2013–14 La Liga
The 2013–14 La Liga season was the 83rd since its establishment. Match days were drawn on 9 July 2013. The season began on 17 August 2013 and ended on 18 May 2014 due to all top-flight European leagues ending earlier than the previous season because of 2014 FIFA World Cup. Elche, Villarreal and Almería competed in La Liga this year after spending the previous season in lower leagues.
Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona traded the lead several times throughout the season. Entering the final weekend of play, Atlético Madrid were three points ahead of 2013 champions Barcelona. However, with the two teams facing off, Barcelona could claim the title with a win. The game ended in a draw, giving the Colchoneros their first league title in 18 years, and their tenth overall. It was the first time since the 2003–04 La Liga that a club other than Barcelona or Real Madrid, who finished second and third respectively, have won the title. Osasuna, Real Valladolid and Real Betis finished in the bottom three and were relegated.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the La Liga Award for Best Player for the first time. As the top scorer with 31 goals, Ronaldo also won the Pichichi Trophy, along with the European Golden Shoe. Ángel Di María had the most assists, with 17. Thibaut Courtois won the Zamora Trophy for best goalkeeper.
Teams
Promotion and relegation (pre-season)
A total of 20 teams contested the league, including 17 sides from the 2012–13 season and three promoted from the 2012–13 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, and the victorious team of the play-offs.RCD Mallorca, Deportivo de La Coruña and Real Zaragoza were relegated to 2013–14 Segunda División the previous season: Mallorca were relegated after 16 years in La Liga, the longest period in its history and ending their golden era, Zaragoza returned to Segunda División after a four-year tenure in La Liga, while Deportivo made an immediate return to the Segunda División after being promoted the previous year. All three teams were relegated in the last matchday.
The three relegated teams were replaced by three 2012–13 Segunda División sides: Elche CF returned to the top level as Segunda División champion after 24 years of absence and with the last 14 seasons consecutively in the Segunda División. The second placed team Villarreal was also promoted to La Liga making an immediate return to La Liga after a win over Almería in the decisive match of the last set of games where the winner would be directly promoted to La Liga. Almería returned to the Spanish top flight after spending two years in the Segunda by beating Girona in the promotion play-offs.
This was the first season since the 1988–89 season without any teams from the archipelagos of Spain since RCD Mallorca was relegated and UD Las Palmas failed to be promoted after playing in the promotion play-offs later season.
Stadium and locations
| Team | Location of stadium | Stadium | Capacity |
| Almería | Almería | Juegos Mediterráneos | 22,000 |
| Athletic Bilbao | Bilbao | San Mamés | 53,332 |
| Atlético Madrid | Madrid | Vicente Calderón | 54,851 |
| Barcelona | Barcelona | Camp Nou | 99,354 |
| Betis | Seville | Benito Villamarín | 52,500 |
| Celta de Vigo | Vigo | Balaídos | 31,800 |
| Elche | Elche | Martínez Valero | 36,017 |
| Espanyol | Barcelona | Estadi Cornellà-El Prat | 40,500 |
| Getafe | Getafe | Coliseum Alfonso Pérez | 17,700 |
| Granada | Granada | Nuevo Los Cármenes | 22,524 |
| Levante | Valencia | Ciutat de València | 25,534 |
| Málaga | Málaga | La Rosaleda | 30,044 |
| Osasuna | Pamplona | El Sadar | 19,553 |
| Rayo Vallecano | Madrid | Campo de Vallecas | 15,489 |
| Real Madrid | Madrid | Santiago Bernabéu | 85,454 |
| Real Sociedad | San Sebastián | Anoeta | 32,076 |
| Sevilla | Seville | Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán | 45,500 |
| Valencia | Valencia | Mestalla | 55,000 |
| Valladolid | Valladolid | José Zorrilla | 26,512 |
| Villarreal | Villarreal | El Madrigal | 24,890 |
Personnel and sponsorship
As in the previous years, Nike provided the official ball for all matches, with a new Nike Incyte Liga BBVA model to be used throughout the season for all matches.Managerial changes
;Notes- Announcement date. The appointment was made effective since 1 July 2013.
