Atletico Madrid Tickets

Where to Sit at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano

The ground is organised into four stands and three tiers, and the block numbering follows the tiers rather than the stands. The Fondo Norte and Fondo Sur sit behind the goals, the Lateral Este and Lateral Oeste run down the sides, and the Grada Baja, Grada Media and Grada Alta stack from the pitch upward with blocks in the 100s, 200s and 300s or 400s respectively. Ninety-six per cent of seats are covered by the roof.

Stand / Area	Best For	Price Bracket	Notes
Fondo Sur, Grada Baja	Atmosphere above everything	Members only	Home of the Grada de Animacion, the singing section. Seats are nominative, restricted to members and checked against identity at the gate, and cannot be transferred to non-members. A visitor cannot buy into this section.
Fondo Sur, Grada Media and Alta	Noise without the restrictions	Lowest	Directly above the animation section and the least expensive general admission in the ground. You get the sound of the Sur without needing membership to sit there.
Lateral Este	Value with a side-on view	Mid	The east side, opposite the main stand. Solid sightlines at a meaningful discount to the Oeste, and the Grada Media here is widely regarded as the sweet spot for watching the game.
Lateral Oeste	The premium side	Highest	The main stand, carrying the dugouts, the press and almost all of the VIP product. The Grada Baja and Media here reach the top of the general admission range before hospitality begins.
Fondo Norte, Grada Baja and Media	Families	Lower	The north end is the designated family area. The northeast corner is the closest point in the ground to the pitch at under six metres.
Fondo Norte, Grada Alta	Visiting supporters only	Capped at €30 in La Liga	Blocks in the 313 to 319 and 413 to 419 ranges, entered through gates 23 and 24, with segregation and netting. Accessible away seating is in block 313.

Following Atletico on the Road

Away tickets in Spain run through the Grada Visitante agreement, a reciprocal arrangement between La Liga clubs that Atletico have signed since it began. It guarantees a minimum of 300 tickets per match at a maximum of €30, which is a small allocation by English standards and reflects how Spanish away travel actually works. Tickets are nominative, issued against a member number and identity document.

European away travel is a different proposition entirely, governed by UEFA rather than by domestic agreement. The table sets out what applies where, including what the visiting club receives when it comes to Madrid.

Item	Detail
La Liga away allocation	A minimum of 300 tickets at a maximum of €30 under the Grada Visitante agreement, on a reciprocity basis. Larger allocations are negotiated for the highest-demand fixtures but 300 is the floor.
Champions League away allocation	5% of stadium capacity under UEFA rules, which at 70,692 works out at roughly 3,500. Arsenal received 3,476 for the 2026 semi-final and Celtic 3,431 in 2023.
Away sector at the Metropolitano	Fondo Norte upper tier, blocks in the 313 to 319 and 413 to 419 ranges, through gates 23 and 24. Some guides place it in a southeast corner, which is wrong.
Who can buy	Socio membership is required to request away tickets, and seniority governs priority for away allocations and finals. The international Red and White card does not qualify.
After the match	Visiting supporters should expect to be held inside the ground for thirty minutes or more after the final whistle, which is standard practice at Spanish grounds for segregated allocations.

Matching the Seat to the Matchday You Want

The Metropolitano gives you a genuine choice in a way that older Spanish grounds often do not, because the roof covers almost everything and the sightlines are good from all four sides. What varies is atmosphere, price and whether you are allowed to sit there at all. The table maps five priorities onto the areas that deliver them.

Priority	Best Option	Why
Atmosphere above everything	Fondo Sur, Grada Media directly above the animation section	The Grada de Animacion in the lower Sur generates the noise but is closed to non-members and identity-checked. Sitting immediately above it gives you the same sound and the same end without the restrictions.
Best view of the match	Lateral Este, Grada Media	Side-on, elevated enough to read both teams' shape and priced below the equivalent seat in the Lateral Oeste. The most commonly recommended compromise in the ground.
Family-friendly	Fondo Norte, Grada Baja or Media	The designated family end, calmer than the Sur and among the lower-priced areas. Children aged five to thirteen receive up to 50% off on season tickets, with proportionate discounts on individual matches.
Premium experience	Lateral Oeste hospitality through the club's VIP operation	The route that needs no membership and, uniquely here, produces a ticket that is non-nominal and can be gifted. Catering runs from ninety minutes before kick-off through half time and after the final whistle.
Lower-priced option	Fondo Sur or Norte upper tier, or a Copa del Rey tie	The upper Fondos are the least expensive general admission in the stadium, and the early rounds of the Copa del Rey are the least expensive fixtures of the season and the likeliest to be available at face value.

