The IFFHS Issued the new leagues ranking and it was met with the same controversial vibes as usual. I do believe that the leagues are a matter of taste. Each favors different flavor. We already made a trial here to create criteria to rank leagues. Yet, because this is a relatively new site that is basically visited by friends who support and follow specific leagues, it was still too early to put this study in place. But till then, what are the elements that really make a league better or worse?
What does the league stand for in the first place? Is it an exhibition to enjoy the game? Is it the level of competition? Is it the mechanism that helps the domestic level to improve and feed national teams that represents the respective country? Is it an environment that helps the game’s evolution throughout the tactical clashes that take place between the clubs involved? Is it the mean that transform football from a game to an economic module helping the country and the people financially? Or maybe, it’s a mix of this and that.
EPL was the league that claimed superiority more than any other league in the world, so let’s start from there. Is it true that the EPL is a league that should be ranked over the rest?
Based on the understanding of the term, the leagues should be ranked. If it’s an exhibition and a show, then probably the English premier league (EPL) takes the lead. Make no mistake, it’s not solely about the quality of the show but how entertaining it is. That includes the infrastructure, the stadiums, the field, the media, and the fans.
But how far is it really helping the domestic level to improve? When was it the last time an English player won or even been nominated to seriously win an individual award of any kind? How many of them? How many English players moved to play in another league and succeeded. Unlike the first impression there are teams outside UK that can pay better salaries than the English teams. May be its not easy for a player from the competitive teams in UK to move but how about the rest? The limited tactical maturity and being mono-dimensional type will never help the English players’ case no matter how good they will be in doing one specific thing. The league with all its foreign players and coaches is yet to upgrade the domestic football from that aspect. While it might not be obvious within the league or on continental club competitions because there is a bit of identical-ity between domestic players upgraded by the foreign stars imported, It leaves an impact on the national team where the English players are left without any help to face the quality of the opponents. When was it the last time the national team won a continental tournament or a world cup or even proved being a serious title contender? On the youth level they had some good results, but aside of that they only brought disappointment when the level of competition became higher.
English football is still struggling to upgrade its identity. When Brazil wins a world cup the imitation to the Brazilian style become a trend that’s not attainable. When Italy wins it then its defense with counter attacking. When Spain does so then there is a need to apply more possession with ball pressure. That’s not helping in producing new coaches with clear football vision. That’s obvious from the confidence shown in English coaches whether it’s on clubs’ level or national team.
On the economic side, football has more a passive impact on the country’s economy than it is the other way. What we see is lot of business generated throughout the game, which is good. But when the clubs are all in huge debt and the owners are in more debts and waiting the moment a club get some cash so they draw it and water their own personal loans, that leave a sour taste. Football in UK shakes the market and sucks its juice to reduce financial crisis of people serving in another markets. English fans buy their tickets and their clubs merchandise and say goodbye to every pound they spend while staring on their money sailing abroad. Now compare that to the economic impact of football in Brazil as an example.
Is it the most competitive league? What does that mean? All the teams must have a chance to compete for the title? That’s naïve. Simply put. It’s impossible to create a league where all the clubs are cloned Chelsea and Manchester United. Imagine it, 20 Manchester-united-like teams in the league. Great right? Well, one detail missed here. Two of the teams need to relegate to the lower division by the end of the season. Being a Man Utd cost money. I am not sure how the two relegated Man utds will afford surviving outside the EPL heaven. Unless if we will have Man Utd-s all the way from the premier league to the lowest division. Craziness.
Clubs on different levels with different objectives is a need in any league. When people started to forget that, the clubs and the leagues started to collapse. You need Barcelonas in the league for ultimate performance but you also need ambitious Sevillas where the focus is more on creating players than buying them aiming to compete on the long term, not the day after tomorrow. That's where players like Alves can have a stage in Europe to mature under less pressure than in a club like Barcelona. How many south American star succeeded by moving directly to a big club in Europe? You also need the Mallorcas and Getafes for the youth or unaccomplished players to be loaned to play and polish their skills. If all the teams are equal then the talents flow will be crushed and the league will collapse.
