TOP 11 Best Football Leagues In The World

The English Premier League is surely one of the best football leagues in the world around the globe. It is currently the world’s largest, most dominant, and brightest football league. Its matches are televised in 212 countries, reaching about 4.7 billion people, thus making it one of the most-watched leagues in the whole world. The league’s atmosphere, supporters, competitiveness, congruency, and parity among the clubs are some of the concluding factors which make it the most popular league among football fans. The English Premier League originates way back in 1881 and was called the Football League, but was later rebranded as FA Premier League on February 20, 1992.

The departure of Cristiano and Messi from Real and Barca may have affected the popularity of the Spanish league, but it is still followed in numbers. The Spanish domestic football league is home to some of the world’s greatest soccer teams and is regarded as the best soccer league in Europe. During the 2018/19 season, the league’s games were seen by nearly 76 million people. La Liga hosts some of the world’s most anticipated soccer matches, including the El Clasico. The league was created in 1929 and is run under the supervision of LFP (Liga de Fútbol Profesional). La Liga clubs have won the UEFA Champions League eighteen times and the FIFA Club World Cup seven times. La Liga players have also won more individual titles like the UEFA The Best award and Ballon d’Or from any other league in the whole world.

German league Bundesliga is arguably one of the best leagues where talents are nurtured, produced, and make their name. It is considered one of the toughest leagues, well not at least for 30x German champions, Bayern Munich. But sometimes they do get surprised as the German teams have increased the intensity and level of their game. Other Bundesliga teams are successful teams despite not being as powerful as the Bavarians. The German league boasts the world’s highest average league attendance. The talent factory league was founded in 1952. Dortmund vs Bayern is another rivalry that is popular in the football world. Just like the Premier League, Bundesliga has one of the most passionate and passionate crowds. The only drawback for Bundesliga is the lack of competition which makes Bayern inevitable.

One of the most exciting leagues to watch. Ever since Portuguese superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo made his shock move to Italian giants Juventus, the league had witnessed a spectacular increase in its viewership, recording more than 2.3 million viewers. The Italians have some of the best clubs in the league and have had some legendary players. Particularly both Milan clubs, Juve and Napoli had players like Del Piero, Maldini, Maradona, Buffon, Nesta are some of the legendary players who displayed 5-star performances for the Italian side as well in Europe. The league was founded in 1898. The only drawback of the league is that Serie A’s traditional teams have been mired in a sports crisis for a long time, preventing them from contending for the scudetto with Juventus.

Watching Ligue 1 matches purely demonstrates the league’s amazing quality and also the prominence of world-class footballers. The French domestic competition, which has been running since 1932, has seen a number of clubs emerge as dominants at various times. A single Ligue 1 game featuring elite clubs like PSG may draw up to 1.6 million viewers. At least this league isn’t dominated by a single team, but still, Lyon, Marseille, and Monaco are among the top clubs that give a tough competition to The Parisians. Just like the German League, Ligue 1 has produced a slew of talented players who have gone on to shine for France’s national side. The biggest example we witness today is Kylian Mbappe. 

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Eredivisie

Goals abound, brilliant plays, fantastic offensive football, incredible youth footballers, and historic teams, Eredivisie Dutch league is a combination of everything. Perhaps not an eye-catching league but it surely is famous for producing quality players. Teams like Ajax, Feyenoord, and PSV completely rely on their academy products and produce world-class talents. Not only Iconic players but it had iconic coaches such as Rinus Michels who invented “Total Football,” Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, and Marco van Basten are more than enough to describe what the Dutch domestic soccer league can provide. They have surely revolutionized football and given us a lot to remember.

MLS is the American professional league which was established in 1993. In recent years it has witnessed tremendous growth and has expanded a lot. The league’s viewership increased to about 2 million for a single game. In MLS 23 clubs play 34 matches and the champion receives the Supporter’s Shield during the MLS regular season, which spans from March to October. Whereas Throughout November and December, the six highest-placed clubs from the Eastern and Western Conferences compete in the postseason MLS Cup Playoffs, which conclude in the MLS Cup title game. World-class players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Villa, Ashley Cole, André Horta, and Bastian Schweinsteiger have added a lot of quality, creativity, and experience to the MLS. 

Other than domestic leagues, there are European leagues where clubs from around the world compete for the European crown.

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UEFA Champions League is the most popular league in the whole world. Top European flights compete with each other in this competition for grabbing the title of Champions of Europe. A round-robin tournament, Champions League is one of the most mystic competitions around the globe. Since club modern football’s financial muscle has risen, it has surpassed international football. Indeed, there is no club tournament that can compete with the Champions League. 

This European competition can be considered as the younger sibling of the Champions League. Not as popular as his elder sibling, Europa League is still a competition that is enjoyed by many. Again a round-robin tournament, Europa League is considered a golden ticket to qualify for the Champions League. The winner of the competition automatically qualifies for next year’s Champions League. 

The Europa conference league is a newly formed league introduced for the 2021-22 campaign. This league can be considered as the younger sibling of the UEFA Europa League or practically it is a third-tier European tournament. This was introduced so as to cut short the Europa League tournament from 48 teams to 32 teams. Thus lower-ranked European teams play in this tournament. 

In terms of international football, a new league, UEFA Nations League was introduced in 2018. 

The UEFA Nations League is an annual international football tournament between member associations of UEFA. The tournament was first introduced in 2018 and is played ever since. 54 UEFA national teams were divided into four divisions. 12 teams were placed in league A and B, 14 were placed in League C, rest 16 were placed in League D. In each league, groups of four were made and the teams are placed according to their ranking in international football. The teams can be promoted or relegated according to their position at the table. The winners from each group in League A are qualified for the Nations League final. Portugal and France are the winners of this tournament. This is a good addition to an international tournament as normal international friendlies weren’t competitive. But now with the addition of this league, it gives more competitive matches on the international front.

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