 2013, professional football generated more than €7.6 billion, including direct, indirect, and induced effects, representing 0.75% of the Spanish GDP. Moreover, due to the financial crisis in the last few years, many Spanish football clubs in the top two divisions have been facing severe economic troubles due to paying bank debts. In addition, the European Union authorities have warned the Spanish authorities to halt public funding of debt-ridden clubs.
Spain's national futsal team is one of the strongest teams in the world, being six times champion in the UEFA Futsal Championship and two times champion in the FIFA Futsal World Championship.
History 19th century Modern football was introduced to Spain in the late 19th century by a combination of mostly British immigrant workers, visiting sailors, and Spanish students returning from Britain. In the late 1870s, various English workers scattered throughout the peninsula began to establish informal groups that were dedicated to different recreational practices, especially cricket and football, particularly in Spanish ports of Vigo, Andalusia, Huelva, Seville, and Bilbao.
The first kick to a football ball on Spanish soil occurred in 1873 in either Huelva or Vigo. The investigations about which one was the dean of football in Spain remained inconclusive and open to debate by historians. That year, in Huelva, British workers of the Rio Tinto Company Limited (RTCL) began to arrive at the Minas de Riotinto after the company won a concession to exploit the copper mines of Rio Tinto. The Englishmen who worked in the mines gathered to play their favourite sports, like cricket, rugby, and football. Meanwhile, in Vigo, a group of British workers for the Eastern Telegraph Company arrived there from Porthcurno, a small isolated town in the far west of England, thus earning the nickname "Exiles". These two colonies gave birth to the first Spanish football teams: Exiles Foot-Ball Club (1876) and Río Tinto Foot-Ball Club (1878). These teams were never officially established, so there is no legal record of their existence. The first legally established Spanish football club was the Cricket and Football Club of Madrid, founded in October 1879 under the protection of King Alfonso XII, who was named the Honorary President of the club. Together with Exiles FC and Rio Tinto FC, it was one of the three proto-clubs that pioneered and expanded football in Spain. Even though the Madrid team disappeared a few years later, Exiles FC and Rio Tinto FC lasted decades and played a pivotal role in the amateur beginnings of football in Spain.
Rio Tinto FC catalyzed the ('Ball Game Society') in 1884, which organized football games and other typical British sports. These meetings were initially contested between the club's members and later against crews of English ships that docked in the port of Huelva. The earliest known example of this dates to March 1888, when the club played football and cricket matches against the mariners of a merchant ship called Jane Cory. This society developed into the oldest official football club in Spain, Recreativo de Huelva, founded in December 1889 by two Scottish doctors of the Rio Tinto Company, Alexander Mackay and Robert Russell Ross. Exiles FC lasted until the early 1910s; the club had good relations with the first football clubs to emerge in the city, and collaborated with them by providing knowledge, players, coaches, and even sharing its field, El Relleno.
After Recreativo de Huelva, Sevilla FC is the next-oldest club in Spain, having been founded on 25 January 1890, by Isaias White and the then British vice-consul of Seville, Edward Farquharson Johnston, who became the club's first president. Unlike previous clubs, Sevilla FC was solely devoted to football, leading it to be considered Spain's first football club. The first official football match in Spain was contested between Sevilla FC and Recreativo de Huelva in Seville on 8 March 1890, at an abandoned mine near Calle Sanz. There were two Spanish players on each team; all other players were British, mostly Scottish, including Sevilla's captain Hugh MacColl. Sevilla FC won .
Football was introduced in the Basque Country by two distinct groups, both with British connections: British shipyard workers and Basque students returning from schooling in Britain. The British employees of the Nervión Shipyards, located in Sestao (Vizcaya), organized and played the first known football match in the region, which was held on 4 April 1890, between the Machinery Department (engineers) and the Shipyard Workers. This group of football pioneers were part of a multi-sports club called Club Atleta, which had been founded in late 1889. In November 1892, the president of Club Atleta, Enrique Jones Bird, successfully asked for permission to play in the Hippodrome of Lamiako, which thus became the new home of organized football in the Basque Country. It was from Lamiako that the sport of football took off in Bilbao, with several Bilbainos swarming the field to watch the teams of British workers challenge each other every weekend, and eventually, the local citizens themselves decided to challenge a British team in 1894, which ended in a 6–0 win for the British. The result, however, did not discourage the enthusiastic locals who were quick to play another match and soon the sport gained followers among the young students of the Gymnasium Zamacois, and in 1898, a group of seven students of that gym led by Juan Astorquia founded the first Basque football club: Athletic Club. This early British influence was reflected in the use of English names such as Recreation Club, Athletic Club, and Football Club. Although Athletic was founded in 1898, the club was not officially established until the historic meeting in Café García on 5 September 1901, where the club's first board was elected.