The Best League in the World

[g7vikings]

I'm going to be disappointed if I never get to see this tournament.

[Childish]

Unlike most people I won't pretend to have enough European football knowledge to fairly say how the 14th ranked team in these four leagues would do against each other.

[ic]

He's missed out the 5th best league in the world, the championship!

[Maskya Yoshida]

I think we'd beat half the teams in the Premier League so that's a good shout.

[Deleted]

Think I have the Prem winning but not with a great deal of knowledge on the bottom end of the Bundesliga or La Liga tbh. Italian knowledge is based on 2/3 years ago as well when I had a housemate who was a religious follower of any Serie A game he could stream too so my recent knowledge on that only really extends to that fat bastard Andow88 not getting a game for Fiorentina.

When these debates come up you always get a few people wanting to take shots at the English league because it's so rammed down everyone's throats. I think this season is a bit of an anomaly in the CL that allows people like Keane to talk shite. United are woeful, City are going to learn in Europe (signs of it this season I think)/their coefficient will surely improve over a few years, Chelsea are always strong in Europe but don't have a centre forward and Liverpool will be strong again, no doubt, when they get back into the CL. Arsenal are a bit of an unknown quantity but they always do well in the group, it's just usually the knockouts come when they're in bottling mode. If you look longer term over like the last 10 years at finalists/semi-finalists in the CL I don't think there's any league that touches the Prem at the top end in terms of that, especially the range of teams who have done well in it.

[#FreeBTS]

Think people might be underestimating the Spanish teams in midtable/towards the bottom a bit. Betis have been woeful in La Liga this year but are through to the last 16 of the Europa League, and I think the way a lot of the teams down the bottom of there play would dominate English sides.

[Childish]

I think people saying Arsenal choke in the last 16 is very harsh. Theyve been eliminated by Bayern and Barca twice in the last four years. The only disappointing one was losing 4-0 to Milan, iirc Arsenal were wank that year though and RVP/Spurs total collapse just about got them to CL football that year.

[Olivier]

Does South American football just get forgotten about in these "best in the world" things?

[#FreeBTS]

Who is etc etc? Not pretending I've watched tons of South American football, but I've seen the odd game between top teams and the Club World Cup to say that you could argue for Brazil above France, never mind 'etc etc'. But it's not like you to get involved in things you don't have a clue about is it Mike?

[cl7]

tbf, he's named five countries . all five of which have a better domestic league than any of the South Americans. I'd say if you're in 6th place you're not in 'best in the world' contention.

their national teams are excellent, and they produce possibly the best individual talent as they always have done. but all of that talent ends up in Europe - where all the money is and where all the top teams are. I.e neymar who's possibly one of the best natural talents in decades , but had to come to Europe to be taken seriously. if he hadn't, he'd of been 'overrated' for his whole career.

[#FreeBTS]

Neither of you watch Brazilian football though. And I seriously doubt either of you watch the midtable-to-lower teams of Italy, Germany, France or Spain either, and almost definitely not against eachother, mostly watching them get battered or putting up a brave fight vs a far bigger side. Now taking into account that Brazil has a far more balanced league than any of the European ones mentioned, while accepting that the top teams in these leagues (Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG, Chelsea, Man City, Juventus and the like) are a class above, I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility to suggest that the spread of quality throughout the league could compete with the mid-tier teams comfortably. Hardly like the Copa Libertadores clubs embarrass themselves in the Club World Cup either, and this is playing against the best of the best (as well as the topsy-turvy nature of Brazilian football means the clubs competing are hardly runaway leaders [i.e. the best sides] again, as is so often the case with the European teams). Corinthians deservedly beat Chelsea not so long ago, and there are some seriously talented players out there playing in their peaks who would walk into a lot of European sides. It's not like the likes of Lucas Moura and Neymar have needed a massive bedding-in period either, suggesting that the quality is definitely there.

They might well be the sixth-best national league in the world. But it certainly deserves a bit more than 'nah, obviously not' from two people who quite frankly, quite literally don't know what they're talking about.

[Gianni Infantino]

I don't rate Brazilian football but Argentine football is quality.

[Stu]

Theres a reason players from the Argentinian or Brazilian leagues jump ship as soon as a European side is interested.

[Gianni Infantino]

Yeah. more money and more exposure, meaning more sponsorship opportunities and even more money. Some of them are still competitive. Pato went back young, and many players want to go back and finish their careers there once they've earned enough from European football.

[cl7]

so for you to say they have a 'far more balanced league' im assuming you watch it? or do you , quite literally, have no idea what you're talking about as well?

the top clubs and players are in Europe , the best teams in Europe most of the time would trounce the best South American sides (as you agreed tbf, I think anyway.) all the best talent and top clubs being in Europe in my opinion means the best football is in Europe. and again in my opinion, that much is self justifying. I don't need to go and watch cortiba vs vasco du gama .