The 2018 football World Cup was over for Spain already in the first game of the knockout stage. Just minutes after the loss, our Spanish neighbor lowered his patio flag. The media describes people’s disappointment over their country’s defeat, a team which was among the favorites to win the whole competition. The criticism in the Spanish media was immediate and harsh: “Stupidity”, “neglect” and “the end of an era” were expressions used about the national team’s efforts. The major newspaper Marca lead, and that newspaper is not just anyone, in the Spanish media world nor in the world of football. No other newspaper in Spain comes close to Marca’s readership, despite – or perhaps because of – its rather limited range of topics. While virtually all of the country’s current major newspapers have been established since the Franco era, the sports newspaper Marca has been published without delay since the start of the Spanish Civil War.
In today’s Spanish media picture, it can be difficult to imagine that for most of the last century, Spanish media have been strictly controlled by the authorities. Today, more than a hundred daily newspapers are published in Spain, but only a few of them have a circulation of more than 100,000. Marca is by far Spain’s largest newspaper with 2.5 million readers daily. No other Spanish newspaper comes close to such readership.
The largest newspapers in present-day Spain were established after the Franco era ended in 1975, and democracy was reintroduced. The exception is the sports newspaper Marca, which has been published without delay since 1938, at a time when the Spanish Civil War was at its worst. The sports newspaper was established as a weekly newspaper in San Sebastian after Franco’s nationalists occupied the Basque city. Franco’s forces met fierce opposition among the Basques, who have their own identity and language. It may be reasonable to imagine that Marca, who to this day is most concerned with football, was a means on the part of the nationalists to win the fighting Basques over – because football came early and was highly valued in the rebellious region.
Football was introduced by British foreign workers in Spain in the late 1800s. There were many Britons in Spain already at that time, especially in parts of the country with a lot of industry. British colonies were particularly prominent in the Madrid area, Catalonia and the Basque Country. Football quickly became popular in these regions, and the Spanish league was established in 1929. At first there were a modest ten teams, but the number of competitors grew rapidly. Already in this earliest period, Barcelona and Real Madrid were arch-rivals, just as they are today. When they meet, the matches are not without reason referred to as El Classico.
Barcelona won the very first season in 1929, Real Madrid took their first titles in 1932 and 1933. But the most winning team in the period before the Spanish Civil War broke out was the Basque Country Athletic Bilbao who won the first division, Primera División, in 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1936.
On December 21, 1938, while the Spanish Civil War was in full swing, Marca was established in one of the Basques’ most important cities, as a pure sports newspaper with weekly publications. After a relatively short time, however, the head office was moved to Madrid. It is a well-known fact that Franco’s favorite team as long as he was in power was Real Madrid. To this day, this is the team that gets the most attention in Marca’s columns.
By the way, wartime can be said to have been good times for Marca more than once. In 1942, i.e. in the middle of World War II, the weekly newspaper was turned into a daily newspaper, as it has remained to this day.
News according to Marca
The sports newspaper covers major events and what to outsiders may seem like rather insignificant details in the world of sports. Today’s Marca is a newspaper in tabloid format where the first 25 pages are mostly about football. The remaining 15 cover other sports that are popular in Spain, such as tennis, Formula 1, athletics or cycling. As is well known, Spain has world stars in more sports than football.
There is also an English-language digital edition of Marca, which you can read for free here: http://www.marca.com/en/. Here, readers who do not speak Spanish can, among other things, stay up to date on Real Madrid and Barcelona, national and international football as well as on details in individual players’ private lives. The stories here are about the families of football players and other athletes, their fights against illness, charity work, luxury holidays with girlfriends, etc.
Since 2001, Marca also has its own radio broadcasts. Radio Marca you can hear no less than 24 hours a day if you have enough time and interest.
Marca organizes competitions and annually awards prizes to the best football players in various categories, the best coaches and even the best referees. Winning one of Marca’s trophies is highly valued among participants in the Primera Division.
A lot has changed in Spain since Marca was founded in 1938. The newspaper has followed sports-interested Spaniards through dictatorship to democracy – what started as a weekly sports newspaper in the civil war-torn country has become Spain’s largest daily newspaper.
Harry B., Find Your Spain!
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