Descriptions of soccer leagues from around the world.

[pc4th]

Let's make this thread an 'educational thread' that will provide us with knowledge about as many soccer leagues around the world as possible.

If you believe your knowledge about a particular league is good/doable, then feel free and give us a description of that league. (preferably top flight leagues in that country, but you are welcome to do second division).

(1) names of the teams and cities/towns that they are based in.
(2) how the league determine its champion.
(3) is there promotion and relegation?
(4) popularity of that league in that country
(5) average attendance (or your best guess of it)
(6) average player salary (or your best guess of it)
(7) season calender (season begin when and end when)
(8) where do you think the league is headed?
(9) other useful informations


I know that a lot of posters out there would be interested in soccer league in (for example) : Russia, Israel, Kuwait, India, Australia, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, China, Japan, South Africa, Egypt, France, Norway, Ghana, Hong Kong as well as many others....

I know that we (Big Soccer posters) have knowledge of probably on average about 4 or 5 soccer leagues out there, but one person might know something about a league that others might not know. Let's hope that we can cover at least 30 leagues.

p.s. if this thread is good enough, i will place it in the unofficial Big Soccer hall of Fame: a collection of useful and best threads in BS past and present.
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68802.

Can someone take Canada's top flight league? I heard it is easy to do. (p.s. I wish I could do MLS but there are many posters out there that would do the job 100 times better so I will pass).

[garbaggio]

An excellent resource for this info is a book I just bought for my brother as a Christmas gift:

Soccer Yearbook 2003-4 by David Goldblatt. I've never seen as much soccer info about so many different countries in a single volume.

[themodelcitizen]

As of yet Canada lacks an official system to determine a true national champion. We have 4 clubs in the A-League, the 2nd division to America's MLS. The Voyageurs, a fan club for the Canadian soccer program, organize a "Voyageurs Cup" that compiles the results from the A-League games between our teams and awards a trophy to the winner. The A-League teams average attendance around a few thousand, from what I understand. The teams are:

Toronto Lynx
Montreal Impact
Calgary Storm
Vancouver Whitecaps

Also in Canada there are a number of regional leagues; perhaps the most credible is the CPSL, a roughly 10-team league based in the populous Ontario-Quebec corridor. Attendances are relatively low, probably maxing out at a few hundred and at the lowest just friends and family of the teams.

Plans for a Canadian league have been proposed but inevitably scrapped. We've been promised a Canadian Open Cup by the Canadian Soccer Association that would bring together teams from all across Canada to determine a champion that could hypothetically represent our country in the CONCACAF Championship. The truth is, Canada's massive geography and resulting sparse fan base makes organizing any championships difficult.

[AFCA]

Netherlands

DIV 1 (Gouden Gids Divisie)

The Dutch first division is the only professional league in the Netherlands below the Eredivisie that remained. Division 2 and 3 dissapeared in the late 70's and early 80's.

The champion of this league wins straight promotion. Furthermore, the league is divided into 4 periods of 11 matches. The winners of these periods win a place in the so called after competition. In this competition four Div 1 and 2 Eredivisie clubs (nr 16 and 17 of that season) are equally divided into 2 groups that play a round robin. The winners of these groups get to play in the Eredivisie the year after.

ATM 19 teams play in Div 1.

Attendances are quite low, ranging from 1000 to +- 10.000. But the latter is quite rare and only reserved for newly relegated teams like De Graafschap. I think the average would be around 4000. There are several amateur teams that draw much bigger numbers than most Div 1 teams.

Excelsior
From: Rotterdam (pop. 600.000)
Stadium: Woudesteijn (cap. 3450)
Colours: red/black

Satellite club of feyenoord rotterdam

Cambuur Leeuwarden
From: Leeuwarden (pop. 91.000)
Stadium: Cambuur stadion (cap. 10.000)
Colours: Yellow/Blue

Second club from Friesland, deadly rivals of SC Heerenveen, although the gap is very wide

FC Den Bosch
From: Den Bosch (pop. 133.000)
Stadium: FC Den Bosch stadion (cap. 8500)
Colours: Blue/White

Biggest 'asset' of club seems to be their hooligans. Other than that it's a bit of a bore. Rivalry with PSV, NAC, Den Haag, Top Oss

Emmen
From: Emmen (pop. 109.000)
Stadium: Meerdijk (cap. 8600)
Colours: Red/White

FC Dordrecht
From: Dordrecht (pop. 120.000)
Stadium: GN Bouw stadion (cap. 4100)
Colours: green/black

Crap team, from a crap town in a crap stadium. Fans have a bad reputation as well. No wonder, seeing how Dordrecht really is a place for the hopeless

FC Eindhoven
From: Eindhoven (pop. 206.000)
Stadium: Jan Louwers Stadion (cap. 4500)
Colours: Blue/White

boring

Fortuna Sittard
From: Sittard (98.000)
Stadium: Wagner & Partners stadion (12.500)
Colours: green/yellow

will probably never see Eredivisie again after their last relegation 3 years ago. Rivalry with all other Limburg based clubs (MVV, VVV, Roda JC)

Go Ahead Eagles
From: Deventer (87.000)
Stadium: De Adelaarshorst (6500)
Colours: yellow/red

De Adelaarshorst remains one of the greatest yet smallest stadiums I've ever been to. The place can really rock but has fallen a bit silent lately. Deadly rivals of FC Zwolle and in the past NAC

FC Haarlem
From: Haarlem (150.000)
Stadium: Haarlem-stadion (3500)
Colours: Blue/red

Ruud Gullit started his career here. Haarlem away was once a difficult match. Nowadays only a trip you soon forget. Absolute misery, except for a small but colourful hardcore. Deadly rivals of Telstar. My girl's uncle used to play here (he also played for several other clubs such as Sparta and now works as an assistant for AZ) His brother played for feyenoord, Tottenham, Real Madrid and others. Now we all know, so enough of this

Helmond Sport
From: Helmond (85.000)
Stadium: De Braak (4000)
Colours: Red/black

Heracles
From: Almelo (70.000)
Stadium: Polman Stadion (4500)
Colours: White/black

MVV
From: Maastricht (122.000)
Stadium: De geusselt (10.000)
Colours: Red/white

Used to be an interesting club that would sometimes come up and play a great season. Glad to be alive at the moment. Rivals of all other Limburg clubs.

