Marca (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaɾka]), stylised as MARCA, is Spain's national daily tabloid sport newspaper owned by Unidad Editorial. The newspaper focuses primarily on football, in particular the day-to-day activities of Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid. It has a daily readership of over 2.5 million, the highest in Spain for a daily newspaper, and more than half of Spain's total sports readership, as of 2007.[1]

Marca
Marca's first publication. The caption reads: "Arm raised to the sportsmen of Spain".
TypeDaily sports website
FormatTabloid
Founder(s)Jofy
PublisherUnidad Editorial
EditorJuan Ignacio Gallardo
Associate editorSantiago Se
Founded21 December 1938; 85 years ago (1938-12-21)
LanguageSpanish, English
HeadquartersAvenida de San Luis, 25, 28033, Madrid, Spain
Sister newspapersEl Mundo
Expansión
ISSN2340-0595
OCLC number472455028
Websitewww.marca.com/en/

Since February 2001, there has also been an association 24-hour/day sports radio station, Radio Marca. In 2010, the TV channel MARCA TV was launched, before being closed in 2013.

History and profile

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Marca was founded on 21 December 1938, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, in nationalist-held San Sebastián. Its founding editor was Manuel Fernández Cuesta, uncle of businessman Nemesio Fernández-Cuesta.[2] On 3 September 1987 Luis Infante became the editor of the paper.[3]

Punto Editorial SA was the owner of Marca.[4] In 1984 Espacio Editorial, which would be later called Recoletos, acquired the paper.[3][5] The company merged with Unedisa in 2007 to found Unidad Editorial which is the owner of Marca.[6]

The publisher of the paper is also Unidad Editorial and the sister newspapers are El Mundo and Expansión.[7] Marca is published in tabloid format.[8]

On 25 November 1942, it ceased being published as a weekly publication and has been published as a daily ever since. The daily was awarded the World's Best Designed Newspaper for 2004 by the Society for News Design (SND).[9]

On 21 December 2007, Marca hosted a gala event, featuring the leading Spanish sportsmen of the 20th century, to celebrate the newspaper's 70th anniversary.[10]

The paper was involved in a dispute with Sir Alex Ferguson from the summer of 2008 when he accused Marca of being Real Madrid's "vehicle to unsettle players".[11]

In October 2012, Marca announced launching the Spanish edition of the video games media outlet IGN, effectively replacing their own MARCA Player gaming news website. Marca also planned to launch another Spanish edition of IGN for Spanish-speakers in Latin America.[12]

In 2001 Marca sold 403,000 copies.[8] Its circulation was 382,000 copies in 2003, making it the second best selling newspaper in the country.[13]

On 6 November 2019, Marca signed a collaboration deal with Planeta Wrestling, the number one wrestling website in Spain.[14]

Awards

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The following awards are awarded by Marca at the end of each season:

  • Pichichi[15] - To the top goalscorer in La Liga as well as to the top goalscorer in Segunda División.
  • Zarra[15] - To the top goalscorer among Spanish nationals in La Liga as well as to the top goalscorer among Spanish nationals in Segunda División.
  • Zamora[15] - To the best goalkeeper in La Liga as well as to the best goalkeeper in Segunda División.
  • Miguel Muñoz[15] - To the best head coach in La Liga as well as to the best head coach in Segunda División.
  • Guruceta - To the best referee in La Liga as well as to the best referee in Segunda División.
  • Di Stefano[15] - To the best player in La Liga Deportiva.
  • Golden Goal[15] – For the goal of the season.

The below awards are awarded by Marca at no specific time:

  • Marca Legend Award (Marca Leyenda) - To the best professional athletes in history.[16][17]
  • Best Football Player of All Time – awarded to Argentine Lionel Messi via an online poll voted by the readers of Marca.com.[18]
  • Marca America Award – a special award given to Lionel Messi as recognition for being the player with the most titles in football history.[19][20]

Editors

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Juan Ignacio Gallardo, Marca's editor since 2016.

