The 2025-26 La Liga season is here, and Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are fighting to retake the division crown from Barcelona.
Hansi Flick’s Barca won La Liga with two matches to spare, retaking the crown on May 14 via a 2-0 win over Catalan rivals Espanyol for a 28th Spanish top-flight title.
MORE — La Liga’s 2024-25 season hub: Table, leading scorers
Of course, Real is bidding to increase their record haul of domestic triumphs, and Atleti hope to enter the throne room for the first time since 2020-21.
Below is everything you need for the 2025-26 La Liga season.
When did the 2025-26 La Liga season begin? When is the next El Clasico?
Matchday 1 occurred over four days: August 15-19. The 38-game season runs through May 24, 2026.
Barcelona and Real Madrid’s two meetings are set as well. The first El Clasico is October 26 at the Bernabeu, and the return leg in Barcelona comes on May 10.
Who will win the 2025-26 La Liga title?
It all starts with Barcelona and Real Madrid, as usual. Barca won the 2024-25 title and have traded the honors with Real Madrid since Atletico Madrid won in 2020-21.
Atletico Madrid are next and then everyone else is a significant long shot. Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao will also carry interest, as will Conference League finalists Real Betis.
Who were relegated and promoted last season?
Leganes, Las Palmas, and Valladolid went relegated to the Segunda Divsion last season.
Taking their places are Levante, Elche, and Real Oviedo.
What were the big La Liga transfers this summer?
Marcus Rashford’s loan move to Barcelona has won a lot of headlines but it’s likely to be far from the most substantial transfer this summer in La Liga. Espanyol sold goalkeeper Joan Garcia to Barca in another move for the champions.
Atletico Madrid have splashed big cash to bring Alex Baena from Villarreal, while David Hancko, Johnny Cardoso, and Thiago Almada were also big buys for Diego Simeone.
Arsenal pried Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad and Cristhian Mosquera from Valencia.
Real brought in Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Alvaro Carreras. Villarreal’s bought Alberto Moleiro from Las Palmas.
Villarreal sold Thierno Barry in addition to Baena. Fer Lopez and Jorgen Strand Larsen made permanent moves to Wolves from Celta Vigo.
Are there any American players in La Liga?
USMNT star Johnny Cardoso made a move from Celta Vigo to Atletico Madrid. It will be intriguing to see how often he features for Diego Simeone.
Diego Kochen is training with Barcelona’s first team for preseason. The 19-year-old has been on the first team’s bench dozens of times but is yet to make his senior debut. Barca’s goalkeeping corps is headlined by injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen while the club has brought in Joan Garcia from Espanyol and still has Inaki Pena and Wojciech. Szczesny on the books. Pena has been rumored for sale.
Johnny 🤩 pic.twitter.com/sgnkP0eTsH
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) July 25, 2025
La Liga top scorers, goal leaders — Who will win the Pichichi Trophy?
Kylian Mbappe was the Trofeo Pichichi victor as he led La Liga in scoring in his first season in Spain’s top-flight.
Who will win it this season? Mbappe will be the favorite to repeat the trick, and may even be expected to improve on his 31 goals given he’ll be settled in Spain.
Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha were Barcelona’s top dogs last season, but Lamine Yamal is a bit older now. Osasuna veteran Ante Budemir finished third last season, while Atletico Madrid’s Alexander Sorloth hit the 20-goal mark and teammate Julian Alvarez was not far behind him.
- Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid - 16
- Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona - 8
- Vedat Muriqi, Mallorca - 8
- Ferran Torres, Barcelona - 8
- Julian Alvarez, Atletico Madrid - 7
- Etta Eyong, Villarreal - 6
- Alberto Moleiro, Villarreal - 6
- Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid - 5
- Mikel Oyarzabal, Real Sociedad - 5
- Juan ‘Cucho’ Hernandez, Real Betis - 5
- Borja Iglesias, Celta Vigo - 5
- Pere Milla, Espanyol - 5
- Lamine Yamal, Barcelona - 5
La Liga table - Standings for the 2025-26 season
- Barcelona — 12-1-2, +25 GD, 37 points
- Real Madrid — 11-3-1, +19 GD, 36 points
- Villarreal — 10-2-2, +16 GD, 32 points
- Atletico Madrid — 9-4-2, +14 GD, 31 points
- Real Betis — 6-6-2, +8 GD, 24 points
- Espanyol — 7-3-4, +2 GD, 24 points
- Getafe — 6-2-6, -2 GD, 20 points
- Athletic Bilbao — 6-2-7, -6 GD, 20 points
- Rayo Vallecano — 4-5-5, -2 GD, 17 points
- Real Sociedad — 4-4-6, -2 GD, 16 points
- Elche — 3-7-4, -2 GD, 16 points
- Celta Vigo — 3-7-4, -3 GD, 16 points
- Sevilla — 5-1-8, -4 GD, 16 points
- Alaves — 4-3-7, -3 GD, 15 points
- Valencia — 3-5-6, -9 GD, 14 points
- Real Mallorca — 3-4-7, -7 GD, 13 points
- Osasuna — 3-3-8, -6 GD, 12 points
- Girona — 2-6-6, -13 GD, 12 points
- Levante — 2-3-9, -10 GD, 9 points
- Real Oviedo — 2-3-9, -15 GD, 9 points
