History
The first football league in Spain was The Catalan football championship (Campionat de Catalunya), established in 1901. After the creation of the La Liga, The Catalan football championship co-existed with the national league for some years until it was cancelled in 1940.
La Liga, the first national football league in Spain was founded in 1929 (the first season started in February that year and ended in June). At this time, it consisted of one division, Primera División, and contained ten clubs. The numbers of clubs would later expand at several occasions. In 1987, it reached 20 clubs and that have remained except a short period (1995-1997) with 22 clubs.
League system
The first and second division was founded together in 1929. In 1977, Segunda División B was founded to replace Tercera División as the third tier. Tercera División has since that been the fourth tier. An overview of the current national league system is presented in table 1.
Qualification for European Cups
Nowadays, the top four teams in La Liga are qualified for the Champions League and the team that is placed fifth will get the chance to play in Europa League (one place also goes to the winner of the Copa del Rey).
Relegations
Nowadays, the three teams placed at the bottom of the table (places 18-20) of Primera División are relegated to Segunda División.
Top goalscorers
The league's all-time leading goalscorer is Lionel Messi who has (in May 2020) made 438 goals in Barcelona. Messi is also the only player to score 50 times during one season (it should be noticed that the numbers of games per season has shifted over times; as a comparison Telmo Zarra scored 38 times in the 1950-51 season when each team only played 30 games).
On the second place among goalscorers is Cristiano Ronaldo who did 311 goals in Real Madrid on 292 appearances (a goal ratio record in the league).
Other notable goalscorers in the league are Hugo Sánches (234 goals for Real Madrid 1981-1994), Raúl (228 goals for Real Madrid 1994-2010), and Alfredo Di Stéfano (227 goals for Real Madrid 1953-1966).