Formed: 1903
Nicknames: Los Colchoneros (The Mattress Makers), Los Rojiblancos (The Red and Whites)
UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)• European Champion Clubs' Cup: (1974)
• UEFA Europa League: 2010
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1962; (1963), (1986)
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2007; (2004)
Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 9 (1996)
• Spanish Cup: 9 (1996)
History
• Athletic Club de Madrid were founded by a group of Madrid-based Basque students. The new side donned the same blue-and-white kit as their hometown Athletic Club Bilbao did, but were forbidden from playing in it so in 1911 they adopted red-and-white stripes. In 1923 they moved into the Estadio Metropolitano.
• Los Rojiblancos were invited to join the inaugural Liga in 1928, finishing sixth. The post-Spanish Civil War economic downturn prompted an amalgamation with Zaragoza's Aviación Nacional, hence the 1939 inception of Athletic Aviación Club. Successive league titles arrived in 1940 and 1941 before the name Club Atlético de Madrid was assumed in 1947, before back-to-back Liga crowns in 1950 and 1951.
• Defeated by Real Madrid CF in the European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals, Los Colchoneros took revenge with consecutive Copa del Rey final victories over their city rivals in 1960 and 1961. The latter booked Atlético a place in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, which they won by beating ACF Fiorentina in the final before missing out to Tottenham Hotspur FC in the following year's showpiece.
• They returned to the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1973, reaching the final only to lose the replay 4-0 to FC Bayern Münich after Luis Aragonés's extra-time opener had been cancelled out in the last minute two days earlier. With Bayern opting out of the following season's European/South American Cup, Atlético stepped in and defeated CA Independiente to become champions.
• Further Copa del Rey triumphs followed (1976, 1985, 1991, 1992), as well as a 1986 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final loss to FC Dynamo Kyiv, but 1995/96 eclipsed it all as Radomir Antić's side completed a league and cup double. Just four years later, they were relegated. Aragonés guided them back to the top flight in 2002 and in 2010 their 48-year wait for contintal silverware was over as two Diego Forlán goals earned an extra-time victory against Fulham FC in the inaugural UEFA Europa League.
Club records
Most appearances: Adelardo Rodríguez (548)
Most goals: Adrián Escudero (170)
Record victory: Atlético 9-0 UD Las Palmas (Liga, 20 October 1957)
Record defeat: RC Celta de Vigo 8-1 Atlético (Liga, 5 December 1954)