The Metropolitano Experience

Atletico played their last match at the Vicente Calderon on 21 May 2017 and opened the Metropolitano on 16 September 2017 with a 1-0 win over Malaga, Antoine Griezmann scoring the first goal there in front of King Felipe VI. The move traded a cramped riverside ground wedged beside a brewery and a motorway for a modern bowl in San Blas-Canillejas, ten kilometres northeast of the centre, and supporters have spent the years since arguing about whether the atmosphere came with it.

The site is older than it looks. It was built as the Estadio de la Peineta in 1994 as part of Madrid's Olympic ambitions and comprehensively rebuilt for football, which is why it sits on a scale the club could never have achieved beside the Manzanares. Capacity opened at 68,456, reached 70,460 by September 2023 and stands at 70,692 after further work adding skyboxes, expanded VIP seating and an additional accessible platform. The attendance record is 70,112 against Real Madrid in September 2024.

The naming has changed twice. It was the Wanda Metropolitano from 2017 to 2022, the Civitas Metropolitano until 2024, and became the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on 20 October 2024 under a nine-year agreement running to 2033 that is reported as the most valuable stadium naming deal in football. In UEFA competition the ground is required to be called simply the Estadio Metropolitano, so both names will appear on European nights.

Atmosphere is concentrated in the Fondo Sur, where the Grada de Animacion occupies the lower tier. That section is members-only with nominative tickets and identity checks at the gate, and it has been subject to partial closures as a disciplinary sanction more than once. The roof covers ninety-six per cent of seats and the northeast corner sits under six metres from the touchline, the closest point in the ground, which gives the corners a proximity the big Spanish bowls generally lack.

Getting there is the easiest part. Metro Line 7 stops at Estadio Metropolitano immediately beside the ground, roughly twenty-six minutes from Sol, with the network running from six in the morning until half past one. Las Musas on the same line is a short walk, and Canillejas on Line 5 is around twenty minutes away and is the route visiting supporters are often directed along. Roughly four thousand parking spaces exist but access is by pre-reserved pass only, and visiting clubs are told plainly that there is no parking at or near the ground.

One practical warning matters more here than at most grounds. Turnstiles open two hours before kick-off, there is no re-entry once you leave, and access is refused entirely once the second half has begun. Combine that with kick-off times that La Liga does not confirm until roughly a fortnight out and you have a venue that rewards planning and punishes improvisation.

Two references are worth having before you travel. The Riyadh Air Metropolitano tickets page collects everything playing at the ground across competitions, which matters at a venue also hosting a European final this season.

The Riyadh Air Metropolitano seating plan maps the sector layout across all three tiers. Check a listing against it before you buy, because with 105 separate pricing zones the block number tells you considerably more than the stand name does.

Matchday With the Extras

Atletico's premium operation runs under its own brand and occupies most of the Lateral Oeste, with 5,571 VIP season tickets sold for 2026/27. Private boxes and corporate suites are reported as fully subscribed, leaving individual VIP seats as the route available to a visitor. The flagship product puts guests beside the tunnel to watch the players walk from the dressing room to the pitch.

Two things make hospitality unusually relevant at this club. It requires no membership, and the tickets are non-nominal and can be gifted, which sidesteps the identity checks that apply elsewhere in the ground. The club publishes no current pricing, routing every enquiry through its VIP office, so the ranges below are indicative market bands rather than quoted rates.

