The Spanish football league commonly known as La Liga is the first national football league in Spain, being one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world. It was founded in 1929 and has been held every year since then with the exception of the period (1936–1939) due to the Spanish Civil War. At his foundation, it only consisted of 10 teams. Currently, it is made up of 20 teams quite evenly spread across the country but mainly from the most developed regions: Madrid, Barcelona, and Basque Country. The top four teams are qualified for the Champions League while the three lowest placed teams (positions 18–20) are relegated to the second division. As in most European countries, the winner of the game gets three points and both teams get 1 point if they draw.

西班牙足球聯賽俗稱西甲聯賽，是西班牙第一個國家足球聯賽，是世界上最受歡迎的職業體育聯賽之一。 它成立于1929年，此后每年舉辦一次，但由于西班牙內戰時期(1936年至1939年)除外。 在他的基礎上，它僅由10個團隊組成。 目前，它由20個團隊組成，分布在全國各地，但主要來自最發達的地區：馬德里，巴塞羅那和巴斯克地區。 排名前四的球隊有資格參加歐洲冠軍聯賽，而排名最低的三支球隊(排名18–20)則降級為第二組。 與大多數歐洲國家一樣，比賽的獲勝者獲得3分，兩隊如果平局，則獲得1分。

This article is a journey through the history of the Spanish league. Analyzing historical data (all classifications from 1929 until 2020), we will be able to answer many questions about La Liga. What teams nearly won La Liga? Do referees favor Real Madrid and Barcelona? Is La Liga becoming too soft? When did Barcelona and Real Madrid’s hegemony start? Since when is Barcelona catching up Real Madrid?

本文是西班牙聯賽歷史上的一次旅程。 分析歷史數據(從1929年到2020年的所有分類)，我們將能夠回答有關西甲的許多問題。 哪些球隊幾乎贏得了西甲冠軍？ 裁判喜歡皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那嗎？ 西甲會變得太軟嗎？ 巴塞羅那和皇馬的霸權何時開始？ 巴塞羅那什么時候開始追趕皇家馬德里？

Let’s get started 💜

讓我們開始吧💜

Web數據提取 (Web data extraction)

The historical data of La Liga (from 1929 until 2020) was scraped from Bdfutbol.com. This website contains national and international football rankings.

西甲(1929年至2020年)的歷史數據來自Bdfutbol.com。 該網站包含國內和國際足球排名。

To scrape the data, we have used BeautifulSoup which is a popular Python library for extracting information from an HTML page. After obtaining all the data, we have stored it in a Pandas data frame for further processing.

為了抓取數據，我們使用了BeautifulSoup，這是一個流行的Python庫，用于從HTML頁面提取信息。 獲取所有數據后，我們將其存儲在Pandas數據框中以進行進一步處理。

The programming code used in this analysis is available here. You can take a look at it as you read the article.

此分析中使用的編程代碼可在此處獲得。 閱讀本文時，您可以對其進行查看。

數據清理 (Data Cleaning)

Data Cleaning is the process of transforming raw data into a standardized form that can easily be analyzed with data analytics tools. In this particular case, before analyzing the data using Pandas, we have performed multiple cleaning operations. We have removed unnecessary columns and renamed the remaining ones using English terms (remember that data was scraped from a Spanish website). During the exploratory data analysis, we have noticed that in some cases multiple names were used to refer to the same football team. Over the years, some football teams have changed their names obligated in most cases by law. For instance, during the Spanish Second Republic (1931–1939) was not allowed to use the royal symbols. As a consequence, many football teams modified their names which contained the word ‘Real’ (Royal in English) to avoid being convicted for praising the monarchy. Real Madrid was not only renamed just Madrid but also lost the crown of his shield. Subsequently, during the Franco regime, they recovered the word ‘Real’, but a new law affected other team names. The dictatorship banned the use of foreign words from 1941 until 1972. Consequently, teams such as Athletic Club, Racing de Santander, and Sporting de Gijón were forced to modify their historical names for 30 years to Atlético de Bilbao, Santander, and Real Gijón.

