2015–16 La Liga

La Liga
Season	2015–16
Dates	21 August 2015 – 15 May 2016
Champions	Barcelona; 24th title
Relegated	Rayo Vallecano; Getafe; Levante
Champions League	Barcelona; Real Madrid; Atlético Madrid; Villarreal; Sevilla (as Europa League winners)
Europa League	Athletic Bilbao; Celta Vigo
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,043 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Luis Suárez; (40 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Jan Oblak; (0.47 goals per match)
Biggest home win	Real Madrid 10–2 Rayo Vallecano; (20 December 2015)
Biggest away win	Deportivo La Coruña 0–8 Barcelona; (20 April 2016)
Highest scoring	Real Madrid 10–2 Rayo Vallecano; (20 December 2015)
Longest winning run	12 matches; Barcelona; Real Madrid
Longest unbeaten run	23 matches; Barcelona
Longest winless run	13 matches; Deportivo La Coruña; Getafe
Longest losing run	7 matches; Getafe
Highest attendance	98,902; Barcelona 1–2 Real Madrid; (2 April 2016)
Lowest attendance	4,215; Eibar 5–1 Granada; (18 January 2016)
Total attendance	10,554,764
Average attendance	27,775
	← 2014–15 2016–17 →

Barcelona were the defending champions. It started on 21 August 2015 and concluded on 15 May 2016. Barcelona retained the title (their 24th Liga title) after beating Granada 3–0 on the final matchday. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid were engaged in an intense title race, with the three teams finishing with 91, 90 and 88 points respectively.

Luis Suárez finished as top scorer, being the first player apart from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to do so since the 2008–09 season.

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of twenty teams contested the league, including seventeen sides from the 2014–15 season and three promoted from the 2014–15 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, Real Betis and Sporting Gijón, and the winners of the play-offs, Las Palmas.

Almería and Córdoba were relegated to 2015–16 Segunda División in the previous season, after spending two and one years in La Liga, respectively. Elche was administratively relegated despite finishing in 13th. Following the competition rules, Eibar, who finished 18th, remained in the league.

Real Betis was the first team from the Segunda División to achieve promotion, after a one-year absence from La Liga, on 24 May 2015 after winning 3–0 over Alcorcón.

On 7 June 2015, Sporting Gijón secured promotion on the final matchday, after their 3–0 win against Betis allowed the club to leapfrog Girona, who drew their final match and could not retain second place and automatic promotion. Sporting returned to the top level after three years.

Las Palmas achieved promotion on 21 June 2015, after defeating Zaragoza in the promotion play-off final on away goals. Las Palmas won the second 2–0 leg at home after losing the first leg away 3–1, and returned to the first division after thirteen years away. They also became the first island team to play in La Liga since Mallorca's relegation from the top flight in the 2012–13 season. During those thirteen seasons, the club spent two of them in the third-tier Segunda División B.

Stadiums and locations

Canary Islands (see below)

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Location of teams in 2015–16 La Liga

Las Palmas

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Location of teams in 2015–16 La Liga (Canary Islands)

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao	San Mamés	53,289
Atlético Madrid	Madrid	Vicente Calderón	54,907
Barcelona	Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,354
Celta Vigo	Vigo	Balaídos	30,000
Deportivo La Coruña	A Coruña	Riazor	34,600
Eibar	Eibar	Ipurua	6,267
Espanyol	Barcelona	RCDE Stadium	40,500
Getafe	Getafe	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	17,393
Granada	Granada	Nuevo Los Cármenes	23,156
Las Palmas	Las Palmas	Gran Canaria	32,150
Levante	Valencia	Ciutat de València	26,354
Málaga	Málaga	La Rosaleda	30,044
Rayo Vallecano	Madrid	Vallecas	14,708
Real Betis	Seville	Benito Villamarín	52,500
Real Madrid	Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	85,454
Real Sociedad	San Sebastián	Anoeta	32,076
Sevilla	Seville	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	42,500
Sporting Gijón	Gijón	El Molinón	29,029
Valencia	Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Villarreal	Villarreal	El Madrigal	24,890