Package	What It Includes	Typical Price Range (GBP)
General Admission Plus	A middle tier below full VIP, offering a premium seat with lounge access and complimentary drinks, sold within the season ticket structure rather than through the hospitality office.	£120 – £220
VIP Lounge 1903 and the named lounges	Lounge products named for the founding year and for Madrid landmarks, with catering ninety minutes before kick-off, at half time and after the match, plus waiter service and cloakroom.	£190 – £400
VIP Club areas	Sponsor-branded club spaces in the Lateral Oeste with premium seating, private parking and lift access directly from the car park to the seat.	£255 – £450
Tunnel Club	The flagship product, positioned to watch the teams emerge from the dressing rooms, with full hospitality attached.	£400 – £700+
Private box or suite	A private space seating up to eighteen with dedicated catering and service. Reported as fully subscribed for 2026/27.	£340 – £510+ per seat

From Search to Seat in Eight Steps

Spanish ticketing has two features that catch visitors out, and both are worth understanding before you pay. Kick-off times are confirmed late, and several sections carry nominative tickets checked against identity documents at the gate. The sequence below covers everything from picking a fixture to getting through the turnstile.

Work through those eight steps and the remaining decision is where you are drinking beforehand. The Rosas and Canillejas district around the ground is thin on bars, so most supporters drink in central Madrid and take Line 7 out.

The Fixtures That Disappear First

Not every Atletico match is difficult to reach. The pattern is consistent enough to plan around, and knowing which band a fixture falls into tells you how early to buy and roughly what to budget.

Fixture Type	Why It Moves Fast
Real Madrid, El Derbi Madrileno	The hardest ticket Atletico sell, on 20 September at the Metropolitano. It is a rivalry that has decided two Champions League finals and a UEFA Super Cup, and resale opens weeks out at several times face value before rising further as availability narrows.
Manchester United and Bayern Munich in the league phase	Two European nights against clubs of that standing, in a season following a Champions League semi-final. Roughly 3,500 seats go to the visiting club under UEFA rules before members even ballot, and the members-only Champions League pass absorbs more.
Barcelona	The other fixture the club's own match packs exclude, and a rivalry sharpened by four knockout meetings across the last two seasons including the Champions League quarter-final Atletico won. Resale opens above two hundred and fifty euros.
Any Champions League knockout tie	The Metropolitano hosts the final in June 2027, which gives a home knockout run an extra dimension. Knockout matches also sit outside the league phase pass, so the whole demand pool arrives at once.
The closing La Liga fixtures	Atletico have finished third or fourth in each of the last five seasons, which means the final European qualification places are usually still live in May. Ordinary spring dates become urgent quickly.

How Your Tickets Arrive

Atletico were the first La Liga club to deploy contactless entry, and the ground now accepts several formats. The listing tells you which route applies before you buy, and it is worth reading rather than assuming.

1. Mobile or e-ticket held in a digital wallet, tapped at the reader on entry. This is the method the club promotes and the most common one you will encounter.
2. A ticket presented as a code in the club's own application, which requires a charged phone and a working connection at the gate.
3. Postal or courier delivery of a physical ticket to the address you supply at checkout. Order well ahead for an overseas delivery and make sure someone can sign.
4. Collection in Madrid close to the match. The listing specifies the location and the window, and you will need identification matching the booking.

Whichever route applies, screenshots are not accepted at the Metropolitano and a charged phone is effectively a requirement. Load any wallet pass before you leave your accommodation, carry photographic identification as the ground's regulations require, and remember that entry closes once the second half starts.

Getting Through the Gates

Arrive Early

Turnstiles open two hours before kick-off and hospitality guests are admitted seventy-five minutes out. The club recommends arriving sixty to ninety minutes ahead for a standard fixture and ninety to a hundred and twenty for a big one. There is no re-entry once you leave the ground and no admission at all after the second half has started, both of which are enforced more strictly here than at many European stadiums.

ID and Entry Requirements

Photographic identification must be carried at all times inside the ground under the stadium regulations, and it is checked against the ticket in the member-restricted sections and in the away allocation, where seats are nominative. A passport covers a non-Spanish visitor. Entry is digital, screenshots do not work and the club supports wallet passes read by tapping the phone at the reader.

