The 2011–12

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

season (known as the ''Liga BBVA'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 81st season of the top level Spanish association football competition. The campaign began on 27 August 2011, and concluded on 13 May 2012.

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

won a record 32nd title following victory over

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

on 2 May 2012. Real Madrid broke a number of league records, including most points in a single season (100), most goals scored (121), best goal difference (+89), most away wins (16), and most overall wins (32). This season also saw

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

score a record 50 league goals in 37 games. Behind Messi was Real Madrid's

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

, who scored 46 goals; the pair's combined tally of 96 goals was the most ever by two players playing in the same major European league in the same season.

Teams

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

from

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

and

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

were relegated to the

2011–12 Segunda División The 2011–12 Segunda División season (known as the Liga Adelante for sponsorship reasons) was the 81st since its establishment. The first matches of the season were played on 26 August 2011 after the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) c ...

after finishing in the bottom three spots of the table at the end of the 2010–11 season. Deportivo were relegated to the Segunda División after 20 seasons of continuous membership in the top football league of Spain, while Almería ended a four-year tenure in La Liga and Hércules made their immediate return to the second level. The three relegated teams were replaced by three

2010–11 Segunda División The 2010–11 Segunda División season (known as the Liga Adelante for sponsorship reasons) was the 80th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were played on 27 August 2010, the regular league ended on 4 June 2011, and the sea ...

sides. Champions Betis, who terminated their second-level status after two years, runners-up Rayo Vallecano, who returned to the top flight after eight seasons at lower levels, earned direct promotion. The third promoted team was decided in the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

where

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

returned to the league for the first time in 35 years, having spent 26 of them in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

and

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

As in the previous years, Nike provided the official ball for all matches, with a new T90 Seitiro model which was used throughout the season. # For 8 matches in round 20, 31–32, 34–38. # Only against Real Madrid match in round 33. # On the back of shirt. # Barcelona makes a donation to UNICEF in order to display the charity's logo on the club's kit. # On the left sleeve. # Club's own brand. # Málaga makes a donation to UNESCO in order to display the charity's logo on the club's kit. # On the shoulders. # Since 31 January 2012. # On the shorts. # On the left sleeve.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Awards

La Liga Awards

La Liga's governing body, the

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the La Liga Awards.

Top goalscorers

The

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish Association football, football, the Pichichi Trophy () is awarded by the sports newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Pichichi (footballer), Rafael ...

is awarded by the newspaper '' Marca'' to the player who scores the most goals in a season. Source
Liga BBVA
/small>

Top assists

*Source
LFP
/small>

Zamora Trophy

The Ricardo Zamora Trophy is awarded by newspaper '' Marca'' to the goalkeeper with the lowest ratio of goals conceded to matches played. A goalkeeper had to play at least 28 matches of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.

Fair Play award

This award was 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 determine the best fair play, 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: 2011–12 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

Comité Técnico de Árbitros de Fútbol de Las Palmas

Scoring

*First goal of the season:
Imanol Agirretxe for

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

against

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

(27 August 2011) *Last goal of the season:
Rovérsio for

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...

against Racing Santander (13 May 2012)

Hat-tricks

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

Attendances

References

External links

LigaBBVA.comsportYou.esInside Spanish Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Liga, 2011-12 2011-12 1 Spa