Sparta rotterdam
From: rotterdam (600.000)
Stadium: Eneco stadion (11.000)
Colours: red/white/black

Third rotterdam based club. Sometimes reffered to as the only club for real rotterdammers. Usually sing 'Sparta is de club van rotterdam' in harmony with Ajax supporters. Until their relegation 2 years ago they were one of the few clubs never to relegate from the Eredivisie. Rivals of feyenoord and excelsior rotterdam.

Telstar(/Stormvogels Combinatie)
From: Velsen (70.000)
Stadium: Sportpark Schoonenberg (3050)
Colours: all white

Rivalry with AZ and most of all Haarlem

Top Oss
From: Oss (76.000)
Stadium: Top Oss stadion (4600)
Colours: red/white

Nothing special, but kind of like Dordt notorious for their fans. Oss is generally acknowledged as a place that outsiders should not hang around. Crazy people over there. Rivals: anyone from the province of Brabant. Mostly PSV and NAC I believe.

Veendam
From: veendam (that list is only so long)
Stadium: De Langeleegte (6150)
Colours: yellow/black

De Graafschap
From: Doetinchem (if ever there was a piece of sh!t on the map)
Stadium: De Vijverberg (11.000)
Colours: blue/white

I don't believe anyone doesn;t want de Graafschap to return to Eredivisie level. Great club, great supporters, sometimes electrical atmosphere. An asset to Dutch football in every way. Rivals of Vitesse and to some extent NEC. Hooligan rivalry with Willem 2. Why bother? Very possible they will meet Vitesse again soon. Either in Div 1 or Eredivisie

VVV
From: Venlo (91.000)
Stadium: De Koel (5100)
Colours: yellow/black

Weird stadium. They got grass hills inside man! Smallest 2 tier stadium ever.

AGOVV
From: Apeldoorn (160.000)
Stadium: Sportpark Berg en bos (2100)
colours: blue/white

Making their 'debut' this year in pro footbal after having been away for 32 years. Holding their own.

Eredivisie some other time kiddos!

[aloisius]

Now let me get this straight. Isn’t the brother of your girl’s uncle also her uncle?
Could you tell us his name ? Maybe some people will know about him if he played for those clubs.

[Jimjamesak]

Alright I'll do it for our uninformed friends...

Major League Soccer aka MLS

First Division for the United States
10 franchise based teams expanding to 12 in 2005 (Teams are operated by ownership groups that buy into the league as investors)
No promotion/relegation with our Second Division
Players contracts are owned by the league not by the teams (this and owner/investor are referred to as Single Entity format)
Salary Cap for teams limits players salaries
Two Conferences (an East/West split) 5 teams each
Playoff system decides Champion (Top 4 teams from each Conference advance to playoffs, 1 seed plays 4 seed, 2 seed plays 3 seed in home-home aggregate goal playoff, winners adavnce to single game elimination conference final playoff hosted by higher ranking seed, winners of these matches advance to "MLS Cup Final" at predetermined site for final game, Winner of this wins Championship)
Season: April-October (No break)
The 10 teams are
Western Conference
Los Angles Galaxy
Stadium: Home Depot Center (Carson,Calif.)
Titles won: 1 (2002)
Main Rival: San Jose Earthquakes, Columbus Crew
Colors: Green/Gold

San Jose Earthquakes
Stadium: Spartan Stadium (San Jose, Calif.)
Titles won: 2 (2001, 2003)
Main Rival: Los Angles Galaxy
Colors: Blue/White

Colorado Rapids
Stadium: Invesco Field (Denver, Colo.)
Titles won: none
Main Rival: Kansas City Wizards (???)
Colors: Black/Blue/Green

Dallas Burn
Stadium: Cotton Bowl (Dallas, Texas)
Titles won: none
Main Rival: Chicago Fire
Colors: Black/Red

Kansas City Wizards
Stadium: Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)
Titles won: 1 (2000)
Main Rival: Colorado Rapids
Colors: Light Blue/White

Eastern Conference
D.C. United
Stadium: Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Stadium (Washington D.C.)
Titles won: 3 (1996,1997,1999)
Main Rival: MetroStars, New England Revolution
Colors: Black/White/Red

MetroStars (New York City)
Stadium: Giants Stadium (E. Rutherford, NJ)
Titles won: none
Main Rival: D.C. United, New England Revolution
Colors: Red/Black/White

Columbus Crew
Stadium: Crew Stadium (Columbus, Ohio)
Titles won: none
Main Rival: Los Angles Galaxy, Chicago Fire
Colors: Yellow/Black

Chicago Fire
Stadium: New Soldier Field (Chicago, Illinois)
Titles won: 1 (1998)
Main Rival: Dallas Burn, Columbus Crew
Colors: Red/White

New England Revolution
Stadium: Gilette Stadium (Foxboro, Mass.)
Titles won: none
Main Rival: MetroStars, D.C. United
Colors: Blue/White/Red


I know it's not the point of the thread but hey I wanted to!

[RichardL]

I'll repost what I put on the English other divisions board at the tail end of last season (my excuse for a few wide of the mark predictions) after a west ham fan asked what Div 1 would be like - either scary or a breeze depending on the attitude of your players. West Ham should be favourites next season, but any premiership side coming down who lack the bottle for a scrap will feel like they've been fed to the wolves (not "The Wolves"). If they go to somewhere like Gillingham on a tuesday night and think "tiny little ground, they must be rubbish. this is going to be easy" then it could be a shock to the system. It's a very tight division, much much tighter than the premiership, so if you get on a roll (either good or bad) the results tend to continue.