Bag Policy

Bags are limited to roughly 10 by 20 by 25 centimetres under the guidance issued to visiting supporters, and anything approaching A4 or larger will be refused. A left luggage facility operates near the museum entrance on Paseo de los Colchoneros. Prohibited items include weapons and sharp objects, flares and pyrotechnics, alcohol, which is neither sold nor permitted inside, bottles and rigid containers of any material, drones, umbrellas with metal or wooden tips, helmets, pushchairs, laptops, selfie sticks and professional cameras with detachable lenses. Flags up to three metres by two are allowed, with anything larger needing clearance from the club at least forty-eight hours in advance.

Atletico Madrid at a Glance

Detail	Information
Full name	Club Atletico de Madrid
Founded	26 April 1903, by Basque students in Madrid as a branch of Athletic Club of Bilbao
Nicknames	Los Colchoneros (the Mattress Makers), Los Rojiblancos, Los Indios
Stadium	Riyadh Air Metropolitano, capacity 70,692, opened September 2017
Head coach	Diego Simeone, appointed 23 December 2011, the longest-serving in club history
Captain	Koke, with Jan Oblak as vice-captain and Jose Maria Gimenez third
President	Enrique Cerezo, with Miguel Angel Gil Marin as chief executive
Ownership	Apollo Sports Capital, majority shareholder since March 2026, with Quantum Pacific Group the second-largest holder
League	La Liga, twenty clubs, fourth in 2025/26
Colours	Red and white stripes with blue shorts
Members	More than 165,000 socios and 61,500 season ticket holders, both club records

A Basque Branch That Became Madrid's Other Club

Atletico were founded by students from Bilbao as a satellite of Athletic Club, wore Blackburn Rovers colours for their first eight years and only became red and white because a player sent to England to buy blue-and-white shirts could not find any. Almost everything about the club's identity is an accident that hardened into doctrine, and the rivalry that defines it exists because Atletico were the one Madrid club that Real Madrid could not absorb.

Basque Roots, Red Stripes and Aviacion (1903 to 1947)

• 26 April 1903: four Biscayan students at Madrid's School of Mining Engineers found Athletic Club, a Madrid branch of Athletic Bilbao, in a room on Calle de la Cruz. The first kit is blue and white halves, copied from Blackburn Rovers
• 1909: sent to England to buy blue-and-white shirts for both clubs, Juan Elorduy cannot find them and returns with fifty red-and-white Southampton shirts instead. Red and white are adopted from 1911
• The colchoneros nickname follows, from the red-and-white striped ticking used for mattresses, which was inexpensive and easily turned into shirts
• 1921 and 4 October 1924: independence from Bilbao, in practice then formally, with blue shorts adopted to distinguish the two. The 1917 crest takes the bear and strawberry tree from Madrid's coat of arms
• 13 May 1923: the first Estadio Metropolitano opens, seating 35,800
• 4 October 1939: with the ground destroyed and eight players dead in the Civil War, the club absorbs Club Aviacion Nacional to become Athletic-Aviacion, then wins the league in 1939-40 and 1940-41 under Ricardo Zamora
• 6 January 1947: the name Club Atletico de Madrid is adopted after Aviacion is dropped

The Franco-favouritism story that attaches to those first two titles is more complicated than the shorthand suggests. Atletico were the air force club and the strongest side in Spain in the early 1940s, but Zamora was jailed on suspicion of communism shortly after the first championship, and the regime's preference shifted decisively to Real Madrid only in the 1950s once European Cups made them useful abroad. The resentment in the Fondo Sur is aimed at that later period, not this one.

