Fulham reached the 2010 Europa League final, which they contested with Atlético Madrid in Hamburg, losing 2 – 1 after extra time.

During the 1930s and 1940s and in the last two decades, however, La Liga has seen other champions, including, Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Deportivo, Real Betis, and Sevilla.

Atlético Madrid, Espanyol and Europa qualified as Copa del Rey runners-up and Racing de Santander qualified through a knockout competition.

When the Primera División resumed after the Spanish Civil War, it was Atlético Aviación ( nowadays Atlético Madrid ), Valencia, and Sevilla that initially emerged as the strongest clubs.

Although Atlético Madrid, previously known as Atlético Aviación, were champions in 1950 and 1951 under catenaccio mastermind Helenio Herrera, the 1950s saw the beginning of the Barcelona / Real Madrid dominance.

During this era, only Atlético Madrid offered Real Madrid any serious challenge, adding four more titles to their tally in 1966, 1970, 1973, and 1977.

Atlético Madrid won their ninth Primera División title in 1996 before Real Madrid added another Liga trophy to their cabinet in 1997.

In 1963, De Kuip hosted their first European final ( Cup winners ' Cup ) between Tottenham Hotspur and Atlético Madrid.

* Juan Valera ( 1984 –), Atlético Madrid footballer and 2010 Murcia sportsman of the year

In his penultimate season, he suffered a severe knee injury which rendered him unavailable for most of the successful 1994 – 95 league campaign, but still bounced back for a final solid season, after which he left for Atlético Celaya in Mexico, where Butragueño was also playing, shortly after the arrival at Madrid of president Lorenzo Sanz.

However, the first Champions League match at home against Atlético Madrid was lost 0 – 3.

PSV were chanceless in their Champions League group, losing to Liverpool both home and away, losing away against Olympique de Marseille and losing home and away against Atlético Madrid.

These poor results meant that PSV finished last in their group, behind Liverpool, Atlético Madrid, and Marseille, respectively.

Sporting de Gijón have worn red and white striped jerseys since their inception, being the first spanish actual first division's team to wear red & white, as both Athletic Bilbao and Atlético Madrid wore blue and white until 1909.

After years in the second division facing serious economic and sporting difficulties, Albacete returned to the top flight in the 2002 – 03 campaign, led by César Ferrando ( later of Atlético de Madrid ).

The team managed to reach the last-16 in Copa del Rey nonetheless, notably beating Atlético Madrid 3 – 1 on aggregate.

This club later evolved into Atlético Madrid.

Of the 50 shirts bought by Elorduy, half were then sent to Atlético Madrid, which had originally begun as a youth branch of Athletic.

The 1960s, however were dominated by Real Madrid and Atlético Bilbao only had a single Copa del Rey win in 1969.

David Sergio Trezeguet () ( born 15 October 1977 ) is a World Cup winning French-Argentinian footballer who plays for and captains Club Atlético River Plate in the Argentine Primera Division.

Among the most outstanding players are José Cardona who played for Atlético Madrid in Spain ; Gilberto Yearwood who played in Elche, Spain ; Porfirio Betancourt, who played in France ; Carlos Pavón, who currently plays for Real España ; and David Suazo, current player of Internazionale, who was named The Most Valuable Foreign Player of the Italian league in 2006.

Arsène Wenger and Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein both gave evidence in court, saying that Arsenal dealt directly with Atlético Mineiro and that no agent was involved in the deal.

His second goal in the white jersey came in El Derbi madrileño on 28 March, scoring a right-foot goal past David de Gea in the 3 – 2 win over Atlético Madrid.

* Colón de Santa Fe ( Club Atlético Colón ), an Argentine football ( soccer ) team.

* Club Atlético Unión de Sunchales, an Argentine football ( soccer ) club

There had been a precedent for this ; Real Madrid were allowed to keep the first Copa de la República ( 1936 ), Sevilla, the first Copa del Generalísimo ( 1939 ) and, Atlético Madrid, the last Copa del Generalísimo ( 1976 ).

After three years with Atlético de Madrid where he appeared sparingly ( a best output of 14 games ), Goikoetxea retired at almost 34, with 369 overall games for Athletic, netting 44 goals.

Many were sceptical about the viability of a European tournament for cup winners and many of the bigger clubs eligible to contest the first CWC turned down the chance to enter, such as Atlético de Madrid of Spain and AS Monaco of France.

They kept first place in La Liga until the penultimate game of 38 when they lost 3-2 away to Celta de Vigo, while Real Madrid beat Atlético Madrid 4 – 0.

* Thibaut Courtois Football player, on loan to Atlético de Madrid from Chelsea FC

The next season would see their first major achievement in the league, Depor finished as runners-up just one point behind Atlético de Madrid under the management of Argentinian Alejandro Scopelli, who brought to the club a group of South American players such as Julio Corcuera, Oswaldo García, Rafael Franco and Dagoberto Moll who made the team more competitive and able to remain top flight status for 9 seasons in a row until 1957.

With Arsenio Iglesias taking his 4th spell as manager and experienced players added to the side as López Rekarte, Paco Liaño, Claudio Barragán, José Luis Ribera, Adolfo Aldana, Donato ( most of them veterans being former players of great teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atlético de Madrid ), along with promising younsters such as local boy Fran and Brazilians Bebeto and Mauro Silva upgraded the teams level.

On 18 February 1934, Sevilla FC won promotion to First Division, after beating in Madrid the " Atlético de Madrid " in the final match of the Championship and become leader ( in any case, the following season it had been decided that in First Division the teams would be expanded to twelve, which is why the Sevilla FC could have been even second ).

In spite of it, during the 1935-36 season Sevilla FC was about to descend again to Second Division, on having been third to last ( two teams descended ), and achieving the continuation in the last game of the season against Atlético de Madrid.

Former forward of Espanyol de Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Juventus and River Plate.

* Boca Juniors were awarded the title " Campeón de Honor " ( Honour Champion ) in 1925, due to a highly successful tour through Europe in which the club played Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad, as well as German and French teams, with an impressive record of 15 wins, one draw and three defeats.

The club returned in 1994 when the two second-division clubs Atlético Cuernavaca ( Morelos ) and Escuadra Celeste de Celaya ( Guanajuato ) merged.

All merging clubs brought a piece of their old identity into the new club: Atlético Cuernavaca offered its name ; Celeste de Celaya offered their light blue colors and Atlético Español provided their mascot, the bull, engendering their nickname toros ( bulls ).

San Miguel's main football clubs are Club Atlético San Martín de Tucumán and Club Atlético Tucumán.

He also owned the Houston Stars professional soccer team, which was actually the imported Bangu Atlético Clube from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

After rejecting a new contract offer from Leeds and subsequently requesting a transfer, Hasselbaink was sold to Spanish club Atlético de Madrid for £ 12 million in 1999.