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Head Coach	Captain	Kit	Shirt sponsor
Athletic Bilbao	Ernesto Valverde	Carlos Gurpegui	Nike	Kutkabank
Atlético Madrid	Diego Simeone	Gabi	Nike	Plus500, Azerbaijan Land of Fire¹, Huawei²
Barcelona	Luis Enrique	Andrés Iniesta	Nike	Qatar Airways, Beko², UNICEF⁴
Celta Vigo	Eduardo Berizzo	Hugo Mallo	Adidas	Citroën, Estrella Galicia 0,0¹ ³, Abanca³
Deportivo La Coruña	Víctor Sánchez	Manuel Pablo	Lotto	Estrella Galicia 0,0, Abanca¹, 西甲欢乐多⁵
Eibar	José Luis Mendilibar	Daniel García	Puma	AVIA, Wiko¹ ³, Eibar Energia Hiria²
Espanyol	Constantin Gâlcă	Javi López	Joma	Power8/Rastar, Riviera Maya² ³
Getafe	Juan Esnáider	Pedro León	Joma	Tecnocasa Group, Gedesco¹
Granada	José González	Diego Mainz	Joma	Solver Sports Capital, Banco Mare Nostrum¹, Coviran¹, Caja Rural Granada²
Las Palmas	Quique Setién	David García	Acerbis	Gran Canaria, Grupo DISA¹, Islas Canarias¹/Air Europa¹, CajaSur², BeCordial Hotels & Resorts³, Binter³/Domingo Alonso³, Volkswagen³
Levante	Rubi	Juanfran	Nike	East United/BetEast, Baleària¹, Valencia¹, BetEast²
Málaga	Javi Gracia	Duda	Nike	Benahavis¹
Rayo Vallecano	Paco Jémez	David Cobeño	Kelme	Qbao.com, Halcón Viajes¹
Real Betis	Gus Poyet	Jorge Molina	Adidas	UED Sports, Wiko¹ ³
Real Madrid	Zinedine Zidane	Sergio Ramos	Adidas	Fly Emirates
Real Sociedad	Eusebio Sacristán	Xabi Prieto	Adidas	Qbao.com, Kutxabank¹, Canal+²
Sevilla	Unai Emery	José Antonio Reyes	New Balance	Reale Seguros⁶, Andalucía¹ ⁶, ZTE³ ⁶
Sporting Gijón	Abelardo Fernández	Alberto Lora	Kappa	Gijón, Ternera Asturiana², Telecable³, Nissan³
Valencia	Pako Ayestarán	Paco Alcácer	Adidas	Codere (only in UEFA matches), Gol Televisión/beIN Sports¹, Codere²
Villarreal	Marcelino	Bruno Soriano	Xtep	Pamesa Cerámica, Endavant

1. ^ On the back of shirt.

2. ^ On the sleeves.

3. ^ On the shorts.

4. ^ Barcelona made a donation to UNICEF in order to display the charity's logo on the back of the club's kit.

5. ^ Deportivo had a phrase in Chinese characters on the back of its shorts meaning "La Liga is Diverse".

6. ^ Sevilla featured these sponsors only for the 2016 Copa del Rey Final.