The Calderon Years and a Replayed Final (1947 to 1987)

• 1949-50 and 1950-51: back-to-back titles under Helenio Herrera, with Larbi Benbarek
• 1960 and 1961: consecutive cup finals won against Real Madrid, both at the Bernabeu
• 10 May 1962 and 5 September 1962: the European Cup Winners' Cup won, 1-1 with Fiorentina at Hampden Park and 3-0 in the replay in Stuttgart. It remains the one major European trophy Real Madrid never lifted
• 2 October 1966: the move to the new riverside ground, renamed the Vicente Calderon in 1972
• 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977: four more league titles, with Jose Eulogio Garate taking the Pichichi three years running from 1969
• 15 and 17 May 1974: the European Cup final against Bayern Munich at the Heysel. Luis Aragones curls in a free kick in the 114th minute, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck equalises in the 120th, and Bayern win the replay 4-0 two days later. It is the only European Cup final ever replayed
• March and April 1975: the Intercontinental Cup won 2-1 on aggregate against Independiente, after Bayern declined to play. Atletico remain the only club to have won it without being continental champions

The 1974 final is the wound that defines the older generation. Aragones had won it with two minutes left, in the days before penalty shootouts decided European Cup finals, and the replay was a formality by the time it kicked off. Atletico got their trophy the following spring by default, which is the most Atletico sentence in the club's history and one supporters repeat without much bitterness.

Jesus Gil, the Double and the Fall (1987 to 2011)

• 26 June 1987: Jesus Gil is elected president, a tenure lasting until 2003 and defined by volatility. His first signing is Paulo Futre, fresh from winning the European Cup with Porto
• 1992: Gil closes the youth academy. A fifteen-year-old Raul leaves for Real Madrid
• 1995-96: the Double under Radomir Antic, the league won alongside a Copa del Rey final beaten Barcelona 1-0 after extra time in Zaragoza on 10 April. Diego Simeone plays in that midfield
• December 1999: Gil and his board are suspended pending an investigation into misuse of funds, with an administrator installed to run the club
• 1999-2000: relegation in nineteenth place, in the same season the club reaches the Copa del Rey final and loses it to Espanyol
• 27 April 2002: promotion clinched as Segunda Division champions after two years down, under Luis Aragones, who hands Fernando Torres his debut
• 2010: the UEFA Cup won under Quique Sanchez Flores, followed by the UEFA Super Cup, the club's first European silverware in 48 years

The Gil era is remembered in Madrid as chaotic rather than golden, which is fair on the evidence: a Double in 1996, relegation four years later, an academy shut down and a court case that confirmed the crimes but ran out of time to punish them. What it did leave behind was a supporter culture built on suffering and defiance, and a squad member in Simeone who would return fifteen years later to convert that into something durable.

The Simeone Era (2011 to 2026)

• 23 December 2011: Diego Simeone is appointed with the club tenth, having used five managers in under three years. He keeps six clean sheets in his first six matches
• 9 May 2012 and 16 May 2018: two Europa League titles, beating Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in Bucharest and Marseille 3-0 in Lyon, with Gabi scoring in the 89th minute of his last match for the club
• 17 May 2013: the Copa del Rey won 2-1 after extra time against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, ending a fourteen-year winless run in the derby
• 17 May 2014: the league title clinched at the Camp Nou with a 1-1 draw, Diego Godin heading the equaliser in front of 96,973
• 24 May 2014 and 28 May 2016: two Champions League finals lost to Real Madrid, the first in Lisbon after Sergio Ramos equalised in the 93rd minute, the second in Milan on penalties after Yannick Carrasco had levelled
• 16 September 2017: the Metropolitano opens, replacing the Vicente Calderon after 51 years
• 22 May 2021: an eleventh league title sealed on the final day at Valladolid, with Angel Correa and Luis Suarez scoring
• 24 May 2026: Simeone takes charge of his 800th match for the club, having long since passed Luis Aragones as the longest-serving manager in its history

What Simeone built is unusual in modern football for its sheer duration. He has won eight trophies, taken the club to three European finals and finished in the top four in every one of the last five seasons, in a league where the two clubs above him operate on entirely different budgets. In March 2026 Apollo Sports Capital completed a purchase of roughly 55%, valuing the club at around €2.2bn, with Enrique Cerezo staying on as chairman and an infrastructure programme attached to the deal.

The Names in the Fondo Sur Songs

Atletico do not retire shirt numbers, and in Spain they largely cannot: league rules require first-team squads to use numbers one to twenty-five, which leaves no room for permanent withdrawal. The six below are the names the Metropolitano still reaches for, two of them holding records that stood for decades.

