England has the best League in the world. So what?
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By wilswils, 8 Apr 2009 Matthew Wilson is a Roar Pro
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The Champions League Quarter Finals have come around and, once again, three out of four games contain an English team. This dominance by English teams has been consistent. In 2008, for instance, three out of the four teams were from the UK.
2007 was the same. However, Italian giants AC Milan claimed the Champions league title.
The Champions League consists of the best clubs from each country, competing in a League to be crowned the best team in Europe. But the question needs to be asked: will the EPL get so strong that other international clubs won’t stand a chance?
The EPL is the highest watched club football in the world, with the Championship coming in at nineteenth.
It’s also becoming the most powerful League, especially in recent years with their dominance in international competitions.
I think the FIFA 6+5 rule can only do good.
The Premier League is being dominated by international talent, which is being taken away from their own local Leagues and clubs.
On a local level, many kids in Australia are seeking out Premier League teams and bypassing the A-League. So where does that leave our Leagues?
I enjoy watching the Premier League as much as the next football fan. But I would hate to see the A-League, or any other League for that matter, suffer because of the strength of it.
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Slippery Jim said | April 8th 2009 @ 9:59am | Report comment
Someone has been reading Les’ latest TWG blog…my solution is ban Man Utd for life to even things up for those poor Euro leagues like La Liga and Serie A who no longer cut it with EPL clubs.
Luke W said | April 8th 2009 @ 10:22am | Report comment
I think the big teams in La Liga and Serie A have no less quality then their English counterparts, but the English style of play is just at a higher level right now, which is why they are dominating the UCL. Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool simply play a much faster and up-tempo style that the teams in Italy and Spain can’t match.
Brian said | April 8th 2009 @ 12:55pm | Report comment
Surely the time for a European League has arrived. Take the top teams in Europe and make the league the football equivalent of the NBA. Just for fun my 16: Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Roma, Inter, Mila, Juve, Real, Barca, Valencia, Sevilla, Porto, Lyon, Munich, St Petersburg.
Sam said | April 8th 2009 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
Brian
Where is Ajax? One of the great European clubs. Benifica?
Dave said | April 8th 2009 @ 1:20pm | Report comment
The Euro Champs League is the defacto European league. No need for full European league as it would destroy all the domestic leagues however…for the fun of it my 32 team Euro League (same no. as NFL);
Man Utd, Liverpool, Milan, Roma, Inter, Marseille, Lyon, PSG, Rangers, Celtic, Ajax, Porto, Benfica, Bayern M, Hertha Berlin, Dortmund, Real M, Barca, Valencia, Panathanaikos, Galatasaray, Red Star Belgrade, Anderlecht, Spartak Moscow, Arsenal, Chelsea, Feyenoord, Basel, Juve, Hamburg, Juve, Kopenhagen…need to spread the league to all corners of Europe.
jaymz said | April 8th 2009 @ 1:51pm | Report comment
No one realises the 6+5 rule is really bad for Australia and alot of nations for that matter, we rely on europe to develop our players (as do alot of the African Nations). If the 6 +5 rule is implemented then there will be alot less Aussies heading over due to the clubs restrictions, which means less development of our players. The Euro Super league is a stupid idea because 1st it will kill domestic comps, 2nd champs league will die which is part of the reason players want to play in europe.
Brian said | April 8th 2009 @ 2:20pm | Report comment
Sam, Ajax were close whilst Benfica were exluded on commercial viability grounds (couldn’t have 2 teams from Portugal). It will take years but the super league will happen, only however when Tottenham, Newcastle, Fiorentina, Marseille etc. supporters stop spending money on teams that cannot win any meaningful trophies.
Back to more realistic topics the 6+5 rule would hurt certain national teams because players would find it even harder to get European contracts. Of course it would be no different to what existed in the pre-Bosman era.
The Auteur said | April 8th 2009 @ 7:58pm | Report comment
Brian,
Would Valencia, Sevilla and St. Petersburg cut it?
Dave,
Hertha Berlin, Dortmund, Pana, Red Star, Anderlecht, Spartak Moscow, Feyenoord, Basel, Hamburg and Copenhagen? Really?
Isn’t Dortmund in financial turmoil?
Millster said | April 8th 2009 @ 8:19pm | Report comment
Spot on jaymz – these people have to be careful what they wish for.
1. EPL (and other Euro leagues) being open to foreign players in large numbers can only be good for Australian football player’s development prospects
2. Formalisation of the super clubs into a league (thereby taking away altogether the admittedly slim chance that other clubs have to rise to this level) destroys the absolute soul of football which is the heirarchical linkage between the park side and the top of the world through promotion, relegation, continental league qualification etc. To me at least this open inter-linked structure is one of the absolutely core sources of my passion for the game and of my assessment that it is fundamentally better than many other codes structurally.
Rellum said | April 8th 2009 @ 8:45pm | Report comment
Millster, I am happy to claim to be one of “these people”.
Two points
1 – If 6 + 5 does come in, then maybe we would pull our collective finger out and restructure and retrain the nation instead of relying on foreign clubs to do it for us.
2 – If there is going to be a Euro Super league, then the whole continent would have to compete in some way. That would probably mean 8-10 leagues with promotion and relegation, teams not in the super league would make up the national leagues. The heart of football still would be lost with this system, or a league containing just the current top teams.