The 1956–57 season was Real Madrid Club de Fútbol's 54th season in existence and the club's 26th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football.

Summary

The Spanish Federation lifted the ban on foreign player transfers allowing chairman Santiago Bernabéu to buy French playmaker

Raymond Kopa Raymond Kopa (né Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a French professional footballer, integral to the France national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, winning three Eu ...

from

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

to boost the midfield as a winger, in fact the trade was released days before the

1956 European Cup Final The 1956 European Cup Final was the inaugural final in the pan-European football competition, the European Cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League. It was contested by Real Madrid of Spain and Reims from France, and played at the Parc des Princ ...

against the same French squad. Due to the rule of limited foreigners Kopa could not feature until October, when Di Stefano became a Spanish citizen. The team finished the League campaign 5 points above Sevilla and FC Barcelona, clinching its fifth League title ever. Also,

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...

won the top scorer trophy with 31 goals. Initially, due to the rule of not being a current league champion, the club would not compete in the continental tournament. However, chairman Santiago Bernabéu, also an organizer of the competition, allowed their entry as holders; the squad won its second consecutive

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in a close

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against Italian team

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. In May, the club reached the quarter-finals of the

Copa del Generalísimo The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

where they were defeated 6–1 (8–3 on aggregate) by

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. It would be the only trophy not conquered by the squad in the campaign. The team closed a superb season clinching its second

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...

, winning the final against Portuguese side Benfica.

Squad

Transfers

Competitions

La Liga

League table

Position by round

Matches

Copa del Generalísimo

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

European Cup

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Latin Cup

Semi-finals

Final

Statistics

Squad statistics

Players statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1956-57 Real Madrid CF season Real Madrid CF seasons

Real Madrid CF Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn ...

Spanish football championship-winning seasons UEFA Champions League-winning seasons