Honestly, if you look at the la liga list of winners over the last century, it feels less like a league and more like a private club with a couple of very loud, very rich members. We’re talking about a competition that has been running since 1929, yet only nine teams have ever touched the trophy. Nine. In nearly 100 years of football.
That is wild.
Most people just assume it’s always been Real Madrid and Barcelona trading blows, but the history is actually a lot messier. Real Madrid currently sits on the throne with 36 titles, a massive number that basically makes them the boss of Spanish history. But then you have Barcelona, who just reclaimed the crown in the 2024-25 season under Hansi Flick, bringing their total to 28.
It wasn't always this way, though.
In the early days, Athletic Bilbao was the team everyone feared. They weren't just winning; they were dominating the 1930s. Then the Spanish Civil War happened, football stopped for three years, and when it came back, the power shifted. You’ve got the 1940s where Valencia and Atletico Madrid (then known as Atletico Aviacion) were the heavy hitters. If you go back to that era, Real Madrid was actually struggling. They didn't win a single league title for twenty years between 1933 and 1954. Can you imagine that now? The "Kings of Europe" going two decades without a domestic trophy? It sounds like a fever dream.
Breaking Down the La Liga List of Winners
When you look at the raw numbers, the gap between the "Big Two" and everyone else is staggering. Here is how the trophy room looks across Spain:
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Real Madrid leads the pack with 36 wins. Their most recent was the 2023-24 campaign where Carlo Ancelotti basically cruised to the finish line.
Barcelona is right behind them with 28. They’ve been the most successful club of the 21st century, winning ten titles since 2000. Hansi Flick’s 2024-25 victory was a big statement, especially after the financial drama that has followed the club lately.
Atletico Madrid holds 11 titles. They are the ultimate "third wheel" in this relationship. Diego Simeone’s wins in 2013-14 and 2020-21 are basically the only things that stopped a total duopoly in the modern era.
Athletic Bilbao has 8. Most of these came before your grandfather was born, but they remain a legendary institution because of their "Basque-only" player policy.
Valencia has 6. They had a glorious peak in the early 2000s under Rafa Benitez, winning in 2002 and 2004, but they’ve fallen on incredibly hard times since.
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Then you have the "One-Hit Wonders" and the outliers. Real Sociedad has 2 titles (back-to-back in the early 80s). Sevilla, Real Betis, and Deportivo La Coruña all have 1 title each. Deportivo’s win in 2000 was probably the most "fairytale" moment in the league's history—a small team from Galicia taking down the giants.
The Modern Era: Why it's Harder for Small Clubs
The 2024-25 season showed us that while the names at the top of the la liga list of winners stay the same, the way they win is changing. Barcelona won it this year with a squad full of teenagers like Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí. It’s a shift from the "Galactico" era where you just bought the best players in the world.
Financial fair play and the sheer revenue gap mean that for a team like Real Sociedad or Villarreal to win today, they don't just need to be good; they need Real Madrid and Barca to basically collapse. It almost happened in 2021 when Atletico capitalized on a transitional year for the big guys.
But usually? The cream rises.
The Full Historical Sequence
If you're looking for the year-by-year breakdown, the list is a journey through Spanish history. From the first season in 1929 won by Barcelona, through the 1960s where Real Madrid won eight out of ten titles, to the 1990s "Dream Team" era of Johan Cruyff.
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Cruyff changed everything for Barca. Before him, the gap between Madrid and Barcelona was a canyon. He won four in a row between 1991 and 1994, establishing the style of play that Pep Guardiola would later perfect.
Recently, the pendulum has been swinging back and forth:
- 2020-21: Atletico Madrid (The "Simeone Masterclass")
- 2021-22: Real Madrid (Benzema’s Ballon d'Or year)
- 2022-23: Barcelona (Xavi’s defensive wall)
- 2023-24: Real Madrid (Bellingham’s debut explosion)
- 2024-25: Barcelona (Flick’s high-press revolution)
It’s a cycle. You see a pattern where one team dominates for two or three years, the other adjusts their recruitment, and the crown moves again.
Why Does This List Matter?
Knowing the la liga list of winners isn't just about trivia. it's about understanding why Spanish football is so top-heavy. The TV rights money was historically split in a way that favored the big two, and although that has changed slightly, the historical advantage is baked into the dirt.
When you see a club like Sevilla with seven Europa League titles but only one La Liga title (all the way back in 1946), it tells you how grueling the 38-game season is. You can be the best knockout team in the world, but beating the consistency of Madrid or Barca over nine months is a different beast entirely.
If you want to track the current season or dive deeper into these stats, your best bet is to follow the official La Liga "Hito" (milestone) trackers. They keep a live tally of how many points each team needs to move up the all-time ranking. For now, keep an eye on whether Barcelona can start a new multi-year run under Flick or if Madrid’s aging midfield finally hits a wall in 2026.
To get a real sense of the league's depth, check out the historical archives at the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) or the club museums in Madrid and Barcelona. Seeing the actual trophies from the 1930s next to the modern ones puts the scale of this history into perspective.