Legend	Role	Contribution	Milestones
Koke	Midfielder and captain, 2009 to present	The club's appearance record holder and the last link to the pre-Simeone era in the dressing room. He broke Adelardo's 46-year-old record against Sevilla in October 2022 and has been captain through the most successful period in the club's modern history.	More than 740 appearances. Two league titles, a Copa del Rey, two Europa Leagues and two UEFA Super Cups.
Antoine Griezmann	Forward, 2014 to 2019 and 2021 to 2026	The club's all-time leading scorer across two spells, and the player who scored the first goal at the Metropolitano. He scored twice in the 2018 Europa League final and left for Orlando City in the summer of 2026 after passing five hundred appearances.	501 appearances, 212 goals. One league title, one Europa League, one UEFA Super Cup.
Adelardo Rodriguez	Midfielder, 1959 to 1976	Held the appearance record for 46 years and remains the most decorated player in the club's history. He spanned the Cup Winners' Cup side of 1962, four league titles and the run to the 1974 European Cup final.	553 appearances, 113 goals. Ten trophies, still a club record for a player.
Luis Aragones	Forward and midfielder 1964 to 1974, then manager across four spells	Second on the all-time scoring list and the man who scored the 114th-minute free kick in the 1974 European Cup final. He later managed the club four separate times, taking them out of the Segunda in 2002 and giving Fernando Torres his debut.	173 goals as a player. 612 matches as manager, a record until Simeone.
Fernando Torres	Striker, 2001 to 2007 and 2015 to 2018	Made his debut at seventeen in the Segunda Division and became the club's youngest captain at nineteen. He returned a decade later to win the 2018 Europa League, closing the loop on a career that had taken him to Liverpool, Chelsea and a World Cup.	404 appearances, 129 goals. One Europa League, one UEFA Super Cup.
Jose Eulogio Garate	Striker, 1966 to 1977	The forward around whom the great side of the early 1970s was built, and the only Atletico player to win the Pichichi three years in succession, from 1969 to 1971. He played in the 1974 European Cup final and the Intercontinental Cup win that followed.	136 goals. Three league titles, two Copa del Rey, the 1975 Intercontinental Cup.

What's in the Cabinet

Atletico sit third in Spain for league titles behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, and are among the most decorated clubs in Europe never to have won the European Cup. The counts below agree across the club's own records, Wikipedia and independent databases, with the disputed items noted underneath.

Competition	Titles
La Liga	11 (1940, 1941, 1950, 1951, 1966, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1996, 2014, 2021)
Copa del Rey	10 (1960, 1961, 1965, 1972, 1976, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2013)
Supercopa de Espana	2 (1985, 2014)
UEFA Europa League and UEFA Cup	3 (2010, 2012, 2018)
UEFA Super Cup	3 (2010, 2012, 2018)
European Cup Winners' Cup	1 (1962)
Intercontinental Cup	1 (1974)
Segunda Division	1 (2002)
European Cup and Champions League	Runners-up in 1974, 2014 and 2016

The runners-up record is as much a part of the club's identity as the wins. Ten league seasons finished second, ten Copa del Rey finals lost including the 2026 defeat to Real Sociedad on penalties, and three European Cup finals lost, two of them to Real Madrid and one after leading with six minutes of extra time remaining. A Copa de los Campeones won in 1940 is counted by some records as a Supercopa predecessor and not recognised as a major honour by others, which is the one genuine dispute in the list.

The Matches That Matter Most

One rivalry towers over everything at this club, and it is not primarily about football. Atletico exist as Madrid's other team because they were the one club in the capital that Real Madrid could neither absorb nor starve out, and a century of that has produced a fixture with a texture nothing else in Spain matches.

