LaLiga

LaLiga is the top professional division in Spain. It first ran in 1929 and has sat among the highest-ranked leagues in UEFA's coefficient table for most of the modern era. It is an open structure, with promotion and relegation shared with the Segunda División below it.

The league has a long association with possession-based football and technical development, and with academies that supply a high proportion of first-team players. Several mid-sized Spanish clubs are better known across Europe for their youth systems than for their transfer spending.

Twenty clubs play each other home and away, giving 38 matches per club and 380 in total. Three points for a win, one for a draw.

The clearest difference from the Premier League is what happens when clubs finish level on points. LaLiga looks first at the head-to-head record between the tied clubs, and only then at overall goal difference. The two matches those clubs played against each other can therefore matter more than a heavy win over someone else.

That changes how the table should be read. A club with the better goal difference can sit below one with a worse difference, if it lost the head-to-head.

Clubs near the top qualify for UEFA competitions the following season, running from the Champions League through the Europa League to the Conference League. How many places Spain receives depends on the league's coefficient standing, and is also affected by who wins the Copa del Rey.

The bottom three are relegated to the Segunda División, with three promoted in return: the top two automatically and a third through a play-off.

Relegation carries a severe financial drop in Spain, because broadcast income between the two divisions differs sharply. It is why the fight at the bottom tends to stay intense to the final weekend.

The season runs from mid-August to May with several international breaks, and a short pause across late December and early January — shorter than the German winter break, longer than the English calendar, which barely pauses at all.

Spanish kick-off times run later in the evening than most of Europe. Converted to other time zones that can put matches well into the night, so every time shown on this page is already converted for you.

The tabs above separate upcoming fixtures, completed results and the league table, which carries points, goal difference and each club's last five results.

While matches are under way the live scores page updates on its own, and opening a match shows its goalscorers with the minute each goal was scored.