7. Additionally, referee kits were now made by Adidas, sponsored by Würth, and Nike had a new match ball, the Ordem LFP.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Real Madrid	Carlo Ancelotti	Sacked	25 May 2015	Pre-season	Rafael Benítez	3 June 2015
Getafe	Pablo Franco	Sacked	1 June 2015		Fran Escribá	26 June 2015
Eibar	Gaizka Garitano	Mutual consent	30 June 2015		José Luis Mendilibar	30 June 2015
Las Palmas	Paco Herrera	Sacked	19 October 2015	19th	Quique Setién	19 October 2015
Levante	Lucas Alcaraz		26 October 2015	20th	Rubi	27 October 2015
Real Sociedad	David Moyes		9 November 2015	16th	Eusebio Sacristán	9 November 2015
Valencia	Nuno Espírito Santo	Resigned	29 November 2015	9th	Gary Neville	2 December 2015
Espanyol	Sergio González	Sacked	14 December 2015	12th	Constantin Gâlcă	14 December 2015
Real Madrid	Rafael Benítez		4 January 2016	3rd	Zinedine Zidane	4 January 2016
Real Betis	Pepe Mel		10 January 2016	15th	Juan Merino (caretaker)	3 February 2016
Granada	José Ramón Sandoval		22 February 2016	20th	José González	22 February 2016
Valencia	Gary Neville		30 March 2016	14th	Pako Ayestarán	30 March 2016
Getafe	Fran Escribá		11 April 2016	19th	Juan Esnáider	12 April 2016
Real Betis	Juan Merino	End of caretaker spell	9 May 2016	14th	Gus Poyet	9 May 2016

Overview

On 14 May 2016, Barcelona won their second consecutive and 24th overall La Liga title, following a 3–0 win over Granada at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes on the final matchday. Real Madrid finished one point behind Barcelona as runners-up, having gone on a twelve-match win streak to close out the season. Atlético Madrid ended the season three points off the top in third place, having been eliminated from title contention after a loss to Levante on the penultimate matchday.

Levante were the first team to be mathematically relegated to the Segunda División, following a 1–3 loss against Málaga on 2 May 2016. On 15 May 2016, Sporting Gijón ensured they would remain in the top flight after defeating Villarreal 2–0 and taking advantage of Getafe's loss against Real Betis, which saw Getafe relegated from La Liga for the first time in club history. Rayo Vallecano also went down despite winning their final match of the season.

League table

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Barcelona (C)	38	29	4	5	112	29	+83	91	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Real Madrid	38	28	6	4	110	34	+76	90
3	Atlético Madrid	38	28	4	6	63	18	+45	88
4	Villarreal	38	18	10	10	44	35	+9	64	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Athletic Bilbao	38	18	8	12	58	45	+13	62	Qualification for the Europa League group stage
6	Celta Vigo	38	17	9	12	51	59	−8	60	Qualification for the Europa League group stage
7	Sevilla	38	14	10	14	51	50	+1	52	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
8	Málaga	38	12	12	14	38	35	+3	48
9	Real Sociedad	38	13	9	16	45	48	−3	48
10	Real Betis	38	11	12	15	34	52	−18	45
11	Las Palmas	38	12	8	18	45	53	−8	44
12	Valencia	38	11	11	16	46	48	−2	44
13	Espanyol	38	12	7	19	40	74	−34	43
14	Eibar	38	11	10	17	49	61	−12	43
15	Deportivo La Coruña	38	8	18	12	45	61	−16	42
16	Granada	38	10	9	19	46	69	−23	39
17	Sporting Gijón	38	10	9	19	40	62	−22	39
18	Rayo Vallecano (R)	38	9	11	18	52	73	−21	38	Relegation to Segunda División
19	Getafe (R)	38	9	9	20	37	67	−30	36
20	Levante (R)	38	8	8	22	37	70	−33	32

Source: La Liga, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Fair-play points; 7) Play-off.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1