Div 1

Bradford City - A typical lower division club until relatively recently. Promotion to the premier league created a surge of optimism in the club which wasn't matched by the bailiffs who put the club into administration. The result of which was the handy ability to default payment on the two large new stands built at the ground. Have to struggle for support against not only Leeds a few miles away, but perhaps more tellingly, with Barnstoneworth United whose home ground is at Salts FC, Saltaire, a few miles north. Only the fact that Bradford players all normally have shorts give them the edge.

Burnley. Very traditional older club. Founder members of the football league in 1888. A small town team with good support. Their record crowd of 54,775 works out at about 75% of the population of the town. Were heading for lower division obscurity in the 80s and were one match from dropping out of the football league altogether. In a season where crowds had slumped below 2000 on 5 occasions and were averaging under 2500, they pulled in nearly 16,000 to see them win their last game to stay in the league.

Coventry - "City avoid relegation with last day victory" was a reccurring headline for 30 years as coventry battled the odds to stay in the top division year after year. With crowds nothing special by Div 1 standards, are constantly claiming to be about to build a huge new arena stadium. The opening date is pencilled in as being the same day that Tim Henman wins a wimbledon semi-final.

Crewe Alexandra - for years perennial strugglers in Div 4 but now definitely the cutest club in the league. Play lovely football. Their manager Dario Gradi has been there so long he can remember picking up tips from watching Swansea on match of the day. Their ground, of which 70% of the seats are in one 7000 seat stand, is 100 yards from Crewe railway station, one of the main junctions of Britain's rail network and anorak capital of ther world. The accumulated static electricity from the man-made fibres worn by the trainspotters on the platforms generates enough power to light and heat the tea bar in the family stand.

Crystal Palace. Will finish 12th, forever.

Derby - Classic cautionary tale. Thought they were far too good Div 1 and were singing about winning the championship on the opening day of the season. Finished 18th , losing over half of their matches. Should do better next season, but play-off contenders at best.

Ipswich - similar attitude to Derby. Claimed they had a target of 100 points and 100 goals. Missed their targets by a mere 30 points and 20 goals, and that after a late improvement after sacking their manager. Another club who've conveniently used administration as a way of avoiding paying for two expensive new stands. A successful team in the late 70s/early 80s, their fans haven't yet adjusted to the fact that the glory days are over and join a group of about 35 clubs who believe their rightful place is in the premier league. Should do well though, probably second favourites behind West Ham.

Millwall - based in one the roughest parts of London have really suffered with a hooligan element at the club. Recent measures, bringing in a strict membership scheme has vastly reduced trouble but also vastly reduced crowds. Lack of cash might seem them struggle if they have to offload players, but as many of their fans would possibly be quite happy to see them back in Division 2 as a small club that nobody likes (according to Danny Baker anyway) it might not be a bad thing.

Norwich City. Good footballing side. Should have made the play-offs. Decent support too, selling out most of their home games, and as a result plan to build a new bigger stand, and further more intend to do it without going down the admistration freebie route taken by Ipswich, Bradford, Leicester etc. What effect the cost will have on team building remains to be seen.

Nottingham Forest. Twice winners of the European Cup. Have possibly more claim than most to say they are a genuine premier league club. Should be strong again next season. Their main problem could be fans expecting too much.

Preston - pretty much ditto Burnley. Won the first two league championships, but "The Invincibles" as they were known, were one of many old clubs who slumped when the maximum wage was abolished and they haven't been in the top division for over 50 years.

QPR (if promoted). A west London club who possess enough style & panache to play in blue & white hoops. Their ground in just 200 yards from the BBC and many of the Month Python street scenes were filmed in the streets adjacent to the ground. Anyone wishing to tackle the north face of the Uxbridge Road can do so just 100 yards behind the Ellerslie Road stand. The curiously named "Batman Close" is also just round the corner.
Although they are among the "our rightful place is the premier league" set, their fans seem a decent bunch and support hasn't dropped that much since dropping to Division 2. Should do OK if promoted.

Reading. Formed in 1871, or possibly 1872, nobody is really sure, they can rightfully claim to have been a bigger club than the likes of Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea etc for many years, or at least until those clubs formed. For 100 years they turned mediocrity into an art form before celebrating their centenary year by being relegated to division 4 for the first time ever, losing a final match of the season 2-1, with the winner being an own goal by Reading's player of the year. 10 years of Div 4 stagnation followed, punctuated briefy with a short-lived promotion, before rising back to Div 3, setting football league of going 1103 minutes without conceding a goal (the run was ended by an own goal). Next in the news in 1983 the the mad Czech bastard Robert Maxwell, owner of the daily mirror and local rivals Oxford United announced he would merge the two clubs as the thames valley royals. Knowing how the fat crook operated, I think he was confusing the word 'merger' with the phrase 'asset strip'. The takeover bid was beaten, and Reading celebrated in customary style, going back down to Div 4 on the last day of the season. After immediate promotion Reading set a new football league record by winning the first 13 games in a row at the start of the 85-86 season. The record clincher, a 2-0 win at newport county was probably the first time in history that The Sun picked a Div 3 match as its "match of the day". Sadly the TV highlights show of the same name didn't show the match as all football was blacked out during this period as TV rights negotiations had broken down.
Two years later Reading won the Simod Cup (a cup for teams in the top two divisions) at Wembley in front of 45,000+ of Reading's fans (+15,000 from Luton) and celebrated this achievement with another relegation, meaning they were barred from defending the trophy the following year.
In 1995 some more impeccable timing saw Reading finish 2nd in (the now renamed) division 1, the only time since automatic promoton began in the 1890s that finishing second didn't merit automatic promotion. At 2-0 up in the final Reading were awarded a penalty after Jason "girly shampoo advert tart" McAteer brings down a Reading player who looked likely to score. McAteer, who'd already been booked, was let off a second booking. The penalty was missed and it was his through ball that set up Bolton's 87th minute equaliser.
Despite once somehow holding 33,000, Reading's Elm Park ground now only held 15,000 with only 2000 seats and needed replacing. So Reading's chairman, using a chunk of his own cash, built the 24,200 seat Madejski stadium to enable the club to advance. A stadium fit for the premiership was the boast. It opened in summer 1998 and Reading celebrated this latest achievement by being relegated to Division 2.
Never having had a glorious past Reading have few (well none to be exact) famous old great players. The result of which is that Reading's most legendary player is a guy named Robin Friday. A player of truly exceptionally talent, who no top division manger would take a risk on, mainly because he was a drug-taking piss-head. Was barred from the Boars' head, one of Reading's roughest pubs, 8 times, once for dancing naked on the bar. Had his bedroom walls painted black so it wouldn't be so scary when he was on an acid trip. Once scored a goal so sublime that world cup referee clive thomas applauded and asked him why he wasn't playing in the top division. Possibly the only player to have played league football after having a scaffolding pole peirce his rectum in a building site accident.
This season saw Reading make the play-offs comfortably to much scracthing of heads amongst pundits unable to fathom how a team who have spend most of their time in the lower divisions are capable of finishing higher than a team who have won the European cup twice. Next year will be harder, but with the only one decent player (cureton) likely to leave, finishing below halfway would be a disappointment.

