2015–16 La Liga
The 2015–16 La Liga season was the 85th since its establishment. Barcelona were the defending champions. The season began on 21 August 2015, and concluded on 15 May 2016.
Barcelona successfully retained the title following a 3–0 win against Granada on the final matchday. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid were engaged in an intense title race, with the three teams finishing with 91, 90 and 88 points respectively.
Barcelona's Luis Suárez finished as the league's top scorer, becoming the first player apart from Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to do so since the 2008–09 season.
Teams
Promotion and relegation (pre-season)
A total of twenty teams contested the league, including seventeen sides from the 2014–15 season and three promoted from the 2014–15 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, Real Betis and Sporting Gijón, and the winners of the play-offs, Las Palmas.Almería and Córdoba were relegated to 2015–16 Segunda División in the previous season, after spending two and one years in La Liga, respectively. Elche was administratively relegated despite finishing in 13th. Following the competition rules, Eibar, who finished 18th, remained in the league.
Real Betis was the first team from the Segunda División to achieve promotion, after a one-year absence from La Liga, on 24 May 2015 after winning 3–0 over Alcorcón.
On 7 June 2015, Sporting Gijón secured promotion on the final matchday, after their 3–0 win against Betis allowed the club to leapfrog Girona, who drew their final match and could not retain second place and automatic promotion. Sporting returned to the top level after three years.
Las Palmas achieved promotion on 21 June 2015, after defeating Zaragoza in the promotion play-off final on away goals. Las Palmas won the second 2–0 leg at home after losing the first leg away 3–1, and returned to the first division after thirteen years away. They also became the first island team to play in La Liga since Mallorca's relegation from the top flight in the 2012–13 season. During those thirteen seasons, the club spent two of them in the third-tier Segunda División B.
Stadiums and locations
Overview
On 14 May 2016, Barcelona won their second consecutive and 24th overall La Liga title, following a 3–0 win over Granada at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes on the final matchday. Real Madrid finished one point behind Barcelona as runners-up, having gone on a twelve-match win streak to close out the season. Atlético Madrid ended the season three points off the top in third place, having been eliminated from title contention after a loss to Levante on the penultimate matchday.Levante were the first team to be mathematically relegated to the Segunda División, following a 1–3 loss against Málaga on 2 May 2016. On 15 May 2016, Sporting Gijón ensured they would remain in the top flight after defeating Villarreal 2–0 and taking advantage of Getafe's loss against Real Betis, which saw Getafe relegated from La Liga for the first time in club history. Rayo Vallecano also went down despite winning their final match of the season.
League table
Standings
Season statistics
Scoring
- First goal of the season:
- Last goal of the season:
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  Top assists
|