2

4

3

5

6

Home \ Away	ATH	ATM	FCB	CEL	RCD	EIB	ESP	GET	GCF	LPA	LEV	MCF	RVA	RBB	RMA	RSO	SFC	RSG	VCF	VIL
Athletic Bilbao		0–1	0–1	2–1	4–1	5–2	2–1	3–1	1–1	2–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	1–2	0–1	3–1	3–0	3–1	0–0
Atlético Madrid	2–1		1–2	2–0	3–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	5–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–0
Barcelona	6–0	2–1		6–1	2–2	3–1	5–0	6–0	4–0	2–1	4–1	1–0	5–2	4–0	1–2	4–0	2–1	6–0	1–2	3–0
Celta Vigo	0–1	0–2	4–1		1–1	3–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	3–3	4–3	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–3	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–5	0–0
Deportivo La Coruña	2–2	1–1	0–8	2–0		2–0	3–0	0–2	0–1	1–3	2–1	3–3	2–2	2–2	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–3	1–1	1–2
Eibar	2–0	0–2	0–4	1–1	1–1		2–1	3–1	5–1	0–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–2
Espanyol	2–1	1–3	0–0	1–1	1–0	4–2		1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–3	0–6	0–5	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–2
Getafe	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–1	3–1		1–2	4–0	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–5	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–0
Granada	2–0	0–2	0–3	0–2	1–1	1–3	1–1	3–2		3–2	5–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	0–3	2–1	2–0	1–2	1–3
Las Palmas	0–0	0–3	1–2	2–1	0–2	0–2	4–0	4–0	4–1		0–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	0–0
Levante	2–2	2–1	0–2	1–2	1–1	2–2	2–1	3–0	1–2	3–2		0–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	0–4	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0
Málaga	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	2–2	4–1	3–1		1–1	0–1	1–1	3–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–1
Rayo Vallecano	0–3	0–2	1–5	3–0	1–3	1–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–2		0–2	2–3	2–2	2–2	2–1	0–0	2–1
Real Betis	1–3	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	0–4	1–3	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–2		1–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–1
Real Madrid	4–2	0–1	0–4	7–1	5–0	4–0	6–0	4–1	1–0	3–1	3–0	0–0	10–2	5–0		3–1	4–0	5–1	3–2	3–0
Real Sociedad	0–0	0–2	1–0	2–3	1–1	2–1	2–3	1–2	3–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–1		2–0	0–0	2–0	0–2
Sevilla	2–0	0–3	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	5–0	1–4	2–0	3–1	2–1	3–2	2–0	3–2	1–2		2–0	1–0	4–2
Sporting Gijón	0–2	2–1	1–3	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–4	1–2	3–3	3–1	0–3	1–0	2–2	1–2	0–0	5–1	2–1		0–1	2–0
Valencia	0–3	1–3	1–1	0–2	1–1	4–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	3–0	3–0	2–2	0–0	2–2	0–1	2–1	0–1		0–2
Villarreal	3–1	1–0	2–2	1–2	0–2	1–1	3–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Reference
Cristiano Ronaldo⁵	Real Madrid	Espanyol	6–0 (A)	12 September 2015	Report
Imanol Agirretxe	Real Sociedad	Granada	3–0 (A)	22 September 2015	Report
Charles	Málaga	Real Sociedad	3–1 (H)	3 October 2015	Report
Neymar⁴	Barcelona	Rayo Vallecano	5–2 (H)	17 October 2015	Report
Kevin Gameiro	Sevilla	Getafe	5–0 (H)	24 October 2015	Report
Luis Suárez	Barcelona	Eibar	3–1 (H)	25 October 2015	Report
Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao	Rayo Vallecano	3–0 (A)	29 November 2015	Report
Antonio Sanabria	Sporting Gijón	Las Palmas	3–1 (H)	6 December 2015	Report
Gareth Bale⁴	Real Madrid	Rayo Vallecano	10–2 (H)	20 December 2015	Report
Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	Rayo Vallecano	10–2 (H)	20 December 2015	Report
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Granada	4–0 (H)	9 January 2016	Report
Gareth Bale	Real Madrid	Deportivo La Coruña	5–0 (H)	9 January 2016	Report
Luis Suárez	Barcelona	Athletic Bilbao	6–0 (H)	17 January 2016	Report
Antonio Sanabria	Sporting Gijón	Real Sociedad	5–1 (H)	22 January 2016	Report
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Espanyol	6–0 (H)	31 January 2016	Report Archived 24 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine
Luis Suárez	Barcelona	Celta Vigo	6–1 (H)	14 February 2016	Report
Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao	Deportivo La Coruña	4–1 (H)	2 March 2016	Report
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Rayo Vallecano	5–1 (A)	3 March 2016	Report
Cristiano Ronaldo⁴	Real Madrid	Celta Vigo	7–1 (H)	5 March 2016	Report
Luis Suárez⁴	Barcelona	Deportivo La Coruña	8–0 (A)	20 April 2016	Report
Paco Alcácer	Valencia	Eibar	4–0 (H)	20 April 2016	Report
Youssef El-Arabi	Granada	Levante	5–1 (H)	21 April 2016	Report
Luis Suárez⁴	Barcelona	Sporting Gijón	6–0 (H)	23 April 2016	Report
Luis Suárez	Barcelona	Granada	3–0 (A)	14 May 2016	Report