Rotherham - small, likeable but determined northern club. The sort of club who'll take great pleasure in knocking the stuffing out of "London nancy boys" if the likes of West Ham aren't up for it at millmoor.

Stoke. Really should do better. Have probably suffered from moving from a decent stadium which felt in the heart of the community to one which feels like it's in the middle of nowhere near a tyre factory. When things are going well the fans sing the Tom jones hit "Delilah", loudly.

Sunderland. Potentially a very big club. Despite proving themselves to be pathetic in the premier this season, and despite the propect of the team being further weakened by the departure of their better players, the "big time" mentality of their fans will see them expect to "probably not lose a game all season". Should do OK, but absolute prime candidates for being next year's Derby.

Walsall. another small, well-run and likeable club. Many a team will go to the Bescot and think they are in for an easy match, and lose.

Watford. will battle Crystal Palace for that 12th spot. Used to be known as "the Family club" and every single set of away fans to visit vicarage road will sing "watford (clap clap clap)" in a high-pitched voice to mimic their supposed typical fan.

WBA. Should be play-off contenders unless their players now think they are too good for division 1 after a year away.

West Ham. Should win the title, but then again shouldn't really have gone down. The fact that an apparently talented team did drop must be the most worrying thing for them. Do they have the commitment?

Wigan. Could well be the surprise package of 2003-4. Coasted to the Div 2 title. Only a lack of finance could hold them back as their support is poor, despite moving to a new 25000 seat stadium. They can afford to give one whole side of 8100 seats to away fans. Being honest they could have just used the one stand for home fans instead.

Wimbledon/Milton Keynes. Play-off dark horses next season. How they'll adapt to their new home in Milton Keynes remains to be seen, as will how many fans they get. Will probably be the least popular club in the division. Two clubs (Spurs & Charlton) have already cancelled friendlies against them after fans' protests.

Wolves. The comic tragedy of the football league. Once a powerful club, the debts incurred after building a new stand sent them crashing from Div 1 to Div 4 in consecutive seasons. Crowds slumped to an average of 4000 and two sides of Molineux were condemned by safety inpectors. After suprisingly losing the Div 4 play-off final to Aldershot they escaped Div 4 in 1988 and 65,000 of their fans helped set what will almost certainly be a record crowd between to Div 4 (now Div 3) teams when they beat Burnley 2-0 in front of 81000 at wembley in the sherpa van trophy final (a cup for teams in the bottom 2 divisions). They went straight up again the following year. Despite a rebuild of the stadium and a budget that would have pentagon military officials casting envious glances, they've yet to make the leap into top flight. Perhaps the most exasperated of the "our rightful place is the premier league" club, their 19 year wait may be at an end if they overcome Sheff Utd in the final on the 26th.


A Sheffield Wednesday fan then asked about Div 2.



Second division? Well pretty much everything I said about the drop into the first applies to the second. the main difference is there are a lot less teams with pace in Division 2. If you have players who can break at speed you'll do well. Jermain Defoe, in his year loan at Bournemouth, made the difference between them being play-off contenders and being relegated. Teams tend to play in spells. If you're playing a team and they're playing well, if you can hold out for 20 minutes or so then you'll be fine as they'll run out of steam. But really, as the likes of Barnsley and Huddersfield have found this year, Division 2 is no respector of history or tradition. Every point really has to be earned. If, a few weeks into the season, your manager has started moaning about teams raising their game because they're playing sheffield wednesday, they be prepared for a long hard season.
One problem Wednesday will have is that every team will love going to Hillsborough as although most Div 2 grounds are a lot tidier than in the past, they aren't very big. It was bad enough at the Madejski where teams would bring about double their usual away support (8 teams brought 2500+ in Div 2 last season, compared to only 7 in Div 1 this season) and I'm sure away to you lot will be an even bigger day out.
Saying that though, if you get on a roll and get some atmosphere going at home, a fair number of teams will bottle it, not being used to large crowds.

As for the clubs, ignoring those who are journeyman clubs who've spent most of their years knocking about in Div 2...

Barnsley - for many years a typical Div 1 team, occasionally threatening to make the push for top flight, before surprising everyone by doing so a few years ago. Overstretched themselves in their 1 year of top flight football and crashed into Div 2. All the women in the town are ugly, according to one of their overseas signings.

Blackpool - a big, or at least successful club in the 1950s. Possessed a stadium that looked older than the dead sea scrolls, half of which has now been rebuilt. Rumours that the away terrace is a wattle and daub construction are unfounded. A nice club though. Play in orange and are almost impossible to dislike.

Bristol City. One of the bigger clubs in the division. Should really have got promoted by now after a few years of trying. Possibly the quickest team in the division. One of only a hanful of clubs who have dropped from the top division to the bottom in consecutive seasons. (Wolves, Northampton and Carlisle being the others).

Bury. Another friendly club. Have floodlight pylons so short the bulbs could probably be changed by a tall person in platform shoes. Have a nice habit of drawing Man Utd away in the cup each time they get hard up.

