Atlético Madrid
Also written as Atletico Madrid.
The club
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. were founded on 26 April 1903 as Athletic Club Sucursal de Madrid, originally a Madrid branch of the Basque club Athletic Bilbao. They are not Atlético Madrid B, which is the club's reserve team; the senior side is the one that plays in La Liga and in Europe. Nor are they Atlético Nacional, the Colombian club from Medellín, and despite the shared origins they are long since a separate club from Athletic Club of Bilbao.
The ground is the Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano, capacity 70,692. The club played at the Vicente Calderón until 21 May 2017 before moving across the city. In March 2026 Apollo Sports Capital acquired a 55 per cent stake in the club; Enrique Cerezo is the president.
The head coach is the Argentine Diego Simeone, appointed on 23 December 2011 and still in charge fifteen seasons later, comfortably the defining managerial reign of the modern club. The club's playing colours were not established from the sources read here, beyond what is common knowledge and therefore not asserted.
Recent seasons
Atlético finished third in 2021/22 with 71 points, third again in 2022/23 with 77, fourth in 2023/24 with 76 and third in 2024/25 with 76. In 2025/26 they finished fourth with 69 points from 21 wins, 6 draws and 11 defeats, 62 goals scored and 44 conceded, in a season Barcelona won with 94 points. Alexander Sørloth was their top league scorer with 13 goals; across all competitions Julián Alvarez and Sørloth shared top spot with 20 each. The season brought a Champions League semi-final, defeat in the Copa del Rey final, and elimination in the Supercopa de España semi-finals: 61 matches in all, 32 won, 113 goals scored.
Honours and landmarks
Eleven La Liga titles: 1939/40, 1940/41, 1949/50, 1950/51, 1965/66, 1969/70, 1972/73, 1976/77, 1995/96, 2013/14 and 2020/21. Ten Copas del Rey, the most recent in 2013, when they beat Real Madrid in the final. The 1995/96 side under Radomir Antić won the double of league and cup. The 2020/21 title, with Luis Suárez scoring the decisive goals, was the first in seven years.
In Europe: three UEFA Europa Leagues (2009/10, 2011/12, 2017/18), the 1961/62 European Cup Winners' Cup, three UEFA Super Cups (2010, 2012, 2018) and the 1974 Intercontinental Cup. They have lost three European Cup or Champions League finals, in 1974, 2014 and 2016, all told below. The club were relegated in 2000, only the second relegation in 66 years, in a season in which they still reached the Copa del Rey final. Antoine Griezmann is the club's all-time top scorer.
Notable scorelines
The club's all-time record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here. From recent seasons: in 2025/26 the biggest win was 5-0 away to Real Betis, the heaviest defeats 4-0 away to Arsenal and 5-1 away to Villarreal, and on 27 September 2025 they beat Real Madrid 5-2 in the Madrid derby. The Europa League final wins were emphatic: 2-1 over Fulham in 2010 with two Diego Forlán goals, 3-0 over Athletic Bilbao in 2012 and 3-0 over Marseille in 2018. The 1974 European Cup final replay was lost 4-0 to Bayern Munich, two goals each for Uli Hoeneß and Gerd Müller.
European record
The first major European trophy came in the 1961/62 Cup Winners' Cup, won 3-0 against Fiorentina after a replay. The 1974 European Cup final against Bayern Munich is the club's great near-miss: Luis Aragonés put Atlético ahead with a curling free-kick in extra time, Bayern equalised in the final minute, and the replay was lost 4-0 — though the Intercontinental Cup followed that year.
The modern era under Simeone brought three Europa League titles, in 2010 against Fulham, 2012 against Athletic Bilbao and 2018 against Marseille, with UEFA Super Cups after each. It also brought two more lost finals, both to Real Madrid: in 2014 Diego Godín's header had Atlético ahead until Sergio Ramos equalised from a corner in the 93rd minute and Real won 4-1 after extra time; in 2016 it finished 1-1 and Atlético lost on penalties. In 2025/26 they reached the Champions League semi-finals before going out. They are in the 2026/27 Champions League league phase, which begins for them on 9 September 2026.
Quotes
"Their two goals, in the blink of an eye, did us a lot of damage," said Diego Simeone after the 3-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on 5 September 2026, adding that "two minutes of inattention and poor decision-making in situations we should have handled better" had cost his side. Simeone's standing mantra, "partido a partido" — game by game — is well enough established to have titled a book of his reflections; in his own words: "Yo a lo único que aspiro es que no nos salgamos de la línea que hemos trazado desde que llegué. Partido a partido."
Right now (2026-27)
Diego Simeone remains head coach, in his fifteenth full season. The summer was busy: Morten Hjulmand arrived from Sporting CP for a reported €45 million, Lee Kang-in from Paris Saint-Germain, Cristian Romero from Tottenham Hotspur, Álex Grimaldo from Bayer Leverkusen and Jonathan David on loan from Juventus, while Antoine Griezmann left for Orlando City on a free transfer and Nahuel Molina, Thiago Almada and Matteo Ruggeri also departed. Julián Alvarez tried to force a move to Barcelona during the window and stayed; he returned from illness as a substitute at Bilbao to little effect.
The league form: a 2-0 home win over Málaga on 19 August with goals from Lee Kang-in and Álex Baena, a 2-2 home draw with Villarreal on 23 August, a 3-1 win at Sevilla on 29 August with two from Baena and one from Ademola Lookman, then a first defeat, 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés on 5 September, Nico Williams scoring thirty seconds into the second half, Robert Navarro on 48 minutes and Oihan Sancet at the death. After four rounds Atlético sit sixth with 7 points, two wins, a draw and a defeat, seven scored and six conceded. Next is the Champions League league phase opener away to Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday 9 September 2026.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atl%C3%A9tico_Madrid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_La_Liga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Atl%C3%A9tico_Madrid_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Atl%C3%A9tico_Madrid_season https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260905-athletic-bilbao-crush-simeone-s-flat-atletico https://espndeportes.espn.com/futbol/espana/nota/_/id/2569945/partido-a-partido-el-mantra-intocable-del-cholo-simeone https://www.plataformaeditorial.com/libro/4347-simeone-partido-a-partido
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.