League rankings decade after decade
- Thread starter alko
- Start date
How is La Liga on top in 2019?
I have no way of judging the quality of league back in the old days (I was not alive) and I doubt many would be able to judge them in any other means than reading results from European competitions. Before some point in the 90s football was not that accessible on TV across leagues.
Generally I do agree with koyvoo's list. Not sure where you would draw the line exactly, but Serie A was very strong for quite awhile before it almost collapsed. The PL had a very strong period with the "top 4" always basically knowing they would get CL-money. Not sure if the league in general was that strong, but it resembles La Liga over the last years - with some excellent top teams, but somewhat random quality among the bottom half. For some years now La Liga has completely dominated European tournaments. So difficult to argue it hasn't been the strongest league. Also several of the bigger teams in England have been quite lost not finding any consistency in their managerial situation etc.
Today I would say the PL by quite some distance. Not sure if it is a good thing for football in general, it probably isn't, but it seems like the mid-table teams in England are finally building decent teams that better reflect the complete financial dominance of the league over other leagues. And with City and Liverpool at least having excellent managers that have built proper teams the top is also solid. Spurs arguably also being reasonably competitive against even the better teams in La Liga and Italy.
I have no way of judging the quality of league back in the old days (I was not alive) and I doubt many would be able to judge them in any other means than reading results from European competitions. Before some point in the 90s football was not that accessible on TV across leagues.
Generally I do agree with koyvoo's list. Not sure where you would draw the line exactly, but Serie A was very strong for quite awhile before it almost collapsed. The PL had a very strong period with the "top 4" always basically knowing they would get CL-money. Not sure if the league in general was that strong, but it resembles La Liga over the last years - with some excellent top teams, but somewhat random quality among the bottom half. For some years now La Liga has completely dominated European tournaments. So difficult to argue it hasn't been the strongest league. Also several of the bigger teams in England have been quite lost not finding any consistency in their managerial situation etc.
Today I would say the PL by quite some distance. Not sure if it is a good thing for football in general, it probably isn't, but it seems like the mid-table teams in England are finally building decent teams that better reflect the complete financial dominance of the league over other leagues. And with City and Liverpool at least having excellent managers that have built proper teams the top is also solid. Spurs arguably also being reasonably competitive against even the better teams in La Liga and Italy.
Ajax European Cup Finalist 1969
Feyenoord European Cup Winner 1970
Ajax European Cup Winner 1971
Ajax European Cup Winner 1972
Ajax European Cup Winner 1973
Feyenoord UEFA Cup Winner 1974
It's quite obvious what was the better league in those years.
Feyenoord European Cup Winner 1970
Ajax European Cup Winner 1971
Ajax European Cup Winner 1972
Ajax European Cup Winner 1973
Feyenoord UEFA Cup Winner 1974
It's quite obvious what was the better league in those years.
I don't argue with this, but some of the best teams were Serie A during this time with AC Milan, Juventus, and Inter (and Roma). Then Barca's golden age team took over the last half of that decade, but I would easily take Serie A over La Liga the first half.
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Duchene2MacKinnon
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Still represented all 4 final spots for the CL and EL
I agree that there are some teams that aren’t run well but it’s super competitive regardless(top 2 then the 4 behind them). Now I wouldn’t be surprised to see La Liga take the crown again next year, but this year it was 100% EPL.
Duchene2MacKinnon
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Still represented all 4 final spots for the CL and EL
Nobody cares about Europa...LFC and City dominated minnows in the EPL. Neither team can do it against Getafe on a thursday night.
Not so to us Delusional Geordies, given that in the first round of the 1968-69 Inter Cities Fairs Cup, Newcastle United beat Feyenoord.
(And by all means ask me how far Newcastle went in that tournament).
Arsenal were Fairs Cup winners in 1970, followed by Leeds United in 1971, then Tottenham Hotspur in 1972 and Liverpool in 1973. Spurs were beaten finalists in 1974, too.
No doubting the Netherlands possessed two great teams in that era. What depth existed beyond them is a moot point. So, even if we accept the Dutch league was stronger, the idea that the gap was big seems to me incorrect.
(Mind, the big difference is that the successes of the Dutch big two was overwhelmingly attributable to Dutch players, whereas foreigners had a significant influence over the success of English teams - it's just that the foreigners were Irish, Scottish or Welsh, and as such the English didn't count them as foreign).
YNWA14
Onbreekbaar
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Here I was thinking that Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English were all the same thing; don't they all drink tea?
Some sort of combination of
La Liga, EPL, Serie A & Bundesliga throughout the decades switching back and forth for top league.
As for the rest? In my humble opinion
Second tier of leagues switching back and forth:
Ligue 1, Brasileiro Serie A, Portuguese Primeira Liga, Dutch Eredivisie.
Third Tier with some new and younger leagues:
Mexican Liga MX, Argentina Primera, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Swiss Super League, Scottish, Japanese, Belgian, Greek, MLS, Chinese Super League, Austrian, English Championship
As for the top 10 leagues in the WORLD today with an BIG eye on the future as well?