數據清理是將原始數據轉換為可以使用數據分析工具輕松分析的標準化形式的過程。 在這種特殊情況下，在使用Pandas分析數據之前，我們已經執行了多次清理操作。 我們已刪除了不必要的列，并使用英語術語重命名了其余的列(請記住，數據是從西班牙語網站中抓取的)。 在探索性數據分析過程中，我們注意到在某些情況下使用多個名稱來指代同一支足球隊。 多年來，一些足球隊已經更改了大多數法律規定的名稱。 例如，在西班牙第二共和國(1931-1939)期間，不允許使用皇家符號。 結果，許多橄欖球隊修改了名字，包括“ Real”(皇家)一詞，以避免因贊美君主制而被定罪。 皇家馬德里不僅改名為馬德里，而且失去了盾牌王冠。 隨后，在佛朗哥政權期間，他們恢復了“真實”一詞，但一項新法律影響了其他球隊的名稱。 獨裁統治從1941年到1972年禁止使用外來詞。因此，諸如運動俱樂部，桑坦德賽車隊和希洪競技隊之類的球隊被迫將自己的歷史名稱修改為畢爾巴鄂競技隊，桑坦德和皇家希洪長達30年。

After cleaning the data, we obtain a Pandas data frame that can be easily processed to extract conclusions. As shown below, the data frame contains information such as the number of games won, drawn, and lost, the number of yellow and red cards, the number of points, and the position in the ranking of all teams that took part in La Liga from 1929 until 2020.

清理數據后，我們獲得了一個熊貓數據框，可以輕松對其進行處理以得出結論。 如下圖所示，數據框包含諸如獲勝，平局和輸局的次數，黃牌和紅牌的數量，積分的數量以及參加西甲聯賽的所有球隊的排名中的信息。從1929年到2020年。

Now, we are ready to analyze the data! :)

現在，我們準備分析數據！ :)

西班牙聯賽冠軍 (Spanish league winners)

The Spanish league has been played by more of 60 different clubs; however, only nine of them got their hands on the trophy. The following plot shows the Spanish league winners from season 1928–29 until 2019–20.

西班牙聯賽已有60多個俱樂部參加過比賽； 然而，只有九個人得到了獎杯。 下圖顯示了從1928–29賽季到2019-20賽季的西班牙聯賽冠軍。

As shown above, Real Madrid is the most successful club in the history of La Liga with 34 titles followed by Barcelona with 26 leagues. However, as we will see later, Barcelona is catching up. Apart from these two clubs, the Spanish first division has been won by other 7 clubs, including Atlético Madrid (10), Athletic Club (8), Valencia (6), Real Sociedad (2), Betis (1), Sevilla (1), and Deportivo de La Coru?a (1).

如上所示，皇馬是西甲歷史上最成功的俱樂部，擁有34個冠軍，其次是巴塞羅那，擁有26個聯賽。 但是，正如我們稍后將看到的，巴塞羅那正在迎頭趕上。 除這兩個俱樂部外，西班牙甲級聯賽還獲得了其他7個俱樂部的冠軍，其中包括馬德里競技(10)，運動俱樂部(8)，巴倫西亞(6)，皇家社會(2)，貝蒂斯(1)，塞維利亞(1)。 )和拉科魯尼亞(1)。

西班牙聯賽亞軍 (Spanish league runner-ups)

It is heartbreaking to be a runner-up. For Real Madrid and Barcelona to be second is a shameful failure that could easily end up with the dismissal of the coach or with multiple multi-millionaire signings for the next season. For other teams, it is just a dream that almost comes true, but definitely not a failure. Failure, after all, is just a matter of expectations.

成為亞軍是令人心碎的。 對于皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那來說，屈居第二是可恥的失敗，很容易以解雇教練或在下個賽季多次簽下千萬富翁而告終。 對于其他團隊來說，這只是夢想，幾乎可以實現，但絕對不是失敗。 畢竟，失敗只是期望的問題。

As shown below, there are 5 football teams that have never won the league but they were on one occasion runner-ups: Racing de Santander (1930–31), Las Palmas (1968–69), Zaragoza (1974–75), Sporting de Gijón (1978–79), and Villarreal (2007–08).

