Rank the top 15 soccer leagues (into 4 tiers)

[pc4th]

In your opinion, what are the top 15 soccer leagues (measure by the overall quality of that league)? Please rank them into 4 tiers. You can put 1 league or 5 leagues into the first tier if you want, it's all up to you.

Here's my opinion

First Tier (3): Premiership, La Liga, Series A
Second Tier(2): Bundesliga, Ligue 1
Third Tier(5): Brazil, Argentina, Netherland, Portugual, Mexico First Divison
Fourth Tier (5): J-league, English Championship, Russian Premier League, Major League Soccer and Scottish Premier League

[The Old Lady Hertha]

First Tier: Premiership, La Liga, Serie A
Second tier: Bundesliga, Ligue Un
Third Tier: Brazil, Apertura, Portuguese, Dutch, RPL
Fourth Tier: English Championship, Turkey, Greece, Mexico, J-League

[Perú FC]

First Tier (3): English, Spanish, Italian
Second Tier (1): German
Third Tier (3): Brazilian, Argentine, French
Fourth Tier (8): Dutch, Portuguese, Mexican, Russian, Colombian, Greek, Turkish, Ukrainian

[Dr. Know]

First Tier: La liga, Premiership, Serie A
Second Tier: Bundesliga
Third Tier: Ligue 1, Primera Division Argentina, Brasileirao, Eredivisie, Portuguese.
Fourth Tier: Russian, Greek, Mexican, Turkish, Championship

[KumarsS]

First Tier (3): English, Spanish, Italian
Second Tier (1): German
Third Tier (3): Brazilian, Argentine, French
Fourth Tier (8): Dutch, Portuguese, Mexican, Russian, Colombian, Greek, Turkish, Ukrainian

I agree with this. Spot-on.

[episkeptis]

The Greek league has no place in world's top 15 leagues, and I am really surprised to see people rate it so high, the feeling in Greece is that it is a mediocre league and there are no signs that things will get any better in the near future.

[KumarsS]

The Greek league has no place in world's top 15 leagues, and I am really surprised to see people rate it so high, the feeling in Greece is that it is a mediocre league and there are no signs that things will get any better in the near future.

I think we rate it more highly than we should just because we see a couple of their teams in the CL each year...

[Icarus_222]

The Greek league has no place in world's top 15 leagues, and I am really surprised to see people rate it so high, the feeling in Greece is that it is a mediocre league and there are no signs that things will get any better in the near future.

Well this season Greek clubs seem to be proving you wrong thus far.

Unless you support that black and white team from Thessaloniki? Then for sure you would be complaining. :rolleyes:

[episkeptis]

Well this season Greek clubs seem to be proving you wrong thus far.

Not really. The attendances are really low, the referees are quite possibly the worst in Europe, most stadiums are simply awful and the quality of the players is very low. Don't let this years' results in Europe fool you, the league is way far from being considered one of the best.

[Matt12]

well as i got limited knowelged of lower league qualite inn diffrent nations i will not include them, i also have rather limited knowlege of football outside europe even if i have seen some games from brasil and argentina.

1. England
2. Spain
3. Italy
4. Germany
5. France
6. Holland
7. Portugal
8. Brasil
9. Argentina
10/11. Turk/Scot

after this it gets kinda hard to rate.

as you see i have not included Mexico or Japan and that is not cause i think there leagues are so bad but cause i really dont have enoff info on them to say were they woude fit

i also see that the MLS is rate among the 15 best with some ppl and thats just silly i have seen rather many MLS games and they are not that good.

i mean Norway probebly have a better league then the US does and they are not that good.

[elprincipe]

well as i got limited knowelged of lower league qualite inn diffrent nations i will not include them, i also have rather limited knowlege of football outside europe even if i have seen some games from brasil and argentina.

1. England
2. Spain
3. Italy
4. Germany
5. France
6. Holland
7. Portugal
8. Brasil
9. Argentina
10/11. Turk/Scot

after this it gets kinda hard to rate.

as you see i have not included Mexico or Japan and that is not cause i think there leagues are so bad but cause i really dont have enoff info on them to say were they woude fit

i also see that the MLS is rate among the 15 best with some ppl and thats just silly i have seen rather many MLS games and they are not that good.

i mean Norway probebly have a better league then the US does and they are not that good.

Obviously you are entitled to your opinion, but I find it laughable to say the Norwegian league is better than MLS. You could argue Rosenborg are a better side than any MLS side, and it is arguable (I'd still disagree), but on the whole MLS is way above that league.

I also find it very strange that you have the Dutch and Portuguese leagues ahead of Argentina and Brazil, which I feel are on par with the French league.

I guess I'd better put up:

Tier I: Spain, England, Italy, Germany
Tier II: France, Argentina, Brazil
Tier III: Mexico, USA (MLS), Holland
Tier IV: Portugal, Turkey, Russia, Greece, Ukraine

[IRRE101]

Tier 1:Premiership,La Liga
Tier 2:Seria A,Bandesliga, la champeonat
Tier 3:Eredervise, Brasilierao,Portuguese,Argentino
Tier 4:Ukranian, Mexican primera, MLS,Turkish,Greek,Scotish,Russian

[pc4th]

In your opinion, what are the top 15 soccer leagues (measure by the overall quality of that league)? Please rank them into 4 tiers. You can put 1 league or 5 leagues into the first tier if you want, it's all up to you.


Just to clarify. You should rank the leagues in 'overall quality' (from the champions to the last-placed team).

You can't rank them based only on the top 1-2 teams. For example, you need to look at the whole Scottish Premier League and not just Celtics and Rangers. Likewise with the Norwegian League, Portuguese League, Russian Premier League, Dutch League, Turkish League, Greek League etc...you need to look at it from top table to mid table to bottom table teams.