Cardiff. Perhaps not the sleeping giant the fans like to call the club, but a sleeping tall bloke all the same. Not a pleasant place to visit.

Plymouth. Another club who should be bigger than they are. Second biggest city in England to have never had a top division club (Hull is the biggest). Only team in England who play in green.

Port Vale. Ugly place.

Rushden & Diamonds. 11 years ago Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds were two close clubs who'd bobbled about in the semi-pro game achieving nothing of note. Max Griggs, owner of the nearby Dr Marten boots factory, merged the two and they've gone from the equivalent of Div 6 or 7 to Div 3 in that time, with crowds rising from about 100 to around 5000.

Swindon. the only team to have been promoted twice and relegated in the same season. Won promotion to the premier via the play-offs, then were relegated for financial irregularities to Div 2, which was reduced to relegation to Div 1 on appeal. The won the play-off the following year too and had one year in the top division. Entertained a lot of people in their one year in the top division too - mainly opposition fans as they conceded a lovely round 100 goals. The ground is 100 yards from the country's most stupid roundabout. Type "magic roundabout" and Swindon into a search engine and you'll see what I mean.

Wycombe. Another ex-non-league team. Used to play at a ground which sloped to much that one side of the pitch was 8 feet higher than the other. Moved to adams park at the start of the 90s where Celtic's current boss, Martin O'Neil, cut his managerial teeth leading them into the football league. After being a 'big' non-league club for many years are perhaps in danger of losing fans and moving backwards, as fans adjust from being a big fish in a small pond to being an average fish in an average pond.





For completeness' sake, a Div 3 guide. Apologies to clubs I've not bothered to cover.

Boston - recent addition to the league ranks in an area as starved of league clubs as it is flat. A 4 point deduction for financial irregularities kept them in the relegation scrap for much of the season. Have a really good tight lower division ground and deserve to succeed, but will do well to get in the top half. Their York Street ground is, contrary to popular belief amongst American fans, the only English pro ground to have "street" in its name.

Bournemouth (unless promoted). Rescued from bankruptcy and became the country's first community owned football club. Rebuilt 3/4 of their ground after turning the pitch 90 degrees to make more room, and gave it the catchy title of "The Fitness First Community Stadium". An embarrassing mud bank behind one goal highlights the stage at which the money ran out.

Bristol Rovers. Shouldn't really be in this division. A return to Bristol after a 12 year exile in Bath was meant to herald a re-birth for the club, rather than relegation to Div 3 for the first time ever. They were kicked out of their old ground by the greyhound company who owned it. The ground was then sold and an Ikea superstore built on the site. Curiously one floodlight pylon is still there, overlooking the car park.


Cambridge. A curious club who often achieve either success or failure without previously threatening to do either. A ground best described as quirky, with one third of the home end being taken up by the adjacent corona bottled drink depot. Three of the floodlight pylons point the wrong way and the park behind the away end allows you the chance to contemplate defeat on the long walk to the coach park in the (inevitable) rain whilst being hassled by the horses which loiter menacingly under the footbridge. Fans used to chant "moose!" at every opposition goalkick, for reasons that are perhaps better unknown.

Carlisle. About as far north you can get before entering Scotland. A spell under the chairmanship of Michael Knighton, famed for once buying Man Utd (until it was found he didn't have enough money to actually buy the club) and also famous for being (mis)quoted as saying he was in regular contact with aliens from outer space, produced a wave of enthusiasm and support, but no success at all. Only avoided going out of the league when an on-loan goalkeeper scored a last-minute winner in the final match of the season a couple of years ago.

Cheltenham Town. Visitors to "The 'Nam" as residents of Cheltenham often call their leafy town, will find a pleasant small club, recently out of non-league. The away terrace has a roof so small you expect a bus to turn up at any minute, although waiting ages and then two turning up at once is more likely. Probably deserved relegation last season, if only for the town's dreadful one-way system.

Darlington. One of the clubs they don't mention when they talk about the North East being a hotbed of football. With average gates well under 4000, the decision to move to a new 25,000 seat stadium next season shows ambition the ex-safe-cracker chairman had only previously shown with a blow-torch and crowbar in small banks up and down the country.

Doncaster Rovers - promoted back to the league for next season after a few years away. Almost ceased to exist after an asset-stripping chairman, having done the same to now defunct Bridlington Town, tried to run down the club to such an extent that he'd sell the ground and keep the money himself. When this failed he devised a plan to burn down the main stand and claim the insurance money. Having been caught he was invited to accept some free food & accommodation "at her majesty's pleasure" as a penance. Removed from chairmanship of the club, the Doncaster Rovers PA announcer reacted to the news of the ex-chairman's imprisonment by dedicating a song to "absent friends" - Firestarter by the Prodigy.

Huddersfield Town. Winners of the unofficial 2003 WTF? award for the club whose dreams turned to crap in the most dramatic way. The building of the McAlpine Stadium, Building of the Year in 1995, was meant to herald a return to good fortune for a club who won the league title three years in a row in the 1930s, in days when the pre-match warm up consisted of taking in a good woodbine. Now badly in debt and will be happy to even kick off in 2003-4. Don't expect miracles.

Hull City. Moved into a 25,000 seat stadium (one of 3 in div 3 next season) and will get 15,000 a week. Everything looks rosy for them, except that the team aren't much good. Nicknamed "The Tigers", they once played in a kit which incorporated a 'realistic' tiger stripe design, which meant that it was the only kit which after use, could then have a second life as a tart's pillowcase.

Kidderminster Harriers. Another recent promotee from non-league. Probably just enjoying being in the league for the time being.

Leyton Orient. every Londoner's second team, apparently, mainly because they never seem to be a threat. Quirky fans, possibly a results of being sandwiched between the natural catchment area of Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham, who all take it very seriously. Famously bad away from home, but Brisbane Road is always a joy to visit.

Macclesfield Town. Possibly the smallest league club. Rarely struggled since joined the league in 97 and indeed got promoted in their first season, meaning for that season at least, their local derby, rather than being against Altrincham in the conference, was against Manchester City.

