Editing La Liga (section)

===1940s: Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia emerge===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%; float:right; margin-left:1em"
|+ Results of the five champions during the post-war years
|-
! Season !! {{abbr|[[Atlético Madrid|ATM]]|Atlético Aviación}} !! {{abbr|[[FC Barcelona|BAR]]|CF Barcelona}} !! {{abbr|[[Athletic Bilbao|ATH]]|Atlético Bilbao}} !! {{abbr|[[Sevilla FC|SEV]]|Sevilla FC}} !! {{abbr|[[Valencia CF|VAL]]|Valencia CF}}
|- style="border-top:3px solid black"
|-
| [[1939–40 La Liga|1939–40]] || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1''' || 9 || 3 || 2 || 8
|-
| [[1940–41 La Liga|1940–41]] ||style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1''' || 4 || 2 || 5 || style="background: #97DEFF;"|3
|-
| [[1941–42 La Liga|1941–42]] || 3 || style="background: #97DEFF;"|12 || 7 || 6 || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1'''
|-
| [[1942–43 La Liga|1942–43]] || 8 || 3 || style="background: #FD2D1C;"|'''1''' || 2 || 7
|-
| [[1943–44 La Liga|1943–44]] || 2 || 6 || style="background: #97DEFF;"|10 || 3 || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1'''
|-
| [[1944–45 La Liga|1944–45]] || 3 || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1''' || style="background: #97DEFF;"|6 || 10 || 5
|-
| [[1945–46 La Liga|1945–46]] || 7 || 2 || 3 || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1''' || 6
|-
| [[1946–47 La Liga|1946–47]] || 3 || 4 || 2 || 6 || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1'''
|-
| [[1947–48 La Liga|1947–48]] || 3 || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1''' || 6 || style="background: #97DEFF;"|5 || 2
|-
| [[1948–49 La Liga|1948–49]] || 4 || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1''' || 6 || 8 || style="background: #97DEFF;"|2
|-
| [[1949–50 La Liga|1949–50]] || style="background: #FFE34D;"| '''1''' || 5 || style="background: #97DEFF;"|6 || 10 || 3
|-
|- style="border-top:3px solid black" class="sortbottom"
| '''TOTAL''' || '''3''' || '''3''' || 1 || 1 || '''3'''
|- class="sortbottom"
| '''{{abbr|Top three|Number of times that each side finished in the top three.}}''' || '''8''' || 4 || 5 || 4 || 7
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="7"|{{color box|#FFE34D}} La Liga champions<br>{{color box|#97DEFF}} Copa del Generalísimo<br>{{color box|#FD2D1C}} La Liga/Copa del Generalísimo double
|- style="border-top:3px solid black" class="sortbottom"
|}

When the ''Primera División'' resumed after the [[Spanish Civil War]], it was [[Atlético Aviación]] (nowadays ''Atlético Madrid''), [[Valencia CF|Valencia]], and [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] that emerged as the strongest clubs. Atlético were only awarded a place during the [[1939–40 La Liga|1939–40]] season as a replacement for [[Real Oviedo]], whose ground had been damaged during the war. The club subsequently won its first Liga title and retained it in [[1940–41 La Liga|1941]]. While other clubs lost players to exile, execution, and as casualties of the war, the Atlético team was reinforced by a merger. The young, pre-war squad of Valencia had also remained intact and in the post-war years matured into champions, gaining three Liga titles in [[1941–42 La Liga|1942]], [[1943–44 La Liga|1944]], and [[1946–47 La Liga|1947]]. They were also runners-up in [[1947–48 La Liga|1948]] and [[1948–49 La Liga|1949]].

[[Athletic Bilbao]] was one of the clubs most affected by the war, since many of its players (sympathizers of the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican faction]]) went into exile in [[Latin America]] and very few returned. But thanks to a search for young talents, they managed to form the well-known ''Second historic squad'' made up of [[Rafael Iriondo]], [[Venancio Pérez]], [[José Luis Panizo]], [[Agustín Gaínza]] and the mythical scorer [[Telmo Zarra]] (Spanish [[List of La Liga top scorers|top scorer]] in La Liga history, among other records). They won a La Liga and Copa del Generalísimo double in [[1942-43 La Liga|1943]] and won the Cup again in [[1944 Copa del Generalísimo|1944]], [[1944–45 Copa del Generalísimo|1945]] and [[1949–50 Copa del Generalísimo|1950]], in addition to an [[Copa Eva Duarte]] (official predecessor of the [[Supercopa de España|Supercopa]]). [[Sevilla FC|Sevilla]] also enjoyed a brief golden era, finishing as runners-up in 1940 and 1942 before winning their only title to date in 1946.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Spain, [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] began to emerge as a force under the legendary [[Josep Samitier]]. A Spanish footballer for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, Samitier cemented his legacy with Barcelona. During his playing career with Barcelona he scored 133 goals, won the inaugural La Liga title and five [[Copa del Rey|Copa Del Rey]]. In 1944, Samitier returned to Barcelona as a coach and guided them in winning their second La Liga title in [[1944–45 La Liga|1945]]. Under Samitier and legendary players [[César Rodríguez Álvarez|César Rodríguez]], [[Josep Escolà]], [[Estanislau Basora]] and [[Mariano Gonzalvo]], Barcelona dominated La Liga in the late 1940s,<ref>{{Cite web |title=1939–50. Years of perseverance |url=https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/news/643898/1939-50-years-of-perseverance |access-date=17 January 2019 |website=www.fcbarcelona.com |archive-date=19 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119122058/https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/news/643898/1939-50-years-of-perseverance |url-status=live }}</ref> winning back to back La Liga titles in [[1947–48 La Liga|1948]] and [[1948–49 La Liga|1949]]. The 1940s proved to be a successful season for Barcelona, winning three La Liga titles and one Copa Del Rey, but the 1950s proved to be a decade of dominance, not just from Barcelona, but from [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]].