如下圖所示，有5支從未贏得過聯賽冠軍的橄欖球隊，但它們曾一次獲得亞軍：桑坦德賽車隊(1930–31)，拉斯帕爾馬斯(1968–69)，薩拉戈薩(1974–75)，體育德希洪(1978–79)和比利亞雷亞爾(2007-08)。

Additionally, we can also observe that Barcelona has been on more occasions runner-up of La Liga than Real Madrid.

此外，我們還可以觀察到，巴塞羅那在西甲聯賽中的獲得次數多于皇家馬德里。

第一部門的總賽季數(前10名) (Total number of seasons in the first division (Top 10))

There are only 3 football teams that have never been relegated to the second division: Athletic Club, Barcelona, and Real Madrid. Espanyol and Valencia played 4 seasons in the second division, and Atlético de Madrid 6.

只有3支從未降級到第二部的足球隊：運動俱樂部，巴塞羅那和皇家馬德里。 西班牙人隊和瓦倫西亞隊在乙級聯賽中打了4個賽季，馬德里競技隊則打了6個賽季。

All teams from the image above are currently in the first division with the exception of Zaragoza (since 2012–13 in the second division).

上圖中的所有團隊目前都在第一級別，薩拉戈薩除外(自2012-13以來在第二級別)。

每個賽季在西班牙聯賽中的球隊數量 (Number of teams in the Spanish league per season)

The number of teams in La Liga has steadily increased from 10 to 20 teams with the exception of the seasons 1995–96 and 1996–97, during which 22 teams played.

西甲聯賽的球隊數量從10支穩定增加到20支，但1995–96賽季和1996–97賽季除外，在此期間有22支球隊參賽。

Currently, 20 teams play the Spanish league. The same number of teams play the Serie A (Italy), the Ligue 1 (France), and the Premier League (England). On the contrary, 18 teams take part in the Bundesliga (Germany), the Primeira Liga (Portugal), and the Eredivisie (Holand).Evolution of the number of leagues

目前，有20支球隊參加西班牙聯賽。 相同數量的球隊參加意甲(意大利)，聯賽1(法國)和英超(英格蘭)。 相反，有18支球隊參加了德甲(德國)，西甲聯賽(葡萄牙)和埃雷迪維西(荷蘭)的比賽。

聯賽數量的演變 (Evolution of the number of leagues)

It is said in Spain that La Liga is played by two teams the rest is ornamentation and in my opinion, that is totally true 😢. Since 2000, Real Madrid and Barcelona have won 17 out of 20 leagues, being for other teams almost impossible to compete against them. But has always been the Spanish league that boring? Has always been dominated by Madrid or Barcelona? When did the Real Madrid and Barcelona’s hegemony begin? Let’s clarify all questions with a simple plot.

據說在西班牙，西甲由兩支球隊組成，其余的都是裝飾，我認為那是完全正確的。 自2000年以來，皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那贏得了20場聯賽中的17場，對于其他球隊來說幾乎是不可能與他們競爭的。 但是西班牙聯賽向來如此無聊嗎？ 一直被馬德里或巴塞羅那統治？ 皇馬和巴塞羅那的霸權何時開始？ 讓我們用一個簡單的圖來闡明所有問題。

The following plot shows the evolution of the number of leagues by team.

下圖顯示了球隊聯賽數量的演變。

As shown in the plot, in the first years of the league, although we can observe the slight prominence of Athletic Club, La Liga was not as hegemonic as it is nowadays and it was not clearly dominated by any club. In the late fifties, we start to see the beginning of Real Madrid’s dominance with the signing of Di Stefano. The Argentinean completely changed the fate of Real Madrid which at that time was an average team and had not won the league in 20 years.