Northampton. Used to have the worst ground in the league, shared with Northampton county cricket club, but moved to the small, but at least 4-sided sixfields in 95. (The cricket pitch side and a bowling green meant the county ground only had 2 1/2 stands, and one of them was condemned for safety reasons). Only English team to play in maroon.

Oxford Utd. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Oxford's new Kassam stadium. It took 5 years, much of which spent with the building site being the embodiment of inactivity. In that time Oxford dropped from Div 1 to Div 3, and it's still only got 3 sides. Fans bored of the action on the pitch can make there way to the Blackbird Leys estate behind the north stand and watch local 'yoofs' race stolen cars around the nationally famous council estate. Should do better than Div 3, but probably not that much. Away fans will be pleased that the away stand hasn't seen the re-erection of the famous cuckoo lane end fence, which was so high that commercial aircraft were forced to detour around the Oxford area.

Rochdale. Div 3's equivalent of groundhog day. Rochdale will start well, then fade away, just missing out on the play-offs. Since joining the league in 1921 they've spent all but 6 years in the bottom division, but did make the league cup final in 1962.

Swansea. Nearly became the first team to have played in the top division to be relegated from the league this year. Messy in terms of ground, finances, and playing ability. The Vetch is so hemmed in by houses that several of them have bedroom windows which overlook the pitch.

Torquay. Only league town which has palm trees growing in it and the only league club to be owned by a failed ventriloquist. For years kept their ground capacity as 4999 so as to avoid the 5000 cut-off limit for ground safety restrictions.

York. Classic lower division club, seemingly always "hours" from going bust, but thankfully never do.

Yeovil. Promoted to the league for next season. Always regarded as the 'biggest' non-league club, they knocked more league clubs out of the FA Cup than any other non-league club, mostly in the clinging Somerset mud of the old ground. They might no longer have their notoriously sloping pitch at the old "Huish" ground, but the new Huish, and the good support it attracts, should see Yeovil getting to Div 2 at least in the not too distant future. Become the league's second green-shirted team.

[AFCA]

Originally posted by aloisius
Now let me get this straight. Isn’t the brother of your girl’s uncle also her uncle?
Could you tell us his name ? Maybe some people will know about him if he played for those clubs.

That's right. But with all the typing I had done and still had to do I thought some smartass would figure it out. And there you are :D

Anyway.... it's the Metgod brothers. John and Edward. John is the one who played for Nottingham and Real. I thought it was Tottenham but it seems it's Nottingham.

Edward's a goalie. He played for Haarlem and Sparta I believe. Maybe others as well... I dunno. I do know that he was the one on goal for FC Haarlem when Cruyff made his rentree at Ajax and scored a wonderful goal at it.

[Bauser]

Norwegian Premier Division (Tippeligaen)

Most popular sporting league in the country. Average player salary is around $50,000 a year according to a football magazine. Top players at Rosenborg earn about $400,000 a year. 14 clubs in the league. Straight home/away league system without play-offs in the traditional European model to determine the champions. The bottom two clubs are relegated and the team third from bottom play-off home/away with the team third from top in Div 1 for one spot in the Premier Division.

Scandinavias strongest league judged by European Cup results in recent years. Rosenborg and Vålerenga are still in the UEFA cup this year. The future looks bright. Players are no longer leaving the country in masses to play in minor leagues in other countries. The league's average attendance is between 6,500-7,000. Analysts predict it will top 7,000 next season with the promotion of Fredrikstad and the continuing improvement of stadium fascilities. Only one stadium will have tracks next season. The populous Oslo-area is still struggling to produce a decent club who can challenge for the title. No other city has two clubs so there are no real derby-matches with passion other than Lyn-Vålerenga.

Teams presented in order of the final standings last season (2003). Season runs April-November.

ROSENBORG BK - based in Trondheim (mid-Norway)
Lerkendal Stadion (cap. 21,500)
Avr att: 16,000
(white shirt / black shorts / white socks)
The club totally dominates Norwegian football much due to a superior economic situation. 8 straight seasons in the Champions League with quarterfinal 1997 as best achievement has put them in a league of their own. Won the league and cup double last season. Have won every league championship since 1992.

BODØ/GLIMT - based in Bodø (Northern Norway)
Aspmyra Stadion (cap. 8,500)
Avr. att: 5,300
(yellow / yellow / yellow)
Last season's surprise package. Every major newspaper predicted they would be relegated, but ended up second in the league and cup.

STABÆK - based just outside Oslo
Nadderud Stadion (about to move to Blue Dream Arena cap. will be 15,000)
Avr. att: 4,300
(blue and light blue vertical stripes / Dark blue / dark blue)
The club located in an area populated by millionaires who are more into golf and sailing. Quiet fans, but their football was quite entertaining especially after they kicked out several "have-beens" who came home from the continent to wind down in the domestic league. The club changed policy and gave youth players the chance. It paid off and they are in European competition next season.

ODD GRENLAND - based in Skien (south-east Norway)
Odd Stadion (cap. 9,000)
Avr. att: 5,000
(white / black / white)
Used to dominate Norwegian football about 70-80 years ago. Been solidly a top-half-of-the-table team ever since they were promoted in 1999.

VIKING - based in Stavanger (west coast)
Stavanger Stadion (old. cap 12,000) Next season (cap. 15,000)
Avr att: 7,000
(dark blue / white / dark blue)
Always been a major club in Norway, but not quite title challengers these days. Underachievers at the moment.

SK BRANN - based in Bergen (west coast)
Brann Stadion (cap. 19,000)
Avr att: 12,500
(red / red / red)
Passionate city for football. Very loud fans. The club hasn't won the league in 40 years, but this is the place to be in Norway for any player who wants to be king in his own backyard.

LILLESTRØM SK - based just outside Oslo
Åråsen Stadion (cap 11,500)
Avr att: 6,000
(yellow / black / yellow)
A club located in a small working-class town who worked their way up from the fourth division in the mid-70s and has not been relegated since. Norway's best club about 15-20 years ago.

