Atlético Madrid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 07/2015
Full name
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D.
Nicknames
Colchoneros (Mattressers)
Rojiblancos (Red-and-Whites)
Atleti (Atleti, not to be confused with Athletic)
Indios (Indians)
Founded
26 April 1903
Ground
Vicente Calderón Stadium
Capacity
54,960
Owner
Miguel Ángel Gil Marín (52%)
Enrique Cerezo (20%)
Wang Jianlin (20%)
President
Enrique Cerezo
Manager
Diego Simeone
League
La Liga
2014-15
3rd
Club Atlético de Madrid, commonly known as Atlético de Madrid or Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga.
In terms of the number of titles, Atlético Madrid is the fourth most successful club in Spanish football, behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao.
Atlético have won La Liga on ten occasions, including a league and cup double in 1996; the Copa del Rey on ten occasions; 2 Supercopa de España and 1 Copa Eva Duarte.
In Europe, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962, runners-up in 1963 and 1986, were European Cup runners-up in 1974 and 2014, won the Europa League in 2010 and in 2012, won the UEFA Super Cup in 2010 and 2012, won the Intertoto Cup in 2007, as well as the 1974 Intercontinental Cup.
The club play their home games at the Vicente Calderón, which holds up to 54,960 spectators.
In 2016, Atletico are due to move to their new home of Estadio La Peineta which will have a capacity of 70,000.
Atletico's home kit is red and white vertical striped shirts, with blue shorts, accompanied by blue and red socks.
This combination has been used since 1911.
The current club kits are manufactured by Nike and the main sponsor is Azerbaijan.
During their history, the club has been known by a number of nicknames, including Los Colchoneros ("The Mattress Makers"), due to their first team stripes being the same colours as old-fashioned mattresses.
During the 1970s, they became known as Los Indios, allegedly due to the club signing several South American players after the restrictions on signing foreign players were lifted.
However, there are a number of alternative theories which claim they were named so because their stadium is "camped" on the river bank, or because Los Indios (The Indians) were the traditional enemy of Los Blancos (The Whites), which is the nickname of the club's city rivals, Real Madrid.
Felipe VI, the current king of Spain, has been the Honorary President of the club since 2003.
The club co-owns the Indian Super League franchise of Kolkata, named Atletico de Kolkata, which won the inaugural season of the competition in 2014.
Players