I wanted to do this post for a long time but just didn’t find the time to write it. Now, on a boring Sunday afternoon I finally have the time and desire to talk about the different football leagues, specifically in Europe. I think we can all agree on that European football has currently the strongest teams on club level. Although I would not neglect the South American Leagues, I would say that the majority of top stars are playing in Europe. With that being said, I wanted to rank the top leagues in Europe and talk about specific attributes that I am looking in a league.
The Criteria
First of all I want to outline the criteria that I am trying to rate the leagues by. I will look at the overall attractiveness of the league. This means, how well is the football there or is it just very primitive kick and rush? Is there a good amount of competition in this league or is there a very heavy dominance by a few teams? The more competitiveness the more attractive the league. Furthermore, we should look at the quality of players that are playing in this league. Are they in their peak of performance or are they more talents that are just growing in? Last but not least I want to look at the performance in the international competitions. How well are the teams in this league perform against their peers in the other leagues and how much are they contributing to the UEFA coefficient system.
5. French Ligue Un/ Portuguese Liga NOS
In number five we already have the first hard decision. I consider the Portuguese League as well as the French League as parts of the top European leagues. Yes, they are certainly not at the top but both leagues are very professional and serious leagues. Unfortunately for them, they both lack the attractiveness in my opinion. While the Portuguese league, either has very old stars or very young talents, the players that are reaching their peak are trying to transfer to a higher class league which does not help the attractiveness of Liga NOS. On the other hand, this league has a good balance and every season there are at least three teams who are considered to win the title. Amongst them are always, Porto, Sporting and Benfica who are also playing a great job in the Champions League every year and manage to reach the knock out stages pretty consistently.
On the opposite side of the spectrum we have the French Ligue Un who is dominated by one team and one team only: Paris Saint-Germain. Yes, there a few exceptions in the form of Olympique Lyon, Olympique Marseille, Lille or Monaco but these are truly rare exceptions in my opinion. The only stars that are playing in this league are the ones at PSG and those are also only playing there because of the stupid amount of money that they are earning. The competition in this league is ultimately not there and PSG is doing a great job of keeping this league very boring. In terms of international competitiveness, PSG is also the only team who is able to set some highlights but because of the lack of competitiveness in their league, they often struggle to get the full focus and go out very often in the quarter or semi finals of the Champions League.
4. German Bundesliga
Next up we have a league, that I would have rated higher a few year ago. We are speaking about the German Bundesliga. In terms of football that is being played there and the fanbase around the stadiums, I think this league is very attractive. There are close matches, good skills and a good amount of tactics involved. My problem with this leagues is the same one as it is with the French league: the one team dominance. Over the past decade Bayern Munich was able to win almost every German trophy there is. This is not only boring but also very frustrating for the fans of the other teams. The closest contender on the title is almost all the time Borussia Dortmund which are doing a great job of accumulating the right players. Their problem is unfortunately that their talents are often leaving for big money. Best examples are Dembele a few years ago as well as Sancho two seasons ago. With Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig there are a good chunk of teams that are also able to be very competitive on a good day but they are just not constant enough.
In terms of international performances Bayern Munich is clearly carrying the Bundesliga here. Almost every season they are contenders on the CL title and reach the semi final almost every time. Therefore, I would not neglect this league too much as they also have very passionate teams like Eintracht Frankfurt who were actually able to win the Europa League in the past season. On a great day this league is in my top 3 but at the current state of the league with the Bayern dominance it is unfortunately only in 4th place.
3. Italian Serie A
Now many would swap the Italian with the German league here, but in my opinion this is the correct order. Not only does the Italian league has a very interesting title race but the quality of their teams improved over the last few years. Since the Juventus dominance broke there were several teams who were able to win the title. Inter Milan and AC Milan were amongst them. But these teams are not the only ones that were able to perform very well in the past years. Teams like Napoli, Roma and Bergamo are constantly battling for the places up front which results in very tight title races as well very interesting matches on almost every weekend.
Furthermore, the Italian league was historically the one that has the best tactics while the pace of the football played was not the highest. This is also the reason why this league is not in the top 2 positions. There are also too many teams with financial problems as well as the stadiums are not the newest anymore. I think in the current situation the Italian league is very attractive but will surely lose some of its glance in the future again because of the upcoming financial crisis.
2. Spanish La Liga
In second place we have a league that is probably the most talented in terms of skill and passing. I am talking about the Spanish La Liga with teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, both Sevilla teams as well as Valencia. There are certainly more name to name but the sheer amount of quality is just extraordinary. I think that this league is always a pleasure to watch. No matter what team you are watching you will always see combinations as well as very secure ball movements. Additionally to that, the title race is almost every time very close until the last few legs and with giants like Barcelona and Real Madrid this could also be a level of the Champions League.
In terms of international performances these teams are title contenders all the time. Especially Real Madrid is a contender even if they are not the strongest team on the gird. Why? Because they are Real Madrid. This is the only reason you need. With stars always having the dream to play either for Los Blancos or the Catalonian Barca assemble you know that if there is a desire, there will be a way to transfer to these clubs. This obviously adds to the attractiveness of this league. My only issues with this league is that the performance density is getting very low the further down you are getting. Furthermore, the stadiums and infrastructure is not very up to date any more which could ruin this league in the mid term.
1. English Premier League
Which bring us to the number one spot in this list: The English Premier League. In think we could all agree on the fact that this League is momentary the best and most attractive league to watch. The performance density is very high and the pace of football that is being played is just amazing. No matter which game you would watch, there would always be highlights! The physicality of this league is just on another level and I would even suggest that winning the English Premier League is a bigger achievement than winning the Champions League. This is probably one of the reasons why Pep Guardiola is always focusing more on the league title rather than the CL title.
With teams like Liverpool, Man City, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and many more this league is not lacking any competition and with stars willing to transfer into this league, the is certainly no question where the players want to play by themselves. In this leagues everyone can beat anyone and this is what makes this league the most attractive. A big plus point is also the atmosphere of these stadiums. It is just football romantic at its finest. The amount of support and love that these fans are giving to their teams is just extraordinary! I think the Premier League will be the best league for a long period of time and will develop a international dominance over the years.
Published by ga38jem on
Sports Talk Social
On 17th July 2022