Arguments have always existed in the world of sports in general and in the world of football in particular. Who is the best team, who is the best player, which goal was the most beautiful and many other things that have developed over time. But there is a more basic question, which is asked a lot, although there are quite a few disagreements about it, and that is – who is the best league in Europe? As soon as the question is heard, La Liga followers usually start counting the European titles of Spanish teams, Premier League fans doubt the abilities of stars to play on a rainy day in Stoke and all other fans of the various leagues remain quite quiet. But this question has more than one answer. You can look at data in a variety of ways and sometimes understand things that are difficult to see while looking at the game on the grass. So let’s dive into the question – who is really the best league in Europe?
As we said, there are a variety of ways to look at the question. The website “Transmarket” arranged for us all the leagues in Europe according to the total value of the teams and some would argue that this is one of the criteria for the title “the best in Europe” – the value of the teams that compete in it. Who is first in the above list? The Premier League, which has almost double the value of teams in second place, with 9.82 billion euros. In second place is La Liga, with a total value of 5.03 billion euros. Serie A is in third place (4.71 billion), Bundesliga in fourth (4.09 billion) and Ligue 1 in fifth place (3.46 billion, almost 900 million of which belong to Paris). Our expensive Premier League is somewhere in 25th place on the list, with a total team value of 137.2 million euros.
Another way to look at the question of the best in the world is the European titles. The question “Who is the best league in Europe” has answers almost every year, with three (until recently 2) recognized establishments where the best teams in Europe play, with the aim of proving who is the best. This is of course the Champions League, the European League and now also the Conference League, but some will say that multiple titles show the strength of certain teams and not of leagues. However, for the purposes of this article, we will refer to this figure as well, in a slightly different way. Real Madrid is indeed at the top of the all-time wins table with 14, 2 times more than the second place (Milan), but this points to the strength of the Blancos, not of the Spanish league. Throughout history, 19 Champions League titles went to Spain, 14 more titles went to England, 12 went to the boot country Italy and 8 titles came to Germany, which as mentioned still gives the advantage to the Spanish league in this department. And what about the Europa League? 13 titles went to Spanish, 9 to Italian, 8 to English and 7 to German. In this segment of the data, the dominance is all Spanish.
Another way to attack the question of the best league in Europe is – which league is the most competitive? Which league provides its viewers with the most crazy endings, close games and close championship races? One way to look at this question is how many different teams have taken state championships since the turn of the millennium. In this figure, in terms of the top five leagues, France is the most diverse league, with 8 different winners of the championship title since 2000. England is in second place with 6 teams, Germany with 5, and Italy and Spain with 4 different teams each. However, when we expand our search to the top 25 leagues, the answer becomes interesting – the Swedish top league is the most diverse in Europe since the turn of the millennium, with 10 different teams winning the championship title since 2000. The Premier League, by the way, equaled the English league with 6 winners Various (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel BS, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem and Ironi Kash).
The most competitive league can also be determined in another way, and that is in which league was the smallest difference between the first place and the last place? In other words, in which league was the distribution of points more equal? Let’s start by comparing the top five leagues in Europe (because the size of the leagues are more or less the same) and then expand the search: well, of the top 5 leagues, Spain and France were the most competitive in the 2021/22 season, with a difference of 55 points between the champion and the team in last place . Italy and Germany came in second place with a difference of 59 points, while in England (the league that was previously claimed to be the most competitive), the difference between the champion and last place was no less than 71 points. And what happens when you expand the search? The Premier League still remains the least tight league, but when it comes to the tightest league, we’ve got a new claimant to the crown – the Austrian Bundesliga. At the end of last season, the difference between the champion and the team in last place was only 31 points. It can be argued that the size of the league affects the amount of points a team can accumulate, but this should not significantly increase or decrease the difference between first and last place, what’s more, in Austria 32 league rounds are played, compared to 38 in England – the difference is not great.
The last thing we’ll look at is the average age in the league. It can be argued that turbulent, young and rhythmic football can only come from a league where most of the players are young, hungry for success and victories, so a younger league would be more enjoyable. Who do you think is in last place among the top 25 leagues? In our case, the Spanish league is the oldest of the 25 majors, with an average age of 27.6. The Premier League is quite close behind with an average age of 27, while in Italy, Germany and France the average age is around 26. The title of “youngest league” is held by the Danish league, with an average age of 24.5. Our Premier League, by the way, has an average age similar to that of the Italian/Spanish/French, with the average age of the players in Israel being about 25.9.
So as you have seen, there are several ways to attack data and from here, each of you can learn new details about the different leagues in Europe. The Spanish are leading in the number of titles, the English are prestigious, the French are the most diverse and the most competitive (despite PSG’s control), but at the end of the day, after all the data and the ways to present it, one remains with personal taste. Whether a league is boring or exciting, everyone likes what they like and everyone will argue in favor of their league. By the way, the answer to the question “Who is the best league in Europe in my opinion”, is hidden a little above the beginning of the text and below the picture at the top of the page.