SOGNDAL IL - based in Sogndal (by the fjords on the west coast)
Fosshaugane Stadion (cap. 5,500)
Avr att: 3,000
(white / black / white)
The smallest club in the league. Survive on great youth policy. Eirik Bakke and various members of the Flo family have played their first top flight football here.

MOLDE FK - based in Molde (west coast)
Nye Molde Stadion (cap. 12,000)
Avr att: 6,000
(blue / white / blue)
The club that sold Ole Gunnar Solskjær to Manchester United. Benefits from "a rich uncle" who injects money into the club every year. They challenged Rosenborg for a few years, but are now building a new team from scratch after a couple of bad seasons.

S/F LYN - based in Oslo
Ullevaal Stadion (cap. 26,000)
Avr. att: 3,900
(red with thick white vertical stripe / blue / white)
The posh club in Oslo. Few and quiet supporters. They remain the best team in the capital though.

TROMSØ IL - based in Tromsø (northern Norway)
Alfheim Stadion (cap. 9,000)
Avr att: 4,400
(red and white vertical stripes / white / white)
Located high above the arctic circle. 500 kilometers to nearest club in the league. Saved from relegation last season with a goal from the last touch on the ball of the season.

VÅLERENGA IF- based in Oslo
Ullevaal Stadion (cap. 26,000)
Avr att: 9,500
(blue / white / red)
The most popular club in the capital. Working class image. Arguably the best hard core supporters. Once the club becomes better on the field they should be able to draw 20,000 on a regular basis.

FREDRIKSTAD FK - based in Fredrikstad (south-east Norway)
Fredrikstad Stadion (current cap. 9,500) (New stadium to be built)
Avr att: 5,500 (in Div 1)
(white / red / red)
Newly promoted club after 20 years in the lower divisions. Norway's most decorated club until Rosenborg started their dominance about 15 years ago. Celebrated its centenary this year.

HAMARKAMERATENE - based in Hamar (Eastern Norway)
Briskeby Stadion (cap. 6,000)
Avr att: 2,300 (in Div 1)
(white / green / white)
Newly promoted club. No major honours in recent years. Move between the top two divisions quite often.

[pc4th]

thank you all for participating. It's been a great read and learning experience. Keep up the good work.
Just want to clarify something, this thread is for ALL soccer leagues out there that you believe would be educational for others to learn/know about, which include the Premiership, Series A, La Liga to smaller leagues like one in China, Panama, Kuwait or even Hong Kong (a city but I heard it has its own league). If you believe you can educate us on that league, feel free to write up what you know. We all will very much appreciate your effort.

Judging from my experiences, I only know about MLS, somewhat of the A-league and a little bit about EPL. In addition I can only name a few teams in Series A and La Liga, and Mexican leagues but that is about it. I am sure they are a lot of people out there like myself that would like to learn more about those leagues as well as others. I heard that Mexican league has playoff but also has relegation and promotion and a team name Chivas and America, beside that, nada.

Anyway thanks Jimjamesak for giving us a run-down of MLS. I would like to add the following:

About the popularity of league in this country, I would say it is not very popular. In my opinion, MLS is behind the following (but make no doubt, MLS is making strive to become one of the top leagues instead of a lesser one).

NFL (American football)
MLB (baseball)
NBA (basketball)
NHL (hockey)
NCAA football (college football)
NCAA basketball (college basketball)
NASCAR (car racing)
PGA (golf)
wrestling (WWF/WWE) *though not really a sport, but it's a billion dollar business/entertainment.

MLS only has 2 soccer specific stadiums (stadium that is build specifically for soccer)
Home Depot Center (27,000) and Columbus Crew Stadium (22,500)
One more will be open in 2005 for Dallas
Plans are underway for Denver, NY/NJ, (2006) Chicago (2007) and maybe one for D.C.

If expansion in Cleveland is green lighted, there will be a soccer specific stadium around 2005/2006/2007.

So beside LA, Columbus in soccer specific, the rest of the stadiums that MLS are using are for American football stadium (about 67,000 capacity) except for San Jose which use a minor college football stadium of 20,000? capacity.

Thus the goal for MLS is to get out of 67,000 seats stadium into 20,000- 30,000 soccer specific stadium to create atmosphere and control revenues as well as owning instead of renting NFL stadiums.

Here is the metro population of MLS cities.

1. New York--Northern New Jersey--Long Island 21,199,865
2. Los Angeles--Riverside--Orange County 16,373,645
3. Chicago--Gary--Kenosha 9,157,540
4. Washington--Baltimore 7,608,070
5. San Francisco--Oakland--San Jose 7,039,362
7. Boston--Worcester--Lawrence 5,819,100
9. Dallas--Fort Worth 5,221,801
19. Denver--Boulder--Greeley 2,581,506
26. Kansas City 1,776,062
33. Columbus 1,540,157


If expansion for Cleveland and San Diego (which is very likely) for 2005, we will have

16. Cleveland--Akron 2,945,831
17. San Diego 2,813,833

The goal of MLS is to have a 20 teams league.
The maximum salary for each team to spend on paying the players is $1.7 million per year. The average player earns about $45,000-50,000 a year with the league max at about $275,000.


p.s. extinct league like NASL would be a great learning experience also for those of us that know almost nothing about it.