Domestic Rivals

Real Madrid

El Derbi Madrileno began on 27 February 1905 with a 1-1 draw and has never stopped being about more than the table. Madrid FC absorbed most of the capital's smaller clubs in the early years and Atletico survived only because Bilbao's backing let them keep their players, so the supporters of the clubs Madrid had swallowed drifted to the red and white. The geography reinforced it for decades: the Bernabeu among the banks on the Castellana in the wealthy north, the Vicente Calderon beside a brewery and a motorway in working-class Arganzuela. Across 243 competitive meetings Real Madrid lead with 119 wins to 61, with 63 drawn. What separates this from other derbies is Europe: the two have met in three European Cup or Champions League finals counting 1974, with Real winning in Lisbon in 2014 after Sergio Ramos equalised in the 93rd minute and again on penalties in Milan in 2016. Atletico's one European final win over them came in the 2018 UEFA Super Cup, 4-2 after extra time in Tallinn.

Barcelona

Sometimes called El Otro Clasico, and historically lopsided in Barcelona's favour before turning genuinely competitive in the Simeone years. Atletico eliminated Barcelona from the Champions League quarter-finals in 2014 and again in 2016 on the way to two finals, and did so a third time in 2026, winning 3-2 on aggregate after taking the first leg at the Camp Nou. The transfer history adds heat, with Griezmann's contested move to Barcelona in 2019 and return in 2021, and Luis Suarez travelling the other way in 2020 to score the goals that won a league title. In 2025/26 the two met four times in knockout football alone.

Athletic Bilbao

Worth naming precisely because it is not a rivalry. Atletico began life as a branch of Athletic and the relationship has stayed fraternal, with Athletic invited to the club's golden jubilee in 1953 and its centenary in 2003, and chosen as the opponent for the farewell match at both of Atletico's old grounds, the first Metropolitano in 1966 and the Vicente Calderon in 2017. They have met in finals, Atletico winning the 1985 Copa del Rey and the 2012 Europa League, and the respect has survived all of it.

International Rivals

Arsenal

The live European rivalry, and a painful one. Arsenal beat Atletico 4-0 in the league phase in October 2025, then eliminated them from the 2026 semi-finals, drawing 1-1 in Madrid on 29 April before winning 1-0 at the Emirates a week later to go through 2-1 on aggregate. Arsenal had also knocked Atletico out of the 2018 Europa League semi-finals. Two semi-final eliminations in eight years by the same opponent is the kind of pattern that turns a fixture into a grievance.

Bayern Munich

The historical counterpart, and the two are drawn together again this season with Bayern visiting the Metropolitano on 3 November. Bayern won the 1974 European Cup final after the replay, and Atletico took their revenge in the 2015/16 semi-finals, going through on away goals after a 1-0 home win and a 2-1 defeat in Munich that put them into the Milan final. They also met in the group stage in 2016/17 and 2020/21.

The Last Five Campaigns

Atletico's consistency under Simeone is the story the table tells. Third or fourth in every one of the last five seasons, in a league where the two clubs above them spend on a different scale, with a European run that keeps getting longer.

Season	Summary
2021-22	Third on 71 points as reigning champions, with 21 wins from 38. The Copa del Rey ended in the round of sixteen against Real Sociedad and the Supercopa in the semi-finals against Athletic Bilbao. In the Champions League Atletico beat Manchester United 2-1 on aggregate in the round of sixteen before losing 1-0 on aggregate to Manchester City in the quarter-finals.
2022-23	Third on 77 points, the highest total of the five seasons, with 70 goals scored and only 33 conceded. Europe went badly: bottom of a Champions League group containing Porto, Club Brugge and Bayer Leverkusen on five points, eliminated outright with no drop into the Europa League. The Copa del Rey ended in the quarter-finals against Real Madrid.
2023-24	Fourth on 76 points. Atletico reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals, beating Real Madrid 4-2 in the round of sixteen before losing 4-0 on aggregate to Athletic Bilbao, and lost a Supercopa semi-final 5-3 after extra time to Real Madrid. In the Champions League they beat Inter on penalties in the round of sixteen and lost 5-4 on aggregate to Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals.
2024-25	Third on 76 points with 22 wins and only 30 goals conceded. The Copa del Rey semi-final against Barcelona was lost 5-4 on aggregate, and the Champions League ended in the round of sixteen against Real Madrid, 2-2 on aggregate and 4-2 on penalties. Atletico also competed in the expanded Club World Cup in the summer of 2025.
2025-26	Fourth on 69 points, with the season defined by the cups. Atletico reached the Copa del Rey final on 18 April 2026, drawing 2-2 after extra time with Real Sociedad in Seville and losing 4-3 on penalties. In the Champions League they came through the knockout play-off and the round of sixteen, beat Barcelona 3-2 in the quarter-finals and lost 2-1 on aggregate to Arsenal in the semi-finals. Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth shared top scorer honours on twenty each.