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Barcelona	1,486,763	98,902	65,531	78,251	+0.8%^†
2	Real Madrid	1,286,433	80,148	61,564	67,707	−7.8%^†
3	Atlético Madrid	820,812	51,933	29,737	43,201	−7.2%^†
4	Athletic Bilbao	797,268	47,785	37,552	41,961	+3.3%^†
5	Valencia	709,329	47,217	27,876	37,333	−14.8%^†
6	Real Betis	686,700	46,061	24,879	36,142	+18.0%¹
7	Sevilla	646,007	40,395	21,915	34,000	+9.3%^†
8	Sporting Gijón	440,723	28,140	19,536	23,196	+20.1%¹
9	Deportivo La Coruña	437,148	29,666	16,185	23,008	+8.1%^†
10	Las Palmas	402,922	28,414	15,819	21,206	+32.4%¹
11	Málaga	401,292	28,290	13,909	21,121	−5.1%^†
12	Real Sociedad	386,468	27,484	12,755	20,340	−8.0%^†
13	Espanyol	348,353	27,395	12,461	18,334	−1.9%^†
14	Celta Vigo	342,272	24,519	13,584	18,014	−5.9%^†
15	Villarreal	318,573	23,450	12,843	16,767	+5.0%^†
16	Granada	301,361	20,552	12,711	15,861	−3.8%^†
17	Levante	259,258	22,424	9,225	13,645	−10.6%^†
18	Rayo Vallecano	218,308	13,775	9,301	11,490	+8.1%^†
19	Getafe	138,861	12,772	4,532	7,308	−0.7%^†
20	Eibar	98,868	5,941	4,215	5,204	+8.9%^†
	League total	10,527,719	98,902	4,215	27,705	+3.6%^†

	Recipient
Best Player	Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid)
Best Coach	Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid)
Best Goalkeeper	Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid)
Best Defender	Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid)
Best Midfielder	Luka Modrić (Real Madrid)
Best Forward	Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid)
Defence	Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)	Gerard Piqué (Barça)		Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid)		Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Midfield	Andrés Iniesta (Barça)		Luka Modrić (Real Madrid)		Sergio Busquets (Barça)
Attack	Lionel Messi (Barça)		Luis Suárez (Barça)		Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

2015–16 La Liga

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Managerial changes

Overview

League table

Standings

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Top goalscorers

Top assists

Zamora Trophy

Hat-tricks

Discipline

Overall

Attendances

La Liga Awards

Seasonal

Team of the Year

Monthly

Broadcasting rights

References

External links

Tags:

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Rank	Name	Club	Goals Against	Matches	Average
1	Jan Oblak	Atlético Madrid	18	38	0.47
2	Claudio Bravo	Barcelona	22	32	0.69
3	Alphonse Areola	Villarreal	26	32	0.81
4	Keylor Navas	Real Madrid	28	34	0.82
5	Gorka Iraizoz	Athletic Bilbao	37	36	1.03

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Reference
September	Marcelino	Villarreal	Nolito	Celta Vigo
October	Ernesto Valverde	Athletic Bilbao	Borja Bastón	Eibar
November	Diego Simeone	Atlético Madrid	Neymar	Barcelona
December	Javi Gracia	Málaga	Lucas Pérez	Deportivo La Coruña
January	Unai Emery	Sevilla	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
February	Eusebio Sacristán	Real Sociedad	Miku	Rayo Vallecano
March	Quique Setién	Las Palmas	Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao
April	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	Koke	Atlético Madrid
May	Luis Enrique	Barcelona	Luis Suárez	Barcelona