Among the great leagues of Europe - Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga, and Serie A - the English Premier League is often touted as the greatest of all. While many of the other leagues usually have two or three contenders for the title, the EPL often has six in the running, and surprises like Leicester City’s shock triumph in 2015-16 prove that anything is possible.
There are many other reasons that the EPL can stake its claim to be the world’s greatest, but not everyone agrees - a report published by FIFA, based on different data analysis, suggests otherwise. But however you look at it, the EPL enjoys some of the best football in the world and is a major draw for top players from around the globe.
EPL: The world’s top league?
Well, according to UEFA’s coefficient table, which ranks leagues in order of strength in European competition across the last five seasons. La Liga has enjoyed a spell of dominance, but with Manchester United’s 6-2 Europa League victory over AS Roma, the EPL will be top even if Real Madrid and Villarreal win the Champions League and the Europa League, respectively. This will be the first top ranking for the EPL in 9 years.
More title contenders
The Premier League is the most competitive in the world - any given year you have six clubs in the running for the title - Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, and Arsenal (although the latter not so much in the last couple of seasons). And then, the miracle of 2015-16, 500-1 outsiders Leicester taking the top spot.
Look back at the champions of the Bundesliga for the last several years (a Bayern Munich shutout), Serie A (Inter Milan ending years of Juventus dominance), and La Liga (to and fro between Real Madrid and Barcelona), and you’ll see that the Premier League offers more drama at the top of the table, rather than a mid-table scrap for the Europa League places.
European dominance
As well as battling each other domestically, clubs from the EPL have, in recent years, been a major force to reckon with in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League.
In 2019, both finals were all-English affairs, with Liverpool beating Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League and Chelsea routing Arsenal 4-1 in the Europa League. Not only that, but the semifinals between Liverpool and Barcelona, and Spurs and Ajax were both stunning displays, with the English sides both overturning four-goal deficits to triumph. Liverpool’s 4-0 victory in front of a rapturous Anfield Kop crowd was a highlight of a season of highlights for the club, who also took their first top-flight title in 30 years. And last season was no different, as Chelsea ran out 1-0 winners over Manchester City in the Champions League final.
FIFA has other ideas
You’d think that given these credentials, the EPL would be undisputed as the best. But FIFA has published a report charting the game’s global competitive balance.
One way of comparing competitive balance is by looking at data from recent league champions. FIFA’s report looks at the percentage of points won by the top three clubs over the past five seasons, with the higher percentage won, the less competitive the league.
When the data is analyzed this way, the EPL becomes the seventh least competitive league in Europe, with the top team winning 83% of the available points, second place winning 73%, and third winning 64%, while Italy is the most competitive of Europe’s big five leagues with 79%, 74%, and 68%. So according to FIFA, if you want to watch really competitive world football, you’re better off watching the Polish or Austrian leagues than the EPL.
Other popular leagues
Of course, the other major European leagues enjoy worldwide popularity, especially La Liga and Serie A, with iconic sides like Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and AC Milan.
Ligue 1 in France and the German Bundesliga are also highly rated as elite leagues. But there are many other competitive leagues out there that enjoy a strong following.
The Scottish Premier League is a competition that has for a long time been dominated by Rangers and Celtic - another side hasn’t won since Aberdeen did in 1984-85, though the rivalry was put on hold for a few years when Rangers ran into financial difficulties in 2012.
As we approach the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the focus has turned to Middle Eastern leagues, enjoyable for fans and bettors who want to find up-to-date information to bet with confidence, where the Qatar Stars League will gather the largest number of spectators. And the local, Qatari guides to sports betting like ArabianBetting, cover not only information about the world dominant football leagues like EPL, La Liga, or Series 1, but also on Qatar Stars League, Qatar Gas League (Qatari Second Division), and many many more local competitions, accordingly.
The top divisions in South America are also popular, with the top tiers in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia ranked the best.
Major League Soccer in the USA also attracts superstar players from Europe, with the standard of play rising year on year.
Is the Premier League the world’s greatest? There are some compelling arguments for, and some less compelling ones against. What is beyond dispute is that it produces some of the most exciting and skillful games in modern football.