如圖所示，在聯賽成立的頭幾年，盡管我們可以觀察到競技俱樂部的突出地位，但西甲聯賽并不像現在那樣霸權，也沒有明顯地被任何俱樂部所統治。 在五十年代后期，隨著斯蒂芬諾的加盟，我們開始看到皇馬的統治地位開始。 阿根廷人徹底改變了皇家馬德里的命運，當時皇家馬德里是一支普通球隊，并且在20年內沒有贏得聯賽冠軍。

From the 1960s onward, Real Madrid took control over the league winning 14 titles in only two decades. At the time, ‘El Clásico’ was the match between Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid since Atlético de Madrid was the only serious rival of The Meringues winning 4 leagues between 1960 and 1980.

從1960年代起，皇馬僅用了20年就獲得了聯賽的14項冠軍。 當時，“馬德里競技”是皇家馬德里和皇家馬德里之間的較量，因為馬德里競技是“蛋白甜餅”在1960年至1980年之間贏得4個聯賽的唯一嚴重對手。

From the nineties onwards, Barcelona has dominated the Spanish league winning 16 titles. In the 1990s, under the supervision of Johan Cruyff (1988–1996), Barcelona ended with the overwhelming dominance of Real Madrid in the last years. Johan Cruyff created a possession-based football style that continued to be imitated by Barcelona’s subsequent coaches, Louis Van Gaal, Frank Rijkaard, and particularly Guardiola. From the 2000s on, the hegemony of Barcelona continued powered by home-grown players such as Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol or Pique.

從九十年代開始，巴塞羅那統治了西班牙聯賽，贏得了16個冠軍。 在1990年代，在約翰·克魯伊夫(Johan Cruyff，1988–1996)的監督下，巴塞羅那在過去幾年中以皇馬的壓倒性優勢而告終。 約翰·克魯伊夫(Johan Cruyff)創造了一種以財產為基礎的足球風格，該風格繼續受到巴塞羅那隨后的教練路易斯·范加爾(Louis Van Gaal)，弗蘭克·里杰卡爾(Frank Rijkaard)尤其是瓜迪奧拉的模仿。 從2000年代開始，巴塞羅那的霸權一直由梅西，伊涅斯塔，哈維，布斯克茨，普約爾或皮克等本土球員提供動力。

All the aforesaid can also be observed in the following plot which shows the number of leagues by team and decade.

所有上述內容也可以在下面的圖表中看到，該圖表顯示了按球隊和十年劃分的聯賽數量。

皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那之間的聯賽差異 (The difference in leagues between Real Madrid and Barcelona)

The following plot shows the difference in leagues between Real Madrid and Barcelona over time. As shown below, the maximum difference in favor of Barcelona was in the season 1952–1953. At that time, Barcelona had 4 leagues more than Real Madrid. However, in the mid-fifties, the luck of Real Madrid was about to change. From this time until the nineties, Real Madrid clearly dominated La Liga and the difference in leagues between The Blancos and Barcelona was increasing over time reaching its maximum in the season 1989–90 (15 leagues). From the 1990s onward, we observe how the difference in leagues is decreasing over time as a consequence of Barcelona’s hegemony. Currently, Real Madrid has 8 leagues more than Barcelona.

下圖顯示了隨著時間的推移皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那之間的聯賽差異。 如下圖所示，支持巴塞羅那的最大差異是在1952–1953年。 當時，巴塞羅那比皇家馬德里多4個聯賽。 然而，在五十年代中期，皇家馬德里的運氣即將改變。 從這個時間到90年代，皇家馬德里顯然統治了西甲，而布朗科斯和巴塞羅那之間的聯賽差距隨著時間的推移而不斷增加，達到1989-90賽季的最高水平(15個聯賽)。 從1990年代開始，我們觀察到由于巴塞羅那霸權主義，聯賽之間的差異如何隨著時間的推移而減小。 目前，皇馬比巴塞羅那多擁有8個聯賽。

西甲的黃牌和紅牌 (Yellow and red cards in La Liga)

There is one thing that most football fans across the world take for granted: the use cards. However, it was not until 1970 at the World Cup in Mexico that the yellow and red card system was used for the first time in football. The system was invented in 1966 by the English referee Ken Aston who noticed that many times football players did not understand or just ignored the warnings made by referees which at the time were orally communicated. Then, inspired by the colors of the traffic lights (red and yellow) and their meanings, Aston created a color-coding scheme to clearly indicate that a football player has been cautioned or expelled.

