LaLiga organised “The competitiveness of LaLiga in pictures” exhibition

CAIRO - 28 November 2019: A photo exhibition “The competitiveness of LaLiga in pictures” organised by LaLiga, and in collaboration with ESLSCA University in Egypt was officially inaugurated on Wednesday.

The photo exhibition unveiled the 20 finest pictures that represented the competitiveness of the 2019/20 LaLiga Santander season.

In almost a third of the way into the campaign, shaping up to be the tightest in a generation, LaLiga confirms its status as the most competitive of Europe’s top five leagues.

The cultural counsellor of the Spanish Embassy to Egypt, and delegate of LaLiga to Egypt, Juan Fuentes, among other football officials and media representatives attended the inauguration of the photo exhibition.



The 2019/2020 LaLiga Santander season has been a very competitive one. Thirteen games into the season, five teams – FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid, Sevilla FC and Real Sociedad – are separated at the top by just two points. Three different teams led the LaLiga Santander table at different moments over the most recent matchday. And the five points which separate the teams in a European qualification place – from Barcelona in first to Getafe seventh – after thirteen games is the lowest in a quarter of a century.

The previous record of six points was set back in 1998/99, a season in which a Barcelona side captained by a certain Pep Guardiola ran out eventual winners.
The captions throughout the different photos proves that LaLiga´s teams are highly competitive with this season being full of surprises.

Granada CF, newly promoted from LaLiga SmartBank, and Levante UD have already beaten the likes of reigning champions Barcelona this season, with Granada even leading the standings for a time.

Another recently promoted side, CA Osasuna, are banging on the door of the European spots and boast an incredible unbeaten home record which stretches almost 18 months and 31 games back.

Real Sociedad have put together a young squad featuring the likes of homegrown Spain international Mikel Oyarzabal, Norwegian wonderkid Martin Ødegaard and promising Alexander Isak, putting them in a position to challenge the top sides while RCD Mallorca, the third of this season’s newly-promoted sides, have already deservedly beaten the likes of Real Madrid and Villarreal.

The factors behind this almost historic degree of competitivity in LaLiga are many. But two medium-to-long-term factors have been essential. Firstly, LaLiga’s financial control regulations put in place from 2013 onwards have put clubs in a position to experience solid, sustainable growth.

The ‘boom and bust’ cycles which saw clubs fluctuate dramatically in performance in line with their financial situation are a remnant of the past, allowing teams from the top to bottom of LaLiga to attract international stars like never before.

Secondly, the centralized sale of TV broadcast rights which began in 2015 have transformed the financial realities of almost all LaLiga clubs, ensuring that the league’s rapidly growing broadcast income – which is up from €600 million in 2015 to €1.865 billion today – is more evenly spread across its clubs.

Clubs like Athletic Club, for example, have seen their broadcast incomes rocket from €17 million to €71 million in just a few years, while others such as Real Betis have seen their relative power in the market increase to the point to which they could beat a host of top European sides to the acquisition of French World Cup winner Nabil Fekir from Lyon this past summer.

As Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos remarked earlier this month, following a string of upsets across the league, “you can’t afford to be complacent about a single game regardless of who you’re up against… that’s what makes our league the best in the world.”

The photo exhibition will be open Thusrday the 28th from 11AM to 5 pm and from Monday the 2nd and Tuesday the 3rd of December at ESLSCA Dokki, 17 Al Sad Al Aali, Dokki and is free for the public. With the support of the Embassy of Spain, the exhibition will tour other locations and organizations in Egypt during 2020.