Who has won more ‘major’ trophies: Real Madrid or Barcelona?

Conspiracy theorists rejoice! We will see El Clásico in the final of the Spanish Super Cup 2023 after all, the RFEF have got their way…! In all seriousness, with Real Madrid and Barcelona both progressing to the Sunday’s showpiece via penalty shootouts, it could quite easily have been Valencia and Real Betis squaring up at King Fahd Stadium at the weekend.

Separated by just three points at the top of LaLiga, Los Blancos and La Blaugrana will fight it out directly for a yet another trophy on 15 January, although the last time they met in any kind of final came all the way back in the 2013-14 season, when Gareth Bale scored the winning goal – that goal – in the Copa del Rey final in April 2014.

Have Real Madrid or Barcelona won more ‘major’ trophies?

We’ve had to wait nearly nine years for an El Clásico final then, but now that we have one, it got me thinking…who has won more major trophies between the two clubs?

I must confess that when I started working on this, I hadn’t anticipated the complexity of trying to decide what exactly constitutes a ‘major’ trophy. Some are incredibly obvious (Champions League/European Cup, LaLiga etc), others less so. The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is generally considered to be the predecessor to the UEFA Cup but was initially only open to teams from cities that hosted trade fair, which seems too exclusive, so that’s out (sorry, Barça, who won three of them).

How many Spanish Super Cups have Real Madrid and Barcelona won?

Ironically, considering that it’s the Spanish Super Cup that’s at stake in Sunday’s final, I’m not actually counting that as a major trophy, or the European Super Cup or the FIFA World Club Cup (feel free to disagree with me…). Luckily, if you add the three totals from those competitions for the two clubs they come to the same number (21) and don’t affect the overall tally. If you’re interested, it’s 13-12 in Barcelona’s favour in terms of Spanish Super Cup wins.

I’ve basically included trophies that the clubs would be/would have been massively bothered about winning at the start of the season, both back in the day and now. Trophies that ‘feel like’ major trophies.

How many league titles have Real Madrid and Barcelona won?

Real Madrid continue to lead the way, having won 35 league titles to Barcelona’s 26. The Catalans have caught up in the last few decades though, having won six more leagues than Los Blancos since 1990.

How many European Cups/Champions Leagues have Real Madrid and Barcelona won?

Real Madrid, quite simply, are the masters in this competition. 14 victories, double more than anyone else (Milan are next with seven, in case you were wondering). That, of course, includes five wins in the last nine seasons, including three in a row from 2016 to 2018.

Barcelona had never won the trophy until 1991, by which time Real Madrid had done on six occasions. La Blaugrana have now won it five times but not since 2014-15.

How many other ‘major’ European trophies have Real Madrid and Barcelona won?

You don’t tend to associate Real Madrid with anything other than the European Cup/Champions League but they won two UEFA Cups in the 1980s.

That’s a trophy that Barcelona have never won – they will be hoping to win it’s successor, the Europa League, this season – but Barça did win the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup four times. That was a pretty big deal back in the day, so that’s in.

How many times have Real Madrid and Barcelona won the Copa del Rey?

If you’re thinking that Real Madrid are fairly far ahead at this stage, then you’d be right. But this is where Barcelona close the gap. The Catalans have won the Copa del Rey a record 31 times, with Madrid languishing behind on just 19 (I know what you’re thinking Real Madrid fans, you’d rather win more leagues and Champions Leagues that Copa del Reys…).

Real Madrid and Barcelona’s overall ‘major’ trophy wins

All in all, that means that – drum roll please – Real Madrid have lifted a total of 70 ‘major’ trophies, compared to Barcelona’s 66.

There’s really not much to separate these two, is there? There probably won’t be on Sunday either and maybe, just maybe, we’ll be going three for three in terms of Spanish Super Cup penalty shoot-outs this year.