What is the best league in the world? This is a question that provokes a great deal of discussion. It is often based domestic dominance coupled with European achievement, so English clubs were strong in the late 70’s, early 80’s, Italian teams then dominated, with England and Spain have periods of strength since then. German teams continue their presence in the Champions League, while French clubs have had a renaissance in recent years, with Marseilles, Monaco, Auxerre and in particular Lyon taking notable scalps. However it is seen at the moment as a straight shoot out between La Liga and the Premier League. The styles of football vary greatly, with Spanish clubs generally attempting to copy Barca’s tika-teka football to varying degrees. The Premier League is based more on more direct, not necessarily Wimbledon style long ball, fast football, where technical ability may be inferior, but games are often close and dramatic. There are many different aspects to cover when comparing leagues, but I have looked at only a few to get a flavour of both leagues.
Domestic League
Many critics are pointing out that La Liga is now just a two horse race, and it is turning out to be something similar to the Scottish League. Since 2004/05, it has been a Barcelona and Madrid top 2 (bar 07/08 when Villarreal finished runners-up to Barca). It has been a Man. Utd and Chelsea stranglehold each year, with only Arsenal and Liverpool’s runners-up positions in 2005 and 2009 respectively breaking up the monopoly. Many argue that the Premier League has a more entertaining title finish, and this may be true for the first few months of the season, but when the dusts settles, it is the same teams that dominate.If we look beyond the top two, we can see that there is a clear gap in the respective leads. If we are to look at the last seven seasons as mentioned, on average, the difference between 2nd and 3rd is just over 5 points in England. In La Liga, that gap is 12 points. However in the last two seasons has seen a change in Spain, with these margins 25 and 21 points. While teams are more competitive in England, the notion that the Spanish League is inferior due to the top 2 is slightly diluted when compared to final standings in the Premier League.
Champions League
Historically, Spain has the edge in Europe’s premier competition, with 2 more wins (13) and 2 more losses (9) than their English counter-parts. Looking at the past 10 years specifically shows very contrasting fortunes. Barcelona (3) and Madrid (1) take the Spanish tally to four wins, with United and Liverpool winning one a piece. The competition has had more woe for English sides, losing 6 of the last 7 finals. Interestingly, it is generally accepted that Serie A has fallen well behind Spain, England and possibly Germany in the pecking order, but have had more winners (3) than both the Premiership (2) and the Bundesliga (1).
Finances
Spain comes out on top when it comes to revenues individually. Real Madrid topped the pole this year for money earned with €438m, with Barcelona second (€398m) and Man. Utd third with €349m. In total however, the Premier League generates far more revenue than its Spanish counterpart. During the 2009/10 season, the English league generated €2.43 billion, compared to La Liga’s €1.35 billion, which actually put it behind Serie A and the Bundesliga.
Man. Utd had topped this richest clubs list for almost a decade, but in recent years have been overtaken by the Spanish giants, due mainly the differing television rights that exist in both countries. In Spain there is a major imbalance, as clubs negotiate their own individual deals. In 2006, Mediaproduccion SL struck a deal with Real getting €1.1 billion and €1 billion going to Barcelona. Around 40% of their revenue comes from TV money.
In the Premier League, there is far greater equality. Despite Man. Utd finishing top, and West Ham finishing bottom last season, both clubs received £13.8m each for domestic TV income, and £17.9m each for foreign TV right. The amount of times shown live on TV (Man. Utd 26 times vs. West Ham’s 14) is the only difference. The Premier League offers £756,756 for each position in the league, so West Ham received this sum, with United getting twenty times this figure, £13.5m.
The difference in TV income is huge, with the big 2 Spanish clubs earning more than 60% more than United, the top earning English team. In fact they receive more than double the broadcast revenue of biggest Spanish rival Valencia and 15 times that of seven La Liga teams. Remarkably, there are discussions underway in Spain discussing a new TV agreement for the 2015/16 season. Under the agreement, the largest two Spanish clubs, Read Madrid and Barcelona, would share 34 percent of all income, Atletico Madrid and Valencia would share 11 percent, the remaining 16 top-tier Spanish clubs would split 45 percent equally, and there would be parachute payments for relegated clubs.
Home Grown Talent
Barcelona’s recent success has been championed even further due to the amount of home-grown talent in the squad. The side that beat Man. Utd contained 7 Spaniards, and 8 players that came through the ranks, a remarkable feat in the modern era. While this is the exception rather than the rule, it is indicative of the Spanish league as a whole. Over 70% of registered players in La Liga are Spanish, compared with less than 40% English players in the Premier League (as of 2009). This has been used as a reason for many as to why the national teams have performed differently over recent times, and it is certainly a contributing factor. There has been an influx of foreign players in the Premiership in the last 15 years, but England’s international record has been relatively poor (Italia 90 and Euro 96 aside) since 1966.
