For many years the debate has been, which is the best soccer league in the world: the Italian A League or the English Premier League. Taking a look at the last two years of the Champions League Tournament it is pretty obvious that the choice has to be the Premier League. There are some that think the Bundesliga from Germany should be in the debate as well but they only have one team in the Champions League final 8, in Schalke 04, and their powerhouse team, FC Bayern München, did not even qualify for the group phase of the Champions League, as they are currently in the UEFA Cup Tournament.
Last year there were three teams from the Premier League in the semifinals of the Champions League, with Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United all making it to the last 4. Sure an Italian League team, AC Milan, won the title beating out a scrappy Liverpool side, but three out of the last 4 in the best league tournament in the world? This year looks to the be the same as last year, as the Champions League is in the Quarterfinal stage and 4 of the 8 teams are from the Premier League, with AS Roma the only Italian League team left in the prestigious tournament. There might not be any after the next knock out phase, as AS Roma battles it out with Manchester United for a spot in the semifinals.
Besides the AS Roma vs. Manchester United match up you can look at the last round to see why the Premier League is currently superior. AC Milan lost to Arsenal and Inter Milan lost to Liverpool. That’s 2 for England and 0 for Italy. Even though the debate rages on it is hard to look at the Champions League as a barometer to which league is better. In the Champions League there is more physical play, which suits Premier League teams better. Italians play fantastic soccer, but if you watch their league games they are not nearly as physical as Premier League games. If you even breath near the player with the ball in an Italian League game they will call a foul. While in England you pretty much have to mug the guy to get a whistle. This is the reason why Italian players are notorious for the flop. But in this debate you have to look at the Champions League.
The Italians won both the World Cup last year, as well as representing their country in the Champions League with winners AC Milan. You can debate which country produces the best soccer players, but it is hard to deny that, at the moment, the English Premier League is the best soccer league in the world.
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Is it the best league in the world? That is a really interesting question.
The top 4 teams are as good as any anybody in Europe as the champions league shows.
The next 5 or so teams outside the big 4 are pretty good, but England’s performance in the UEFA Cup in recent years show that the Premier League is not as competitive here as some other countries. The last English team to win the UEFA Cup was Liverpool in 2001.
Behind these European contenders you have a group of 4-6 teams that hang in the middle of the table. Safe from relegation but never consistently challenging for Europe
Then you have the bottom 5-7 teams which are the relegation candidates. Not a lot separates them from teams in the Nationwide Championship and I would venture a guess that not a lot separates the Fulham’s, Derby’s or Watford’s from the Houston Dynamos or DC United!
From a player’s standpoint, in order for the Premiership to be the top players, I would think that means that the top players play there. Last month we put together a list of the best 11 players in the world and only 4 of them play in England.
The top 4 teams in the Premiership are so strong and dominant that they cover up some of the weaknesses that the Premiership has, especially in the bottom half of the league.
EPL is the best around right now, but the top squads in Italy and Spain are not too far behind. There are also one or two teams in France (Lyon for example) and Germany (Werder Bremen, Bayer Munich) that are top tier, but those league’s are nowhere as deep as the three previously mentioned.
Other than Italy, the other top two leagues have relied on imported talent to distance themselves from the rest of the world (and even Italy has brought in a few imports on all the top squads, including Kaka).
Italian soccer is so defensive though, for my money, I would rather watch an EPL or Spanish Primera game.
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