Football is the most popular sport in the world. It is enjoyed by millions of people of varying abilities in almost every country. The majority of countries around the world have an established football league system which is made up of the country’s top club teams. This series of articles will look at some of the most competitive domestic league competitions around the world. The first part will cover European Leagues and the second will cross the Atlantic ocean and look at the leading South American teams.
England – Premier League
Widely touted as the greatest league in the world, the English Premier League is shown all over the world on a weekly basis. It runs from August through until May and consists of England’s top 20 teams. Stars such as Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and Wayne Rooney ply their trade here.
It involves such famous teams as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool as well as some less fashionable clubs like Blackpool, Wigan and Bolton. The first ever winners were Preston North End back in 1888. In recent years, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have dominated the title race but with the rise of Tottenham, Manchester City and other clubs receiving large investment from wealthy owners, the winds of change could soon be blowing across the English Premier League.
Premier League Betting is available in many betting sites, so fans of the English league can bet on their favorite team online.
Spain – La Liga
The Spanish La Liga is currently the main challenger to England’s crown for the best domestic league in the world. It is home to the two greatest European clubs of Barcelona and Real Madrid whilst also being the work place of the two players who are believed to be the greatest in the world right now in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
La Liga is famous for the domination of Barcelona and Real Madrid but it is also renowned for its silky free-flowing football culture and that is what makes it such an attractive league to watch. Barcelona won the first ever title in 1929 and this is a trend that has continued over the years. Barcelona and Real Madrid have won the majority of titles since the 1980s and only Valencia, Deportivo and Atletico Madrid have broken that sequence since 1984.
Germany – Bundesliga
The Bundesliga is a domestic football league on the rise. It has often suffered the stigma of being associated with the stereotyped style of German football. Slow, meticulous and organized. However, over the last few years, something has changed. Teams have become more adventurous, the players have become more creative and the matches have simply become exhilarating. The Bundesliga is enjoying a renaissance and the world is being drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
VfB Leipzig won the first ever Germany football league back in 1903 but the team to experience the most success over the years has been Bayern Munich. The club continues to have great joy in the European competitions, reaching the Champions League Final last year, only to suffer defeat at the hands of Inter Milan. They attract some of the biggest names in the world such as Breno, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery whilst also producing some talented home grown players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Toni Kroos. Other teams are closing on them though and the league is becoming much more competitive than ever before. It is certainly a league to keep an eye on.
Italy – Serie A
This league is in some what of a stale period right now. Established in 1898 with Genoa being the inaugural champions, Serie A was long regarded as the strongest league in the world. It attracted some world class players to its set up such as John Charles, Ian Rush and Zinedine Zidane. Top teams such as Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Roma dominated European competition. It was felt nothing could remove Serie A from its place at the top of the pile.
However, in 2006 a match fixing scandal rocked the league. Incidents of match fixing were found to have occurred in a number of matches. It changed the face of Italian football. Juventus were punished with relegation, fines, points deduction and a ban from European competition whilst other teams such as Fiorentina, AC Milan, Lazio and Reggina were deducted points, banned from European competition and/or fined.
The league still has yet to fully recover from this scandal. It is slowly progressing but it will take time. Serie A is not the great league it once was but you can always guarantee to find an Italian club doing well in the European competitions which says a lot for the standard of the league.
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