Real Madrid can lay claim to becoming the first club across all of Europe’s top five leagues to win 100 trophies after the Champions League holders and LaLiga champions swept aside Saudi club Al Hilal to lift the FIFA Club World Cup over the weekend.
Los Blancos powered to a 5-3 victory at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco, to lift what is (by some counts) a century of national and international titles in their 120-year history, narrowly pipping rivals Barcelona to the impressive milestone.
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That caveat is inserted as the 100 includes a few competitions which are now defunct, while there are other trophies and regional tournaments won way back in their history which are listed on the club’s official website but do not make the count of “major” honours. Still, Madrid’s case for having reached triple-figures after winning the FIFA Club World Cup for a fifth time is a compelling one.
Madrid therefore become the first club in Europe’s top five leagues to win 100 trophies, beating closest challengers Barca (98 official titles), Bayern Munich (82), Juventus (70), Liverpool (67) and Manchester United (66).
Outside of the top five leagues, Real still comfortably trail Scottish giants Rangers (117 titles) and Celtic (113) as well as Linfield of Northern Ireland (114), who are considered to be European football’s three most-decorated clubs. However, the overall pace-setters worldwide are considered to be Uruguayan clubs Nacional (149 titles) and Penarol (129 titles), followed by Egyptian heavyweights Al-Ahly (127 titles).
Here’s a breakdown of the 100 trophies lifted by Real Madrid since their formation in 1902 from their grand haul of European Cups and Spanish top-flight league titles right the way down to the dusty end of their trophy cabinet.
Latin Cup (2)
A historic intercontinental tournament that served as a precursor to the European Cup, the Latin Cup was contested between teams from Spain, France, Italy and Portugal from 1949 until its discontinuation in 1957, during which time Real Madrid won it twice. FIFA and UEFA have both since confirmed they consider the Latin Cup to be an official competition, hence its inclusion in Real’s century of silverware.
Small World Cup (2)
Madrid see fit to include in their club total their two victories in the Pequena Copa del Mundo or “Small World Cup,” which was held in Venezuela several times between 1952 and 1957. The tournament was a private venture organised by the Venezuelan Football Federation and wasn’t — and still isn’t, for that matter — recognised by FIFA as an official competition.
Copa de la Liga (1)
While a domestic league cup is a perfectly viable trophy to add to any collection, the Spanish version was contested just three times between 1983 and 1986 before being scrapped. Madrid did manage to win it once though, in 1985, so it technically counts.
There are plenty of other trophies that Real Madrid have won over the years that do not make the grade for inclusion among their century of major titles:
Ibero-American Cup (1)
Among the assorted other silverware that Real have on display in their groaning cabinet is an extremely niche trophy by the name of the Ibero-American Cup, which pitted the winners of the Copa del Rey against the winners of the CONMEBOL Gold Cup, who happened to be Boca Juniors when the cup was staged for the first and last time in 1994. Madrid won over two legs, in case you were wondering.
Copa Eva Duarte (1)
The Copa Eva Duarte was a short-lived predecessor to the Spanish Super Cup and was staged between the winners of La Liga and the winners of the old Copa del Rey (then called the Copa del Generalisimo) between 1947 and 1953. Real won the inaugural edition but failed to appear in the final again before the cup was abolished and replaced.
FIFA Club of the Century (1)
Presented to Real as the winners of a poll held among FIFA magazine subscribers to ascertain the best football club of the 20th century. Los Blancos won by a landslide by collecting almost half of the votes and were obviously so enamoured with the accolade that they choose to include it among their club trophy haul to this day.
Regional Championships (18)
All won between 1903-04 and 1930-31, Real list no less than 18 unspecified championships on their website, picked up before the Spanish football league was founded and fully established in the early 1930s.
“Combined” Cups (5)
These are five more regional competitions, won by Madrid between 1931 and 1936.
