The 2010–11

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

season (known as the ''Liga BBVA'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 80th since its establishment. The campaign began on 28 August 2010 and ended on 21 May 2011. A total of 20 teams contested the league, 17 of which already contested in the 2009–10 season and three of which were promoted from the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. In addition, a new match ball – the Nike Total 90 Tracer – served as the official ball for all matches. Defending champions

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 ...

secured their third-consecutive and 21st La Liga title after a 1–1 tie with Levante on 11 May 2011. The result gave Barcelona a 6-point lead with two matches remaining which, combined with their better head-to-head record with

Real Madrid 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 wor ...

, ensured that they finished top of the table. Barcelona led the table since defeating Madrid 5–0 on 23 November 2010. Since then, they lost only one match en route to winning the title. It was the third straight title for Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

won LaLiga Award for Best Player, which marked his third consecutive win. The season was again dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid, with second-place Madrid 21 points ahead of third-place

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Having encountered each other in the Champions League semifinals and the

Copa del Rey 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 ...

final, the top two teams met four times in 17 days, for a total of five times this season. The most significant managerial change prior to the start of the season was two-time Champions League-winning

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

taking over at Real Madrid.

Teams

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

and

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

were relegated to the

after finishing the 2009–10 season in the bottom three places. Tenerife and Xerez made their immediate return to the second level after just one year in the Spanish top flight, while Valladolid ended a three-year tenure in La Liga. The relegated teams were replaced by 2009–10 Segunda División champions

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

from

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

, runners-up Hércules CF from

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

and

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

from

. Hércules returned to the highest Spanish football league for the first time after 13 years, while Real Sociedad and Levante terminated their second-level status after three and two years, respectively.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Barcelona makes a donation to UNICEF in order to display the charity's logo on the club's kit.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Awards

LaLiga Awards

La Liga's governing body, the

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional The Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (), also known as LaLiga (the abbreviation LFP was also used until the 2015-16 season), is a sports association responsible for administering the two professional Association football, football leagues in S ...

, honoured the competition's best players and coach with LaLiga

Awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...

Top goalscorers

La Liga Champions

This is the list of goalscorers in accordance with the LFP as organising body. * Source
LFPESPN
an
Liga BBVA
/small>

Pichichi Trophy

The

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish football, the Trofeo Pichichi is awarded by the sports newspaper '' Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Rafael "Pichichi" Moreno, the trophy has been awarded annually since the ...

is awarded by newspaper '' Marca'' to the player who scores the most goals in a season, according to its own rules (different from the ones used by FIFA) to determine the goalscorer. * Source
Marca

Zamora Trophy

The

Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy ( es, Trofeo Ricardo Zamora, link=no) is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' MARCA'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ...

is awarded by newspaper '' Marca'' to the goalkeeper with least goals-to-games ratio. A goalkeeper must play at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy. * Source
futbol.sportec
/small>

Fair Play award

This award is given annually since 1999 to the team with the best fair play during the season. This ranking takes into account aspects such as cards, suspension of matches, audience behaviour and other penalties. This section not only aims to know this aspect, but also serves to break the tie in teams that are tied in all the other rules: points, head-to-head, goal difference and goals scored. * Source: 2010–11 Fair Play Rankings Season. Sources of cards and penalties
Referee's reportsCompetition Committee's SanctionsAppeal Committee Resolutions
an
RFEF's Directory about Fair Play Rankings
/small>

Pedro Zaballa award

Season statistics

Scoring

* First goal of the season:

Fernando Llorente Fernando Javier Llorente Torres (; born 26 February 1985), nicknamed ''El Rey León'' ("The Lion King" in Spanish), is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker. He started his career with Athletic Bilbao, working his way throu ...

for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

against Hércules (28 August 2010). * Last goal of the season:
Kennedy Bakircioglu for

Racing Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syste ...

against

(21 May 2011).

Hat-tricks

⁴ Player scored four goals(H) – Home ; (A) – Away

Discipline

* First yellow card of the season:

Noé Pamarot Noé Elias Pamarot (born 14 April 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Before moving to Spain, Pamarot played for Portsmouth in the Premier League. He is a right-footed defender who is also known for ...

for Hércules against

(28 August 2010) * First red card of the season:

Matías Fritzler Matías Lionel Fritzler (born 23 August 1986) is an Argentine football midfielder. He currently plays for Danubio. Career Fritzler is of German descent. He started his professional in 2004 with Lanús. He went on to establish himself as an i ...