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Fans increasingly follow stars over clubs in soccer culture
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Club Atlético de Madrid (meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético de Madrid or simply as Atlético or Atleti, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, that play in La Liga. The club play their home games at the Metropolitano Stadium, which has a capacity of 68,456. In terms of league titles won, Atlético Madrid are the third most successful club in Spanish football – behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. Atlético have won La Liga on 10 occasions, including a league and cup double in 1996; the Copa del Rey on 10 occasions; two Supercopas de España and one Copa Eva Duarte; in Europe, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962, were runners-up in 1963 and 1986, were Champions League runners-up in 1974, 2014 and 2016, won the Europa League in 2010, 2012 and 2018, and won the UEFA Super Cup in 2010, 2012 and 2018 as well as the 1974 Intercontinental Cup. Atlético's home kit is red and white vertical striped shirts, with blue shorts, and blue and red socks. This combination has been used since 1911. Throughout their history the club has been known by a number of nicknames, including Los Colchoneros ("The Mattress Makers"), due to their first team stripes being the same colours as traditional mattresses. During the 1970s, they became known as Los Indios, which some attribute to the club's signing several South American players after the restrictions on signing foreign players were lifted. However, there are a number of alternative theories which claim they were named so because their stadium is "camped" on the river bank, or because Los Indios (The Indians) were the traditional enemy of Los Blancos (The Whites), which is the nickname of the club's city rivals, Real Madrid. Felipe VI, the king of Spain, has been the honorary president of the club since 2003. The club co-owned the Indian Super League franchise in Kolkata, formerly named Atlético de Kolkata, which won the competition twice, but in 2017 Atlético decided to end its franchise partnership with the ISL club due to broken commitments. Atlético also co-owns Liga MX club Atlético San Luis, and the Canadian Premier League side Atlético Ottawa, and technical support and Partnership with ISL club Jamshedpur FC and its academy.
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