[Matt12]

elprincipe (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/member.php?u=98600) i want to make a small correction to my previous post.

as i said i have seen a limited amount of games from argentina and brasil so i migth be wrong there, maybe the league is better then the impresion i have due to my lack of info.

and second about the Norwegian league vs MLS you are correct the norwegian league is not better and that was well wrong of me to say.

but i woude say they are of about the same qualite. and both of them are far from been among the top leauges inn the world. and i do think there is a few folks here that overestimate the qualite of MLS

but i guess it is natural, i got friends that argue that the norweguian league is on par with portugal and holland =_=

[Boloni86]

1 - Spain, England, Italy

2 - Germany, France, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil

3 - Holland, Scotland, Turkey, Russia, Portugal

4 - USA, Belgium

Honorable mentions - Colombia, Japan, Korea, China, Australia, Greece, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Romania and Poland.

I'm sure the leagues in Chile, Uruguay and Peru are not so bad but it's hard to rate since I never see or hear about them. There's probably more decent leagues in the Muslim world (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt) ... but I never hear about them.

[geeko79]

Obviously you are entitled to your opinion, but I find it laughable to say the Norwegian league is better than MLS. You could argue Rosenborg are a better side than any MLS side, and it is arguable (I'd still disagree), but on the whole MLS is way above that league.

I also find it very strange that you have the Dutch and Portuguese leagues ahead of Argentina and Brazil, which I feel are on par with the French league.

I guess I'd better put up:

Tier I: Spain, England, Italy, Germany
Tier II: France, Argentina, Brazil
Tier III: Mexico, USA (MLS), Holland
Tier IV: Portugal, Turkey, Russia, Greece, Ukraine

I guess you have never watched Brazilian club soccer...aweful stuff. Diving, crap refs, really poor stadiums and broke clubs!

France would be on par with Protugal along with Germany and Holland who consistenly comprise the 4, 5, 6 spots as Europe top leagues

T1: Spain, England, Italy
T2: Fance, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Holland
T3: Brazil, Mexico, USA
T4: Turkey, Russia, Greece

[elprincipe]

elprincipe (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/member.php?u=98600) i want to make a small correction to my previous post.

as i said i have seen a limited amount of games from argentina and brasil so i migth be wrong there, maybe the league is better then the impresion i have due to my lack of info.

and second about the Norwegian league vs MLS you are correct the norwegian league is not better and that was well wrong of me to say.

but i woude say they are of about the same qualite. and both of them are far from been among the top leauges inn the world. and i do think there is a few folks here that overestimate the qualite of MLS

but i guess it is natural, i got friends that argue that the norweguian league is on par with portugal and holland =_=

Well, it is all opinion of course, my friend. I also agree with you that there are a fair few who are a little overzealous in proclaiming the quality of MLS. Sure, MLS has improved a heck of a lot from 1996, but it just isn't one of the top leagues in the world. But it is at a point where the best players can go to Europe in some of the bigger leagues and succeed.

Argentina and Brazil have good leagues even without most of their top players. Both countries have so many good players coming up that even as the top players are "harvested" by big European leagues they have another crop of talent. You can see this in a competition like the World Club Cup, where South American teams have been very successful.

And the Norwegian league on par with Portugal or Holland? Tell me they are joking! :)

[elprincipe]

I guess you have never watched Brazilian club soccer...aweful stuff. Diving, crap refs, really poor stadiums and broke clubs!

France would be on par with Protugal along with Germany and Holland who consistenly comprise the 4, 5, 6 spots as Europe top leagues

T1: Spain, England, Italy
T2: Fance, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Holland
T3: Brazil, Mexico, USA
T4: Turkey, Russia, Greece

I've actually seen a fair bit of the Brazilian league. Sure, there is diving, but not more than many other leagues I've seen. The refs are better than MLS, although that's not saying much obviously. And yes, the stadiums are in fairly poor condition and the clubs in bad financial condition, but so what? That does not change the quality of the teams.

If you've seen the Brazilian league, I think you can understand how I might feel teams like Sao Paulo, Santos and Corinthians (among others) would do very well in the French league.

[Matt12]

elprincipe (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/member.php?u=98600)

yeah sure the MLS has improved a lot, and i do belive that it has potensial to be far better then many european leauges.

i mean seriously you got like 300+ mill folks, and england has about 50 mill so even with a lot lower intrest it will still be a lot of fotball fans inn the US

and as for norway i belive the MLS will become a much better leauge again based on the population the total population of norway is 4.5 mill

meaning that the us has a much larger pool of talents to draw from and also likely to get much more folks inn the stadiums giveing better revenue and the ability to get more talented players

and no i`m sorry to say that the holland and portugal thige is true i guess there is crazy fan boys every were.

i do think Rosenborg could comptet with the top teams inn Holland and Portugal but the league as a hole is no were near.

[AKITOD]

First Tier : Premiership, La Liga, Serie A
Second Tier : Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Argentina
Third Tier : Brazil, J-League, MLS, Netherlands, Scotland, Mexico
Fourth Tier: Switzerland, A-League, K-League

I rated them on how good they are and how much potential to grow. Also how well structured it is.

People will argue that J-League doesn't deserve to be tier 3, but I put it there cause of how it is organised, and I think it has got a lot of potential seeing as it is only just over a decade old. It's got 2 divisions already with plans for many many more teams. The money being poured into the teams is good (usually from motor companies, like mitsubishi for Urawa Reds or Nissan for Yokohama F Marinos)

I think also that MLS will get better, I think that no matter how far past his prime he is, Beckham will make an impact on American football.

A-League is 4th tier cause quality. It is run like crap though.