La Liga Betting Tips

History – 1929 The Talking Stopped

Here are our top La Liga is a division that has followers and fans from every corner of planet football and it continues to grow in popularity year on year.

The idea of a national league for Spain was first mentioned in 1927 by Jose Maria Acha and although it had been thought of in the past as something that would work, it was only then the infrastructure and support seemed to be in place to make it happen. As you could imagine, there was much debate in the early days as to the structure and which teams should receive an invite but in 1929 the talking was over and a 10-team Primera Division was launched.

Barcelona wrote their names into the history books as the first winner of the Spanish league and have gone on to make and break records across Europe since. It took old rivals Real Madrid until 1932 to get off the mark but they quickly followed that up with another gong 12 months later and have progressed to become a real force in football since, both domestically and on the continent. Of the first 10 teams to play in the Spanish Premier Division only three have never been relegated, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao and it’s difficult to imagine any of the trio ever having to move down a level.

Format – Seven European Places

There has been much change in La Liga over the years as the tournament has grown in popularity to become one of the best followed and richest tournaments in the sport. In its current form, La Liga has 20 teams who play a total of 38 games, similar to the Premier League in England. Each club plays the 19 other participants twice, once at home and once at the stadium of their opponents.

At the conclusion of game 38, the team with the most points on the board are crowned champions and awarded the trophy. The winners are granted entry into the following season’s Champions League competition and are joined by those finishing second, third and fourth – known as the top four. All is not lost for those unable to break into the best four finishers as fifth, sixth and seventh wins you a place in the Europa League, which is seen as a decent consolation prize these days.

It’s not all about winners and prizes, however. The three lowest-ranked teams at the end of the 38-game schedule are relegated to the Segunda Division, replaced by the top two from the second tier as well as the winner of a play-off between those finishing third to sixth. Relegation from La Liga doesn’t guarantee a team will bounce back to the top-flight at the first opportunity with the Segunda Division being one of the most competitive leagues in the game.

Facts – Goals and Appearances

Real Madrid rank as the La Liga’s most successful club on 33 titles and they have also finished as runners up on another 23 occasions. They are then followed, unsurprisingly, by old rivals Barcelona who went into the 2019/20 campaign with stats showing 26 wins and 25 seconds and have been closing the gap in recent years. The 10 and 10 for Atletico Madrid adds them in third before we find 8-7 for Athletic Bilbao, 6-6 Valencia and 2-3 Real Sociedad.

In a division that, at one time, boasted both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, it’s no surprise to see the leading goal scorer charts makes for very interesting reading indeed. Since the launch of La Liga, no man has hit the net more times than Argentina Lionel Messi and at the conclusion of the 2018/19 season, the little wizard had scored a jaw-dropping 419 goals in 452 appearances, which works out at 0.93 goals per game. Just shy of a goal every game is quite astonishing in such a competitive and high-ranking competition, although nothing surprises us with Messi.

Next, we find Cristiano Ronaldo on 311 goals scored between 2009 and 2018 for Real Madrid. CR7’s ratio is more than a goal game, standing at 1.07. It’s difficult to know how to put an achievement like that into words and it’s likely that if Ronaldo hadn’t left Madrid for Juventus, he would’ve pushed Messi hard for the La Liga top scorer prize.

Looking through the most appearances and we notice that the table is dominated by Spanish players. Andoni Zubizarreta has played more La Liga games than any other man, having turned out an incredible 622 times between 1981 and 1998. That’s followed by Raul who has 550 between 1994 and 2010, scoring 228 goals in the process. The top three for appearances is completed by Eusebio Sacristan’s 543 between 1983 and 2002, notching 36 goals.

Where to Bet on La Liga

La Liga betting is massive as fans from all over the world back their La Liga predictions with cash. You can gamble on the outright winner at all major online bookmakers, having your say on the champions of the coming campaign. Will it be Barcelona, Real Madrid or an outsider.

There’s also betting on the La Liga top scorer and the earlier you get involved in that one the better price you will get on your pick. It’ll give you a season-long interest, your punt active for the entire time your player plays in the Spanish top-flight.

La Liga Betting Tips

Bet game by game on La Liga with the likes of bet365, William Hill, Ladbrokes and 888Sport. Traders at bet365 offer hundreds of markets on every fixture and many of them are kept live throughout the 90 minutes thanks to in-play betting, prices and handicap lines altered to keep pace with the tie.

You can get La Liga betting tips by visiting the Spanish section of our site. There you will find La Liga best bets and researched stats, as well as our opinion on which bookmakers are offering the best value for money.