Admittedly, it is difficult to keep track of all minor and major football leagues. Some are focused on continents, others on the world, and there are even those that are hardly on the radar of even the most avid sports fans. It is for this reason that we are going to discuss the top 5 football leagues, so that you don’t have to follow the opinions of the BBC, ESPN, Eurosport, and all-best-betting-sites.com. Here are the five biggest leagues to follow.
MLS
Major League Soccer, or MLS, is the biggest league in the US. One might be surprised at the fact, considering that the Yanks are not what you might call interested much in the sport. Interestingly enough, however, it is the women’s football that is hogging the spotlight of the former colonies, but I digress. The point is that the average attendance trumps 20,000 people per game, making this sporting competition the third most attended in the States.
21 teams from the USA and 3 teams from Canada compete in the regular season from March to October, where every team plays 34 games in the hopes of winning the Supporter’s Shield, the highest achievement of the league that is awarded to the team with the most points. The latest winners of the award, at the time of writing this piece, are the New York Bulls, with 3 wins so far.
Bundesliga
Bundesliga is a league where you will not find much rough play. Indeed, there is, on average, one red card issued for every ten matches. It is one of the most attended leagues in the world, if not the most attended. There are 18 teams competing for the title from August to May. In other words, if you are a huge fan of football and can’t bear the thought of staying away for a few months, you can take turns between following this league and MLS.
This sporting marvel was founded in 1962, with altogether 55 teams having competed at least once at this level. There are actually two divisions of the league, called the (first) Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. There is even a third division, but we have decided not to include it into our list, simply because it is run by Deutscher Fußball-Bund, and not by Deutsche Fußball-Liga as the other two.
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División allows 20 teams to compete and, like Bundesliga, its confederation is the UEFA. It is considered by some to be the top league in Europe. This claim is not without merit, as the clubs that regularly compete in the league have some appreciable achievements. Many Ballon d’Ors and FIFA Championships have been won by these teams, for one thing.
The current champion of La Liga is Barcelona, though the team with most wins so far is Real Madrid, and they are not likely to relinquish this honor for a long time. It was also here that Messi scored over 400 goals.
English Premier League
While the opinions may vary, statistics can be unreliable, and we all have our personal favorites, the clear winner of the list is the one and only English Premier League. 20 teams play 38 matches at home and away in the most-watched sports league in the world. The league is fairly young, not even thirty years old, and the most notable champions are Manchester United and Manchester City.