Classroom lesson · Football · 🇪🇸 Spain

Spanish football

Home of two of the most-watched football clubs in the world

Players from Real Madrid and Barcelona competing for the ball during a match

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Football (called 'fútbol' in Spanish) is by far the most popular sport in Spain. The Spanish league - La Liga - is one of the most famous in the world, partly because of two of its biggest clubs: Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. When they play each other, the game is called 'El Clásico' and is watched by hundreds of millions of people.

Tell me more

Real Madrid plays in white and is based in Spain's capital, Madrid. FC Barcelona plays in deep red and dark blue stripes and is based in Barcelona, in the region of Catalonia. The two cities are about 500 km apart, which is roughly the distance from London to Paris. When the two clubs play each other, the match is so big that schools, restaurants and even other sports often stop to watch.

Spain has been the home of some of the greatest footballers ever. The Spanish national team won the World Cup in 2010 and the European Championship twice. Spanish coaches and Spanish ways of training are taught in football schools around the world. The style is called 'tiki-taka' - quick, short passes between players, almost too fast to follow.

Football lessons start very young in Spain. Even small village schools have a 'fútbol' practice on the playground every break. Children pick teams, set jumpers down as goalposts, and play until the next bell. Some big clubs run academies for children as young as seven, where they live, study and train all in one place.

Spanish stadiums are huge. The Camp Nou in Barcelona can hold around 99,000 people. The Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid holds around 78,000. When the crowd sings, the sound has been measured at over 100 decibels - as loud as a chainsaw.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why do you think a sport like football is popular all over the world, when other sports are mostly only known in certain countries?
  2. 02What's the difference between watching a sport on TV and playing it yourself?
  3. 03Real Madrid and Barcelona have been rivals for over 100 years. Why might a 'friendly rivalry' make a sport more fun to watch?
Try this

Classroom activity

Time how long the class can keep a ball in the air using only feet (or short passes on the floor). 'Tiki-taka' is all about not letting the ball stop. Then split into two teams and try a passing-only game where you can't run with the ball. What changes?