MARCA (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈmaɾka]) is Spain's national dailytabloid sport newspaper owned byUnidad Editorial. The newspaper focuses primarily onfootball, in particular the day-to-day activities ofReal Madrid,FC Barcelona, andAtlético 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]
Since February 2001, there has also been an association 24-hour/day sports radio station,Radio Marca. In 2010, the TV channelMARCA TV was launched, before being closed in 2013.
Marca was founded on 21 December 1938, at the height of theSpanish Civil War, in nationalist-heldSan Sebastián. Its founding editor was Manuel Fernández Cuesta, uncle of businessmanNemesio Fernández-Cuesta.[2] On 3 September 1987 Luis Infante became the editor of the paper.[3]
Punto Editorial SA was the owner ofMarca.[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 ofMarca.[6]
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 theSociety 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 withSir Alex Ferguson from the summer of 2008 when he accusedMarca of beingReal Madrid's "vehicle to unsettle players".[11]
In October 2012,Marca announced launching the Spanish edition of thevideo games media outletIGN, effectively replacing their own MARCA Player gaming news website.Marca also planned to launch another Spanish edition of IGN for Spanish-speakers inLatin America.[12]
In 2001Marca 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]
In 2008, thevideo game magazineMarca Player was launched byUnidad Editorial, publisher ofMarca.[21] It was originally planned to run under the nameTilt.[22] The publication was helmed by David Sanz of Spain'sOfficial Xbox Magazine,[21][22] which had recently closed.[22]Marca Player was dedicated tomultiplatform game coverage, news and reviews.[21] Its first issue debuted with a circulation of 125,000 copies,[23] and José Manuel González ofVandal wrote that it "had a very good start thanks to a very affordable price of 1.9euros". However, he stated that the magazine failed to capture long-term market share, unlike sister publications such asMarcaMotor.[21]Marca Player lasted for 46 issues; its final issue appeared in July 2012.[22] After the closure, much ofMarca Player's former staff was reorganized to launchIGN España, a collaborative venture betweenIGN and Unidad Editorial.[24]
^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.
^"Daily Press"(PDF). Unidad Editorial. December 2013. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2 April 2014. Retrieved31 January 2015.
^abSmith, Adam (15 November 2002)."Europe's Top Papers".campaign.Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved25 August 2025.
^"World Press Trends"(PDF). Paris: World Association of Newspapers. 2004.Archived(PDF) from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved15 February 2015.
Toro, Carlos (2008).La Historia de Marca [The History of Marca] (in Spanish). Madrid: La Esfera de los Libros. p. 424.ISBN978-84-9734-723-5.OCLC548607412.
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