The 2026/27 Squad

Atletico spent €130m and recouped €69m across the summer, a net outlay of around €61m in a window dominated by one departure. Antoine Griezmann left as a free agent for Orlando City after a deal agreed in March, ending an association that had run across two spells since 2014 and making this the first season since 2020/21 without him. Alex Grimaldo, Morten Hjulmand, Lee Kang-in and Cristian Romero came in, while both first-choice full-backs went, Nahuel Molina to AS Roma and Matteo Ruggeri to Aston Villa.

Market values below are drawn from Transfermarkt and converted to sterling, so treat them as approximate. The Spanish transfer window was still open when this page was reviewed, so squad composition may have moved after that point.

No.	Player	Position	Value (£)
13	Jan Oblak (vice-captain)	Goalkeeper	13m
21	Cristian Romero	Centre-back	43m
17	David Hancko	Centre-back	30m
18	Marc Pubill	Centre-back	30m
24	Robin Le Normand	Centre-back	17m
22	Alex Grimaldo	Left-back	17m
14	Marcos Llorente	Right-back	17m
23	Morten Hjulmand	Defensive midfield	39m
8	Pablo Barrios	Central midfield	47m
5	Johnny Cardoso	Central midfield	17m
6	Koke (captain)	Central midfield	4m
7	Lee Kang-in	Attacking midfield	24m
10	Alex Baena	Left winger	34m
11	Ademola Lookman	Left winger	34m
20	Giuliano Simeone	Right winger	34m
19	Julian Alvarez	Centre-forward	103m
9	Alexander Sorloth	Centre-forward	15m

Quick Answers Before You Buy

Whichever fixture you are chasing, 1BoxOffice has been connecting supporters with verified sellers since 2006 and every order carries a 150% money-back guarantee. Compare the listings across Atletico's home and away calendar, check the sector and the delivery notes, then book knowing the seat is covered. With a European final at the Metropolitano in June, this is a season worth being there for.

Sources: Club Atletico de Madrid official website (https://www.atleticodemadrid.com) and its fan portal, LaLiga (https://www.laliga.com), UEFA (https://www.uefa.com), the Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium site, Transfermarkt, RSSSF, worldfootball.net and Wikipedia as a cross-reference. Away sector location verified against official visiting-club supporter guidance issued by Internazionale, Tottenham Hotspur and CD Leganes. Final league standings verified against LaLiga published tables.

Where Atletico Compete This Season

• La Liga tickets for the 2026/27 season, a twenty-club division Atletico enter after finishing fourth on 69 points
• UEFA Champions League tickets for the league phase, with Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Viking FK and Fenerbahce visiting the Metropolitano
• Copa del Rey tickets for a competition Atletico have won ten times and reached the final of in 2026
• Spanish Super Cup tickets for the Supercopa de Espana in January, which Atletico qualified for as Copa del Rey runners-up

Atletico Madrid Home Fixtures

• Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Sevilla Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Real Betis Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Real Sociedad Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Valencia Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Celta Vigo Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Getafe Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Osasuna Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Alaves Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Levante Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Elche Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Deportivo La Coruna Tickets
• Atletico Madrid vs Racing Santander Tickets

Atletico Madrid Away Fixtures

• Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Athletic Bilbao vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Villarreal vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Real Betis vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Real Sociedad vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Valencia vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Celta Vigo vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Rayo Vallecano vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Getafe vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Espanyol vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Osasuna vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Alaves vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Levante vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Elche vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Deportivo La Coruna vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Racing Santander vs Atletico Madrid Tickets
• Malaga vs Atletico Madrid Tickets