Competitive Mobility Project

Spain

Real Madrid

2025/26: 2nd in LaLiga · 2026/27: LaLiga

How high can Real Madrid realistically go?

Based on finishing 2nd in LaLiga in 2025/26

About 5 in 10

Of the 36 times a club finished 2nd to 4th in LaLiga between 2004/05 and 2015/16, 18 won the league within ten seasons.

18 of 36 (50%); likely range 0%–80%, 11 different clubs.

Finished in the top four again the next seasonabout 7 in 10
42 of 63; range 33%–84%

Real Madrid itself: 10 of the last 10 seasons in LaLiga; 10 top-four finishes; 4 titles.

How do we know?

We took every season since 2004/05 in which a club finished in the same part of the same league, and followed each club forward. The figure is the share that reached each goal. Ten-year goals use finishes from 2004/05 to 2015/16, five-year goals from 2004/05 to 2020/21, so every case has had the full time to play out; results run to the end of 2025/26.

It describes what happened to clubs in this position, not a forecast for one club. A club with much more money or history than is usual for its position has better chances than the figure suggests, which is why the club's own record is shown underneath.

The likely range is a 95% interval worked out by resampling clubs rather than seasons, because the same club often appears several times. It is wide where only a few clubs have been in a position, and two leagues whose ranges overlap may not really differ. Reserve teams such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla are left out of these counts, because they cannot be promoted into their first team's division.

Counts: won the league within ten seasons: 18 of 36; finished in the top four again the next season: 42 of 63.

The story so far

Real Madrid has played 33 seasons in the divisions covered here since 1993/94: 33 in LaLiga. It has been in LaLiga since 1993/94 (33 seasons). It won LaLiga 11 times, most recently in 2023/24.

Final position each seasonRinged dots are titles
2025/262021/222017/182013/142009/102005/062001/021997/981993/941stLaLigaSegunda División
How to read this chart

Every club in the divisions covered is placed on one ladder each season: the champions are 1st, and the top club of the second division comes straight after the bottom club of the first. Shaded bands are the divisions. Hover over or tap a dot for the season.

33seasons since 1993/94
33seasons in LaLiga
11league titles
31top-four finishes
0promotions
0relegations

Against the money

Not available for Spain: wage bills are not published club by club in one place there, so this is shown for England and France only.

Clubs with a similar path

Clubs whose finishing positions over the last 15 seasons were closest to Real Madrid's, with recent seasons counting more.

In Spain

BarcelonaSpain · 1st in LaLiga, 2025/26Atlético MadridSpain · 4th in LaLiga, 2025/26VillarrealSpain · 3rd in LaLiga, 2025/26Real SociedadSpain · 10th in LaLiga, 2025/26

Elsewhere in Europe

Paris Saint-GermainFrance · 1st in Ligue 1, 2025/26Manchester CityEngland · 2nd in the Premier League, 2025/26Bayern MunichGermany · 1st in the Bundesliga, 2025/26

Compare Real Madrid with another club

Sources