Hala Madrid Meaning Explained: Where Does Los Blancos' Chant Come From?
Real Madrid are one of the most successful clubs in the history of football. Known all over the world for their superstar players, their illustrious coaches, their famous, dazzling white jerseys, and their ability to consistently perform miracles in Europe's premier club competition the UEFA Champions League, they're a truly special team.
The club's wealth is astronomical, with recent data suggesting that Madrid are the richest football club in the world. But cultivating this reputation and wealth was not easy, with decades of elite-level performance and work off the pitch going into making Madrid a club with a clearer, more illustrious identity than most.
An integral part of this identity is the chant 'Hala Madrid', which regularly echoes around the Bernabeu Stadium, is sung by travelling supporters on big European nights, and can be seen on social media before, during and after crucial matches. In this article we'll be diving into the meaning of the phrase 'Hala Madrid' and investigating the history of its use.
✨ ¡HALA MADRID!✨ pic.twitter.com/pHa0LQ9eLt
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) April 20, 2025
When is the phrase 'Hala Madrid' used?
If you spend some time scrolling through Real Madrid's official club channels — whether it's their Instagram page, their X profile, or their website — you'll soon come across the phrase 'Hala Madrid'. In recent years, it's become a commonly used term amongst fans, players and staff at the club (and beyond).
The name has been emblazoned on the club's magazine and when Prime Video aired a TV documentary series in 2017 charting Madrid's history, culture, fanbase and behind-the-scenes activities (with Orlando Bloom narrating), they chose 'Hala Madrid' as the title.
These days, Madrid fans — often referred to as Madridistas or Merengues — can often be heard chanting these two famous words from the stands, most notably at the club's newly-renovated home ground the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. But supporters haven't been singing this song in large numbers throughout the entirety of Los Blancos' 123-year history. So where does it come from?
Is 'Hala Madrid' an official song?
According to the Spanish sports paper AS, Madrid fans have been chanting 'Hala Madrid' for the best part of a century, with reports suggesting that its roots stem from the club's first two league title triumphs in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
By the time the club became a major force in Spain and Europe in the 1950s — when star talents like Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo di Stefano were making their names as iconic goalscorers and creators — this chant had become more common.
Many people believe that one of Madrid's early supporters' groups, El Club, were responsible for creating and popularising the chant. Based in the Huertas district, they played an important role in the club's early development.
However, other records suggest that creating the 'Hala Madrid' anthem was not part of their legacy; according to Steven G Mandis, author of The Real Madrid Way: How Values Created the Most Successful Sports Team on the Planet, it was the club's iconic late president Santiago Bernabeu who was responsible for this anthem.
Bernabeu's role in the evolution of the Real Madrid identity is underlined by the fact that the club's stadium was named after him while he was still alive. And Mandis' book credits Bernabeu with the commissioning of this song in 1952, the year of the club's 50th anniversary.
Back then, the lyrics were penned by Luis Cisneros Galiane and the local singer Jose de Aguilar was given the task of recording the first version of 'Hala Madrid'. This helped cement the anthem in the supporters' imagination, and over half a century later the decision was taken by another hugely influential Madrid man — current president Florentino Perez — to create a new version of the famous old track.
In 2014, the men's first team was assembled, and players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Pepe (plus manager Carlo Ancelotti) headed into PKO Studios to record an official new edition of 'Hala Madrid'. The music video to accompany this rousing ode to the Madrid identity now has 26 million views, and Perez's commission helped ensure that the chant remains popular in the current era.
Officially titled 'Hala Madrid y nada mas' (meaning 'Go Madrid and nothing more'), the track's opening lyrics are: "Historia que tu hiciste / Historia por hacer / Porque nadie resiste / Tus ganas de vencer", which translates roughly into "The history you've made / The history you'll make / Because no one can resist / Your willingness to win!".
It's a pretty accurate description of the way Madrid have operated in recent years; despite regularly coming up against more cohesive and domestically successful teams like Manchester City in the Champions League, they seem to always have an extra edge or a sprinkle of star talent that allows them to get over the line. The fact that the club has won a whopping seven UEFA Champions League trophies since 2000 is a testament to this.
Other core aspects of Madrid's identity are also referred to elsewhere in the song. The second stanza goes: "Ya salen las estrellas / Mi viejo Chamartin / De lejos y de cerca / Nos traes hasta acqui", which translates into English as: "The stars are now coming out / My old Chamartin / From far away and from nearby / You gather us all here".
Chamartin is the district of Madrid where you'll find the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, while "the stars" refers to the illustrious selection of 'Galacticos' players who have brought the club fame and status over the years.
What does 'Hala Madrid' mean?
The Hala Madrid meaning is fairly simple. Los Blancos' iconic catchphrase is a simplistic Spanish expression which translates as "Go Madrid", "Come on Madrid" or "Forward Madrid". Essentially, it's a catch-all chant of encouragement centred around supporting the team and willing the players to win, and its simplicity means it can be used in all sorts of situations.
Other similar phrases in European football include 'Forca Barca' for Catalonian heavyweights FC Barcelona, or 'Forza grande Roma' for Italian giants Roma.
The updated version of 'Hala Madrid' marked La Decima, Real Madrid's 10th European Cup triumph, which was secured in 2014 following a 4-1 Champions League final victory against local rivals Atletico Madrid.
It was composed by the Moroccan-Swedish musician and producer RedOne, who was assisted by journalist Manuel Jabois when it came to writing the lyrics. Speaking about the creation of the track, RedOne said: "I want it to be a song that the whole world can sing… We needed an easy song that people could sing quickly to support the team and that's what we've done."
Instantly, RedOne's track flew to the top of the iTunes chart in Spain, and in several other Spanish-speaking countries including Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico 'Hala Madrid' also reached top spot.
The Real Madrid Identity
In coining the anthem 'Hala Madrid', Santiago Bernabeu was underlining the importance of developing a distinctive club identity that fans could recognise and congregate around. Ever since their original heyday of the 1950s, Real Madrid's identity has perenially been defined by success and glory.
The club has won a record 15 European Cups as well as a whopping 36 domestic Spanish first division titles. No other club has defended the Champions League title in the modern era, let alone won the cup three times in a row — Madrid have done both.
By building their image around the idea of success and glory, the Spanish giants have been able to create a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy that they're able to draw on in low moments. The old anthem 'Hala Madrid' has played a key role in developing this identity.
The massive haul of trophies and accolades the men's first team have acquired over the years, and the long list of super talented players that have won that famous white jersey — from Puskas and Di Stefano in the early days, to Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane in the early 2000s and Gareth Bale or Karim Benzema more recently — has also allowed Madrid to amass a huge amount of wealth.
¡ El mejor club del mundo cumple hoy 123 años ! Hala Madrid 🤍 @realmadrid pic.twitter.com/JH162L4opa
— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) March 6, 2025
Recent figures showed that for the 2022/23 season, Real Madrid surpassed Manchester City to become the highest revenue-generating club in the world, with a recorded income of €831m for that financial year.
The club's strong commercial identity and retail performance played a big part of giving them this status, as did the huge size of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, which allows Madrid to generate a lot of cash on matchdays.
The recent expansion of the stadium looks set to further boost these figures, while the team's improved performance in the Champions League in the 2023/24 season (with Bellingham, Vinicius and co. beating Borussia Dortmund in the final) would have also brought in extra cash for the club. Before 2022/23 Madrid hadn't been declared the world's richest club since 2017/18, but don't be surprised to see them stay at the top of the pile for some time.
If you'd like to find out more about how this success has helped the club grow its commercial brand, check out our guide to the richest clubs in soccer.
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