Season summary
For the first time since 1951 and just the third time in league history, the La Liga title came down to a head-to-head match on the final weekend of play. Atlético Madrid were three points ahead of 2013 champion Barcelona, but had its final game on the road in Barcelona. Barcelona took a 1–0 lead into the half and Atlético lost two starters to injury in the half. A second half header, however, secured a 1–1 draw, earning the Colchoneros their first league title in 18 years, and their 10th overall. It was the first time since the 2003–04 La Liga that a club other than Barcelona or Real Madrid, which finished tied for second, won the title. It was also the first time in the 67-year history of the Camp Nou stadium that a visiting team had clinched the title in the stadium.
The emergence of Diego Costa and Koke was a large part of Atlético Madrid's success. Costa scored 36 goals on the season, including the winner in Atlético's first victory over Real Madrid since 1999. Koke had 18 assists on the year, to go with seven goals.
Earlier in the season, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as Barcelona ended a 31-match unbeaten streak for Real Madrid. The same day, Atlético beat Real Betis to claim the league lead. A loss against Levante and draw against Malaga left Atlético vulnerable heading into their final match.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the league scoring title with 31 goals. Messi was second and Costa third. Ángel Di María had most assists with 17. Thibaut Courtois won the Ricardo Zamora Trophy for best goalkeeper. Barcelona was the least penalised team.
League table
Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after completion of each round.Results
Season statistics
Top goalscorers
The Pichichi Trophy is awarded by newspaper Marca to the player who scores the most goals in a season.| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 |  Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 31 |
| 2 |  Lionel Messi | Barcelona | 28 |
| 3 |  Diego Costa | Atlético Madrid | 27 |
| 4 |  Alexis Sánchez | Barcelona | 19 |
| 5 |  Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 17 |
| 6 |  Carlos Vela | Real Sociedad | 16 |
| 6 | Antoine Griezmann | Real Sociedad | 16 |
| 6 |  Aritz Aduriz | Athletic Bilbao | 16 |
| 9 |  Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | 15 |
| 9 | Javi Guerra | Real Valladolid | 15 |
| 9 | Pedro | Barcelona | 15 |
| 9 | Kevin Gameiro | Sevilla | 15 |
Source:
Assists table
Zamora Trophy
The Zamora Trophy is awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with least goals-to-games ratio. Keepers must play at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.| Rank | Name | Club | Goals Against | Matches | Average |
| 1 |  Thibaut Courtois | Atlético Madrid | 24 | 37 | |
| 2 | Gorka Iraizoz | Athletic Bilbao | 32 | 33 | |
| 3 | Diego López | Real Madrid | 36 | 36 | |
| 4 |  Keylor Navas | Levante | 39 | 36 | |
| 5 | Sergio Asenjo | Villarreal | 41 | 35 |
Hat-tricks
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Lionel Messi | 3–2 | 1 September 2013 | ||
 Mounir El Hamdaoui | 5–0 | 15 September 2013 | ||
| Pedro | 4–0 | 21 September 2013 | ||
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 7–3 | 30 October 2013 | ||
| Youssef El-Arabi | 3–1 | 8 November 2013 | ||
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 5–1 | 9 November 2013 | ||
| Carlos Vela4 | 4–3 | 23 November 2013 | ||
| Sergio García | 4–1 | 24 November 2013 | ||
| Gareth Bale | 4–0 | 30 November 2013 | ||
 Jonas | 3–0 | 1 December 2013 | ||
| Javi Guerra | 3–0 | 16 December 2013 | ||
| Pedro | 5–2 | 22 December 2013 | ||
| Alexis Sánchez | 4–0 | 5 January 2014 | ||
 Ikechukwu Uche | 5–2 | 6 January 2014 | ||
| Aritz Aduriz | 4–0 | 28 February 2014 | ||
| Lionel Messi | 7–0 | 16 March 2014 | ||
| Lionel Messi | 4–3 | 23 March 2014 |
4 Player scored four goals
5 Player scored five goals
– Home ; – Away
Discipline
- Most yellow cards : 102
- * Málaga
- Most yellow cards : 15
- * Alberto Botía
- Most red cards : 8
- * Real Betis
- * Rayo Vallecano
- * Osasuna
- Most red cards : 2
- * 6 players
Attendances
LFP Awards
Seasonal
La Liga's governing body, the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the LFP Awards.| Recipient | |
| Best Player | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Best Coach | Diego Simeone |
| Best Goalkeeper | Keylor Navas |
| Best Defender | Sergio Ramos |
| Best Midfielder |  Luka Modrić Andrés Iniesta |
| Best Forward | Cristiano Ronaldo |