This is a debate that has been growing each year, especially with the bigger leagues having more representatives in football’s Holy Grail, the Champions League. By far the toughest club competition in the world, demonstrated by the ease of which the holders have found in winning the FIFA Club World Cup in recent years.
Europe clearly is the Promised Land for any professional footballer and that reason is down to the finances and reputations of the continents leagues. You will see Brazilian and argentine players plying their trade in Scandinavia, Ukraine, Greece, Belgium and any European country with a professional football league..
Deciding which league is the best is a difficult choice to make. And to be honest, I’m not sure if there is a simple one word answer. It seems to be changing constantly from one season to the next, but some leagues have been consistent over decades and remain strong. To make it easier to judge the strength of a countries league I have studied the European club competitions.
Over the years Spain has had the most winners of the Champions League/European Cup with 14, England and Italy have 12 wins, Germany 7, Holland 6 and Portugal 4. In the Europa League/Uefa Cup Spain top the list again with 14 wins, England 11, Italy 10, Germany 6, Holland 4 and Portugal 2[1].
The now extinct Cup Winners Cup produced similar results with England topping with 8 winners, Spain & Italy 7, Germany 5, Holland & Portugal 1. If we tot up the numbers it works out as Spain producing 35 winners of euro’ competitions, England 31, Italy 29, Germany 18, Holland 11 and Portugal 7. On this evidence only it would appear that the Spanish league has been the top league consistently[2].
However, there are mitigating circumstances and other factors to take into consideration. For instance, is a league considered the strongest if it has two of the world’s biggest clubs taking the honours almost every season? Only Barca and Real Madrid have won the Champions League from La Liga, whereas Liverpool, Man united, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea have represented the English league and won it. Both Leeds united and Arsenal lost in controversial finals[3].
If the strength of a league is not just considered on the power of the top two or three sides then it is difficult to look anywhere else than the Premier League. English football has produced 7 different winners in the Europa league and 7 different winners of the now defunct Cup winner’s Cup which shows our strength in depth.
In the last 30 years there have been 8 different league champions in England, 6 in Germany and 8 in Italy. There have only ever been 9 clubs that have won the Spanish league since it was founded in 1929. Over the years different leagues have been prominent. In the 90’s it was Italy’s Serie A, from 1989-1999 the Uefa cup was dominated by Serie A clubs, with 14 out of 22 finalist coming from Italy[4].
England’s teams dominated the Uefa cup and Champions League at certain periods. In both competitions English sides brought the cup home 6 years in a row[5]. Up until that fateful night at Heysel stadium in 1985 English sides were dominating European competitions.
Tottenham had won the Uefa cup the year before and Everton had just won the Cup winner’s cup with an easy victory over Rapid Vienna[6], knocking out Bayern Munich on their way, and would have been one of the favourites for the following years champions cup.
How many European titles that were lost to English clubs under the 5 year ban from Uefa competitions we’ll never know. Would the Liverpool side of the late 80’s and early 90’s have been strong enough to topple Milan at the crest of European football? One thing is for sure, they were the best side not to win the title.
It took a while for our clubs to get back into the swing of European football, and It was not so long ago that there were three English sides in the Champions league semi-finals, 2007, 2008 and 2009[7]. The strength in depth of English football is clear to see. Manchester city and Chelsea are the top contenders vying for the title this season, but next season Manchester United may be top contenders in the race or Arsenal or Liverpool even.
For me the Premier league is the most competitive league and if all twenty teams played their counterparts in Europe’s other top leagues I am sure England would come out on top. There are not many leagues where the top side are beaten by relegation strugglers. And how strong would the La Liga be without Barcelona and Real Madrid? Or the Bundesliga be with Bayern Munich?
Once English football was dominated by Leeds United, Blackburn, Preston North End and Huddersfield. English football has the only league that has this rich history of various teams dominating in different eras. It is what makes our league the best. Manchester city and Chelsea are the top sides at the moment, but how long will that last? Ten years ago it was Manchester United and Arsenal. In the 80’s it was Liverpool and Everton.
Not many times since I have been watching our beautiful game has there been a season in Spain where Barca and Real Madrid have not been involved in the title race. The big two in Spain are there to stay. The same with Bayern Munich in Germany and it will always be between Juventus, Milan or Inter in Italy. We may not have the strongest teams every year, but I believe we have the strongest competition and to me that is the strongest league.
[1] Football Encyclopedia [2] Football Encyclopedia [3] Europe United [4] www.espnfc.com/italian [5] Europe United [6] wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UEFA_Cup_Winners'_Cup_finals [7] Europe UnitedSource: DSG
