What do most people call 'La Liga' in Spain? Primera Division, Liga or what. No Americans reply please only Spanish people who live in Spain.
I don' t know why English speakers call it La Liga (I think it started in Britain.) Yo no se la razón por la cual los ingleses la llaman La liga. Its actually LPF meaning: Liga Profesional de Fútbol - Trans (Professional Footbal League) People in Britain are also now calling it 'Primera' (a la Premier League). Primera División= First Division
But what do most people actually call it in Spain when talking about the league? The Spanish football expert on Sky calls it La Liga himself and he's a Spanish journalist.
It's come to be known in a de facto way in English as La Liga. In Spain it's generally called Primera Division in the formal sense, or just Primera in the informal. Oh, but I'm American, so what do I know.
Well the guy above said only English people called it Primera........ Most Americans here have never been to Spain, I want to know what people who have actually lived in Spain have heard people call it.
In the past two years, I lived in Madrid, and the Spanish call it La Liga, La Primera...and of course, them being Spanish,...La Liga de Estrellas.... Of course, when I lived in England...I remember Sky Sports calling the Premiership the Greatest League in the World...well, that was the way they were marketing it!?!??
Because "La liga de futbol profesional" (official name) is too long. "la liga" always has been the colloquial name for our first division soccer league. If you ask a player or a supporter that what they want to win the will answer "la liga de campeones (Champion's League), la liga (first division) y la Copa del Rey (Spain's cup)" Other name is "la primera division" but it's only used when you want to differentiate between the rest of the soccer leagues ("segunda division (second division), segunda division B, tercera division (Third division), Tercera division B")
"La Liga de las Estrellas"> "The League of the Stars" is a term used only by hyped-up journalists. No common people in Spain says that. The term comes from the first year in which increased TV benefits allowed spanish clubs to purchase a lot of talented foreigners> Seedorf, Roberto Carlos, Finidi, Ronaldo... "La Liga"> "The League". Most common term used for the Spanish First Division League. "Primera División" or "Primera"> "First Dividion" or "First". Used when one must make a difference between first and other divisions.
Thank you all, but I'm still a bit confused. Dmar, as a Spaniard you say " La Liga" is the most common term, which I and people in England thought, but many people on BS and even in this thread have said hardly anyone in Spain calls it that, mostly English speakers. The Spanish guy on Sky always says La Liga, so I was sure it was common and correct to say it, like you said. So La Primera Division is the real name, but many people just call it the league. Is that right?
In England (before the Premiership) people just called it the "football league" and depending on what division thier team was it was "first". "second", etc. Same in Spain, "la liga" just means "the league" and "primera" just means "first". I think its the fact that some people often capitalize the letters (La Liga/ Primera) that's throwing you off. I don't really remember if it's done in Spain. Either way its not a proprietary name like 'The English Premier League' (which IS capitalized). What is different now is that instead of just writing 'Spanish first division', or the 'Spanish league', many football writers in England (in the years since the establishment of the Premiership) began to use the Spanish words and capitalize them. I myself, if writing in English, just use the word 'league' and 'first division'. ex: "Real Madrid has won more first divisoin titles than any other team in the league." instead of: "Real Madrid has won more Primera titles than any other team in La Liga." The second one just sounds too corny. As whether people in Spain use the word primera or liga. It depends on what team you support. To supporters of Real Madrid or Barcelona its usually just the league because first division is the only thing they've ever known (neither team has ever been relegated and is unlikely to be). So they say "Este año vamos a ganar la liga." (This year we're going to win the league.) of course if you support a smaller club that struggles year in and year out with relegation than you often refer more to staying in first division. "Este año seguro que nos quedaremos en primera." (This year we'll surely end up - or stay - in first division.)
Yes. You could hear talking about "Primera División" in some news broadcasting or other formal place, though you could hear "la liga", too. If you ever see la Liga with capitals in spanish, they're not refering to the competition itself, thay're talking about the institution -the colegiate organization of all the clubs, also called LFP-