Marca Player

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In 2008, the video game magazine Marca Player was launched by Unidad Editorial, publisher of Marca.[21] It was originally planned to run under the name Tilt.[22] The publication was helmed by David Sanz of Spain's Official Xbox Magazine,[21][22] which had recently closed.[22] Marca Player was dedicated to multiplatform game coverage, news and reviews.[21] Its first issue debuted with a circulation of 125,000 copies,[23] and José Manuel González of Vandal wrote that it "had a very good start thanks to a very affordable price of 1.9 euros". However, he stated that the magazine failed to capture long-term market share, unlike sister publications such as MarcaMotor.[21] Marca Player lasted for 46 issues; its final issue appeared in July 2012.[22] After the closure, much of Marca Player's former staff was reorganized to launch IGN España, a collaborative venture between IGN and Unidad Editorial.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ AIMC. Archived 27 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Nemesio Fernández-Cuesta e Illana" (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b Francisco J. Pérez‐Latre; Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero (2003). "Leadership, an essential requirement for effecting change in media companies: An analysis of the Spanish market". International Journal on Media Management. 5 (3): 199–208. doi:10.1080/14241270309390035. S2CID 168023365.
  4. ^ Rosario de Mateo (1989). "The Evolution of the Newspaper Industry in Spain, 1939-87". European Journal of Communication. 4 (2): 211–226. doi:10.1177/0267323189004002006. S2CID 220417350.
  5. ^ Enric Castelló; David Domingo (2005). "Spanish media facing new media: a challenge to journalists?". International Journal of Iberian Studies. 18 (3): 181–200. doi:10.1386/ijis.18.3.181_1.
  6. ^ Laura Chaqués Bonafont; Frank R. Baumgartner (April 2013). "Newspaper attention and policy activities in Spain". Journal of Public Policy. 33 (1): 65–88. doi:10.1017/S0143814X12000219. hdl:2445/49364.
  7. ^ "Daily Press" (PDF). Unidad Editorial. December 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  8. ^ a b Adam Smith (15 November 2002). "Europe's Top Papers". campaign. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  9. ^ "World's Best-Designed winners". Society for News Design. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  10. ^ 70th anniversary Marca.
  11. ^ Ferguson confronts Real over lack of morality and vows Ronaldo will stay; The Guardian 24 May 2008
  12. ^ David Sanz (9 October 2012). "Bienvenidos a IGN España" (in Spanish). IGN Spain. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  13. ^ "World Press Trends" (PDF). Paris: World Association of Newspapers. 2004. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  14. ^ Miguel Pérez (6 November 2019). "Marca y Planeta Wrestling alcanzan un acuerdo de colaboración". PLANETA WRESTLING (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  15. ^ a b c d e f "The MARCA 2019 football awards: Messi collects sixth Pichichi". Marca. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  16. ^ "- Marca.com" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  17. ^ "Hugo Sánchez, nuevo MARCA Leyenda - MARCA Claro México". MARCA Claro México (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  18. ^ MARCA.com. "Real Madrid: Messi and Cristiano on the all-time podium of football - MARCA.com (English version)". MARCA. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  19. ^ "Messi receives award from MARCA for being the player with the most titles in history". MARCA.com. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Marca Rank 6 Greatest Players of All Time & Reveal Football's GOAT". GiveMeSport.com. 17 October 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  21. ^ a b c d González, José Manuel (28 September 2012). "Historia de las revistas de juegos en España". Vandal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 April 2013.
  22. ^ a b c d Martínez, David (12 July 2016). "Edge, Games TM y Marca Player". De MicroHobby a Youtube: Prensa de videojuegos en España (in Spanish). Dolmen Editorial. pp. 140–142. ISBN 978-8416436651.
  23. ^ Staff (10 September 2008). "'Marca Player', la nueva revista de videojuegos de Unidad Editorial". El Publicista (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 October 2019.
  24. ^ Staff (10 October 2012). "IGN y Unidad Editorial lanzan un gran sitio web especializado en videojuegos". El Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 November 2015.

Further reading

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  • Carlos Toro (2008). La Historia de Marca [The History of Marca] (in Spanish). Madrid. p. 424. ISBN 978-84-9734-723-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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Association 2
INTERN 2
Note 1