全世界大多數足球迷都想一想：使用卡。 但是，直到1970年在墨西哥舉行的世界杯足球賽上，才首次使用黃牌和紅牌系統。 該系統是由英國裁判肯·阿斯頓(Ken Aston)于1966年發明的，他注意到很多時候足球運動員都不理解或只是忽略了裁判的警告，當時警告是通過口頭傳達的。 然后，在交通信號燈(紅色和黃色)的顏色及其含義的啟發下，阿斯頓??創建了一種顏色編碼方案，以清楚地表明足球運動員已被警告或開除。

But as Hemingway said, Spain is different. The Spanish National team did not take part at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico where the card system was first used. The Spanish Federation of football thought that yellow cards were actually white so that is how they looked like in black and white TVs of the time. In January 1971 red and white cards were introduced in the Spanish League until 1976 when yellow cards finally replaced white cards.

但是正如海明威所說，西班牙是不同的。 西班牙國家隊沒有參加第一次使用卡系統的1970年墨西哥世界杯。 西班牙足球聯合會認為黃牌實際上是白色的，因此在當時的黑白電視中它們的外觀是這樣的。 1971年1月，西班牙聯賽引入了紅牌和白牌，直到1976年yellow牌最終取代了白牌。

The following plot shows the total number of red cards per season. As I previously said, before the year 1971, the referee announced to the player his fines verbally. In the figure below, prior to 1971, red cards represent football players that were expelled during the match only with words (without using cards).

下圖顯示了每個季節的紅牌總數。 正如我之前所說，在1971年之前，裁判員向球員口頭宣布了罰款。 在下圖中，1971年之前，紅牌表示足球比賽期間被踢出的足球運動員，只用文字(不使用紙牌)。

We observe a growing tendency until the mid-nineties. From that moment on, the total amount of red cards is steadily decreasing over time.

直到九十年代中期，我們觀察到一種增長的趨勢。 從那一刻起，紅卡的總數隨著時間的推移穩步下降。

Likewise, the plot below shows the total number of yellow cards (including white cards) per season.

同樣，下圖顯示了每個季節黃牌(包括白牌)的總數。

The total number of yellow cards per season has grown steadily from 1971 until the mid-nineties. From this time on, the number of cards remains nearly constant around 2000 cards per season.

從1971年到90年代中期，每個季節的黃牌總數一直穩定增長。 從那時起，每個賽季的卡片數量幾乎保持不變，約為2000張。

Prior to the use of cards, players often did not receive penalties. Only in special cases (really strong fouls), football players were expelled from the game.

在使用紙牌之前，玩家通常不會受到處罰。 僅在特殊情況下(確實犯規)，足球運動員才被踢出比賽。

In Spain, it is said that referees favor Real Madrid and Barcelona in the last years. But is that really true? Let’s see the numbers :)

在西班牙，據說裁判員最近幾年青睞皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那。 但這是真的嗎？ 讓我們看看數字:)

The following plots show the average number of red and yellow cards by team from 1990 until 2020. As said, Real Madrid and Barcelona received on average fewer cards than other strong teams such as Atlético de Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, or Athletic Club. Maybe their success is not only a combination of money and good players but also a little bit of help 😆

以下圖表顯示了1990年至2020年各隊的紅卡和黃牌的平均數量。如上所述，皇家馬德里和巴薩的平均牌數少于馬德里競技，巴倫西亞，塞維利亞或競技俱樂部等其他強隊。 也許他們的成功不僅是金錢和優秀球員的結合，而且是一點幫助

最近十年的表現 (Performance in the last 10 years)

The following plots show the performance of Valencia, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, and Athletic Club in the last 10 years. As shown below, Real Madrid and Barcelona score on average more goals than the other teams.