No matter how you change the regulations, one team will win at the end. Handful teams will play in continental competitions which will give them an advantage for the following year while the rest will struggle under the impact of failing to play in the Champions league.
Clubs on different levels with different objectives is a need in any league. When people started to forget that, the clubs and the leagues started to collapse. You need Barcelonas in the league for ultimate performance but you also need ambitious Sevillas where the focus is more on creating players than buying them aiming to compete on the long term, not the day after tomorrow. That's where players like Alves can have a stage in Europe to mature under less pressure than in a club like Barcelona. How many south American star succeeded by moving directly to a big club in Europe? You also need the Mallorcas and Getafes for the youth or unaccomplished players to be loaned to play and polish their skills. If all the teams are equal then the talents flow will be crushed and the league will collapse.
No matter how you change the regulations, one team will win at the end. Handful teams will play in continental competitions which will give them an advantage for the following year while the rest will struggle under the impact of failing to play in the Champions league.
Still, based on last season, were there more possibilities for Portsmouth to win the EPL than there were for Xerez to win the liga? Xerez were 65 away from the title. Portsmouth were 67 point behind Chelsea (it’s also the league fault if one of its clubs collapses financially).
But the league is not just the title. To evaluate the competition level we need to get in some more details. Xerez (the 20th team in the liga) were 29 points away from the Champion’s league qualifying position. The 14th team in the EPL was 31 points far from the Champions league. The 19th –Hall city was 40 points away while Portsmouth was 51 away. So, if qualifying to the CL bring more opportunities to the underdogs get closer to the big names by earning more money to build their squads, strangely, the liga has an advantage here.
Between the last champions league position 4th in the liga (Sevilla) and the first Europa league position 5th in the liga (Mallorca)one point difference (63/62). While it is 3 points between Tottenham and Man city.
Between Xerez (last in the table) and Mallorca (first Europa league qualifier) 28 points. Between Man city and Portsmouth its 48 points. If we will consider Portsmouth as a special case and take the 19th team Hull city they were 37 points from Man city. In a more specific statement, Xerez needed 24 points more to qualify to the Europa league as 6th in the liga. Even with one extra spot for the EPL (the 7th qualify to Europa league) Hull city the 19th –putting Portsmouth aside- still needed 33 points to qualify to the Europa league as 7th. How can we say the teams in the EPL are more competitive? How far is it true that the clubs in the EPL are closer to play on the big stage than the Liga teams?
Unless if the general quality standard in the EPL is stronger than that’s of the liga. The common field where they meet –continental competitions-does not inspire so. Let’s take the last 10 years where the English teams reached their peak in Europe:
Unless if the general quality standard in the EPL is stronger than that’s of the liga. The common field where they meet –continental competitions-does not inspire so. Let’s take the last 10 years where the English teams reached their peak in Europe:
Since 2000, Three Spanish teams reached the Champions league final (Valencia, Real Madrid and Barcelona), five times all together and won it 3 times. In return, four teams from England (Man utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea) reached the final six times and won it twice. Even though Spain won it once more, it’s fair to admit that the four English teams were more successful in this competition than the Spanish teams. But the league is not just those.
In the Europa leagues Five Spanish teams (Alavés,Valencia,Sevilla,Espanyol, Atlético) reached the final five times and won it four times. In return, four teams reached the final from the EPL (Middlesbrough,fulham, liverpool, Arsenal) and won it once (Liverpool).
To sum things up, seven different Spanish teams played finals in European competitions and won more titles than the six EPL teams that reach the finals in the same tournaments. At least, that doesn’t cast any doubts on the quality of the teams in Spain. Adding that to what's mentioned above, makes it a long shot to suggest that the EPL is more competitive than the liga.
The fact that the big two in Spain gathered 90 points last season is based more on the strength of the two teams than the weakness of the rest. It’s easier to knock a team out of a competition over one or two games than outclassing it during the whole season. It’s true that Lyon defeated Real Madrid out of the Champions’ league, but Real Madrid would have won any league of 19 weeks last season. For Barcelona to be able to beat them to the liga says a lot.
The second part will make a fast analysis about few other leagues and the league I believe it is the best.
