Marcelo Becomes Real Madrid’s First Foreign Captain Since 1904

As Sergio Ramos calls time on his 16-year career at Real Madrid, his captaincy will be passed on to another club icon – Marcelo.

As a result, Marcelo will become the first foreign captain of the club since 1904, with each club captain in between being from Spain, back to when Federico Revuelto of Guatemala was captain 117 years ago.

A tradition that Mourinho questioned

At Real Madrid, the captaincy is given to the player who has been in the first team for the longest, meaning that the Brazilian, who has been at the club for 15 years, will be given the armband.

This tradition has attracted criticism in the past, such as from Jose Mourinho, who was reluctant to give the captaincy to Iker Casillas as he wanted an outfielder to wear the armband instead, but it has still remained.

Benzema as second-in-command

The captain of success

Since taking over as club captain from Iker Casillas in 2015, Sergio Ramos has led the team to a remarkable period of success as he lifted 12 trophies, including the three consecutive Champions League titles from 2016 to 2018.