以下圖表顯示了瓦倫西亞，皇家馬德里，巴塞羅那，馬德里競技和競技俱樂部在過去十年中的表現。 如下圖所示，皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那的進球數平均高于其他球隊。

However, if we analyze the goals against, we observe that Atlético de Madrid is defensively the strongest team, even better than Barcelona, and the person responsible for all of this is Diego Simeone.

但是，如果我們對目標進行分析，就會發現馬德里競技是防守最強的球隊，甚至比巴塞羅那還要強，而負責這一切的人是迭戈·西蒙內。

The Argentinean is the manager of Atlético de Madrid since December 2011. Under his supervision, Atletico de Madrid has developed a distinct identity based on a strong defensive style. With Diego Simeone as coach, Atlético de Madrid has won La Liga, La Copa del Rey, the Europa League twice, and the UEFA Super Cup also twice, currently being the only serious rival of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

阿根廷人從2011年12月起擔任馬德里競技隊的經理。在他的監督下，馬德里競技隊以其強大的防守風格建立了鮮明的身份。 在迭戈·西蒙內(Siegoone)的執教下，馬德里競技(Atléticode Madrid)贏得了西甲，拉科帕·德·雷伊(La Copa del Rey)，歐羅巴聯賽兩次，以及歐洲聯盟超級杯也兩次，目前是皇家馬德里和巴塞羅那的唯一重要對手。

摘要 (Summary)

The Spanish league has been clearly dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona for a long time. In the beginning, the league was not as hegemonic as it is today and it was not clearly dominated by any club. From the mid-fifties on, Real Madrid took control over the league, being Atlético de Madrid his only serious rival. In the season 1989–90, Real Madrid had 15 leagues more than Barcelona. However, in the 90s, under the supervision of Johan Cruyff, Barcelona ended with the overwhelming dominance of Real Madrid. From that time on, the difference in leagues between them is gradually decreasing. Nowadays, Real Madrid and particularly Barcelona clearly dominate La Liga, being really hard for other teams to compete against them.

長期以來，西班牙聯賽顯然一直由皇馬和巴塞羅那統治。 最初，該聯盟不像今天那樣霸權，也沒有明顯地被任何俱樂部支配。 從五十年代中期開始，皇馬開始控制聯盟，成為馬德里競技的唯一對手。 在1989-90賽季，皇家馬德里比巴塞羅那多15個聯賽。 然而，在90年代，在約翰·克魯伊夫(Johan Cruyff)的監督下，巴塞羅那以皇馬的壓倒性優勢而告終。 從那時起，它們之間的聯賽差異逐漸減小。 如今，皇家馬德里，尤其是巴塞羅那顯然統治了西甲，其他球隊很難與他們競爭。

A more plural league would be also a more interesting one. However, in my view, this situation is not likely to change any time soon. The Spanish league is highly monetized and there is an especial interest in the hegemony Real Madrid-Barcelona, as they are the teams that generate the most benefits.

多元化的聯盟也將是一個更有趣的聯盟。 但是，我認為這種情況不太可能很快改變。 西班牙聯賽貨幣化程度很高，對霸權皇馬-巴塞羅那特別感興趣，因為他們是收益最大的球隊。

致謝 (Acknowledgments)

Although I like football, I have never been a big fan of it. I selected the topic nearly by chance without expecting to discover so many interesting things. I hope you have enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it.

盡管我喜歡足球，但我從來都不是足球迷。 我幾乎是偶然地選擇了這個主題，卻沒想到會發現很多有趣的事情。 希望您喜歡閱讀本文并喜歡撰寫本文。

Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for their support. Without the long conversations about football with them, it would not have been possible to write this article. Thank you 😊. And yes, we all support Atlético de Madrid ??

最后，我要感謝父母的支持。 沒有與他們之間關于足球的長時間討論，就不可能寫這篇文章。 謝謝😊。 是的，我們都支持馬德里競技??

Amanda 🍀

阿曼達🍀