1) EPL
2) La Liga
3) Serie A
4) Bundesliga
5) L1
6) MLS
7) Chinese Super League
8) Portuguese
9) Dutch
10) Russian
In 50 Years?
1A) European Super Division
1B) Major League Soccer & Americas FD
2) East Super Asian Extra Super League
3) The All Women’s Insane Global League
La Liga, EPL, Serie A & Bundesliga throughout the decades switching back and forth for top league.
As for the rest? In my humble opinion
Second tier of leagues switching back and forth:
Ligue 1, Brasileiro Serie A, Portuguese Primeira Liga, Dutch Eredivisie.
Third Tier with some new and younger leagues:
Mexican Liga MX, Argentina Primera, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Swiss Super League, Scottish, Japanese, Belgian, Greek, MLS, Chinese Super League, Austrian, English Championship
As for the top 10 leagues in the WORLD today with an BIG eye on the future as well?
1) EPL
2) La Liga
3) Serie A
4) Bundesliga
5) L1
6) MLS
7) Chinese Super League
8) Portuguese
9) Dutch
10) Russian
In 50 Years?
1A) European Super Division
1B) Major League Soccer & Americas FD
2) East Super Asian Extra Super League
3) The All Women’s Insane Global League
Duchene2MacKinnon
In the hands of Genius
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In what world is the Portuguese/Dutch and even the Russian league behind the MLS? And apparently SA leagues that produce the most players are nonexistent lol. And no in 50 years the MLS will not be the best league in the world
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If the US cared about soccer as much as the rest of the world we would be one of the best national teams in the world and have one of the best leagues in the world. But we don’t care about it as much as football, basketball, or baseball, and it in turn means our player development is garbage. A country our size should be able to field a better team than we do.
Duchene2MacKinnon
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Typical american arrogance. This argument is so tiresome.
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I mean it’s pretty obvious how garbage our development system is and a large part of that is because it’s a sport we don’t care to learn about and therefore it hinders the development of a lot of our players. Until that changes we’ll never be more than a top 20-30 type team.
The MLS will never be a league like the European ones though.
Duchene2MacKinnon
In the hands of Genius
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You make it sound like the only thing standing in America's way into soccer domination is their interest in soccer. If over night they cared then they would be one of the best. This is obviously not the case. They are too far behind everyone else to make it up within decades or even generations.
Well. I don´t think it is that far fetched. A rich country with a huge population with a climate that generally speaking works well for football. Of course the US would have done well in football if the population cared more. To say the US would have been "one of the best" is rather obvious if you ask me. That is not the same as saying the US would dominate football.
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1) I never said dominate
2) I never said it would happen overnight
Quit putting words in my mouth.
I really don’t think it’s that far fetched that a country of our size would be one of the best national teams in the world of our national teams were run much better like someone like Germany, Brazil, Spain etc.
Of course that won’t happen overnight and I don’t expect it to change anytime soon.
Ceremony
blahem
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England achieved comparable performances to the USA in international tournaments until they started a real youth structure a few years ago and started winning every youth tournament going and made it to a World Cup semi final
It's pretty obvious they could be much more competitive than they are with more money, coaches and interest
Ajacied
Stay strong Appie! ❤
Duchene2MacKinnon
In the hands of Genius
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I said you made it sound like that. Sure in about 80 years the USA can be relevant in the soccer world. If they invest MONEY,INTEREST, and completely change their mindset on ability, development and the fundamentals of the game. If all those things happen sure why not.
hatterson
Registered User
80 years lol.
If the sport became a national passion, and the US put similar per capita money into infrastructure and programs as top tier nations, they’d be a borderline top 5, for sure top 10, country within a single generation.
Basically 15-20 years for kids who are now 5 and under to grow up playing football instead of basketball, baseball, or other football.
No, the US wouldn’t dominate, but they’d be in a position where there’s not a clear gulf in talent between them and Germany/Spain/Netherlands/France/England/etc
Granted, as you said, that’s not going to happen, but don’t pretend that if it did somehow it would take an entire lifetime for the impact to materialize
If the sport became a national passion, and the US put similar per capita money into infrastructure and programs as top tier nations, they’d be a borderline top 5, for sure top 10, country within a single generation.
Basically 15-20 years for kids who are now 5 and under to grow up playing football instead of basketball, baseball, or other football.
No, the US wouldn’t dominate, but they’d be in a position where there’s not a clear gulf in talent between them and Germany/Spain/Netherlands/France/England/etc
Granted, as you said, that’s not going to happen, but don’t pretend that if it did somehow it would take an entire lifetime for the impact to materialize
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How did I make it sound like that?
I said a country our size should be better than we are at soccer and that if we had the same passion as most countries worldwide we’d be one of the best teams in the world. I also said until a switch in mentality is made we’ll never be more than a top 20-30 team. All of which is true.