[pc4th]

Originally posted by RichardL
Reading. Formed in 1871, or possibly 1872, nobody is really sure, they can rightfully claim to have been a bigger club than the likes of Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea etc for many years, or at least until those clubs formed. For 100 years they turned mediocrity into an art form before celebrating their centenary year by being relegated to division 4 for the first time ever, losing a final match of the season 2-1, with the winner being an own goal by Reading's player of the year. 10 years of Div 4 stagnation followed, punctuated briefy with a short-lived promotion, before rising back to Div 3, setting football league of going 1103 minutes without conceding a goal (the run was ended by an own goal). Next in the news in 1983 the the mad Czech bastard Robert Maxwell, owner of the daily mirror and local rivals Oxford United announced he would merge the two clubs as the thames valley royals. Knowing how the fat crook operated, I think he was confusing the word 'merger' with the phrase 'asset strip'. The takeover bid was beaten, and Reading celebrated in customary style, going back down to Div 4 on the last day of the season. After immediate promotion Reading set a new football league record by winning the first 13 games in a row at the start of the 85-86 season. The record clincher, a 2-0 win at newport county was probably the first time in history that The Sun picked a Div 3 match as its "match of the day". Sadly the TV highlights show of the same name didn't show the match as all football was blacked out during this period as TV rights negotiations had broken down.
Two years later Reading won the Simod Cup (a cup for teams in the top two divisions) at Wembley in front of 45,000+ of Reading's fans (+15,000 from Luton) and celebrated this achievement with another relegation, meaning they were barred from defending the trophy the following year.
In 1995 some more impeccable timing saw Reading finish 2nd in (the now renamed) division 1, the only time since automatic promoton began in the 1890s that finishing second didn't merit automatic promotion. At 2-0 up in the final Reading were awarded a penalty after Jason "girly shampoo advert tart" McAteer brings down a Reading player who looked likely to score. McAteer, who'd already been booked, was let off a second booking. The penalty was missed and it was his through ball that set up Bolton's 87th minute equaliser.
Despite once somehow holding 33,000, Reading's Elm Park ground now only held 15,000 with only 2000 seats and needed replacing. So Reading's chairman, using a chunk of his own cash, built the 24,200 seat Madejski stadium to enable the club to advance. A stadium fit for the premiership was the boast. It opened in summer 1998 and Reading celebrated this latest achievement by being relegated to Division 2.
Never having had a glorious past Reading have few (well none to be exact) famous old great players. The result of which is that Reading's most legendary player is a guy named Robin Friday. A player of truly exceptionally talent, who no top division manger would take a risk on, mainly because he was a drug-taking piss-head. Was barred from the Boars' head, one of Reading's roughest pubs, 8 times, once for dancing naked on the bar. Had his bedroom walls painted black so it wouldn't be so scary when he was on an acid trip. Once scored a goal so sublime that world cup referee clive thomas applauded and asked him why he wasn't playing in the top division. Possibly the only player to have played league football after having a scaffolding pole peirce his rectum in a building site accident.
This season saw Reading make the play-offs comfortably to much scracthing of heads amongst pundits unable to fathom how a team who have spend most of their time in the lower divisions are capable of finishing higher than a team who have won the European cup twice. Next year will be harder, but with the only one decent player (cureton) likely to leave, finishing below halfway would be a disappointment.


WOW.WOW.WOW. what a colorful history. must be one heck of a roller coaster ride. BEST WISHES on promotion to the Premiership.

[greatscott]

Originally posted by RichardL
York. Classic lower division club, seemingly always "hours" from going bust, but thankfully never do.
to add to this, they play in bootham crescent, just under a 10k capacity. big rivals with Hull i think. although hull is a much bigger club who sell out their huge place for a division 3 club. York City are in danger of moving to a new home, but everyone wants them to stay at the BC. last year held a successful "Save City" campaign which brought supporters from many clubs all over england to march to the stadium to try to save the club

[Wolves_67]

Originally posted by garbaggio
An excellent resource for this info is a book I just bought for my brother as a Christmas gift:

Soccer Yearbook 2003-4 by David Goldblatt. I've never seen as much soccer info about so many different countries in a single volume.
I got that too and it is a great resource and full of charts and pictures and history, etc...
A little light on the USA compared to other places but the book is of British orgin so it's to be expected.. :D

[patrickm]

an important distinction for all american sports leagues, including mls, is that the teams are not "clubs" in the european sense. they are "franchises" that the nfl, nba, nhl, mlbb or mls leagues have granted at some point to an investor in a particular city. an nfl franchise would cost about 500 million u.s. dollars at least. and each city that has an existing team has territorial rights under the league structure. you can't just set up a club and enter a league. and there is of course no promotion-relegation system. even though the a league has 2nd division status the teams in it are not eligible to promotion to mls.

[greatscott]

Originally posted by Jimjamesak

D.C. United
Stadium: Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Stadium (Washington D.C.)
Titles won: 3 (1996,1997,1999)
Main Rival: MetroStars, New England Revolution
Colors: Black/White/Red

biggest rivals are actually metrostars and the galaxy. matches between the metros and dc typically involve one or more busloads of supporters from each club to make the eight hour journey.
RFK stadium is forever falling to peices. its a great place, to watch the game, but needs to be bulldozed before someone is killed by falling concrete.
We have three main supporters clubs,
La Norte- behind the goal and the smallest of the three, but is recognized with flags and streamers.
La Barra Brava- Biggest and Wildest group. on the sidelines
The Screaming Eagles- More traditional supporters club. Very big.
La Barra Brava and The Eagles are right next to eachother in an area we call the nest.
both have over 400-700 members if my memory serves me right.
photos:

http://www.dcunited.com/assets/story_image/fans_03(JamieSquire).gif
(la barra brava)

http://www.ibiblio.org/footy/2002/1117_usa_slv_ml/web_DSC_2955.jpg
(la norte)
La Norte pride themselves on representing both dc united and the usmnt. here at usa vs. el salvador during a hurricane.

for information about dc's tradition click here:

http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=tradition&cont_id=98472

[greatscott]

Originally posted by patrickm
an important distinction for all american sports leagues, including mls, is that the teams are not "clubs" in the european sense. they are "franchises" that the nfl, nba, nhl, mlbb or mls leagues have granted at some point to an investor in a particular city. an nfl franchise would cost about 500 million u.s. dollars at least. and each city that has an existing team has territorial rights under the league structure. you can't just set up a club and enter a league. and there is of course no promotion-relegation system. even though the a league has 2nd division status the teams in it are not eligible to promotion to mls.

youre very correct. but our current league isnt stable enough to handle a "club" set-up yet.

i personally think we should have brought up the A-League teams (usa second division) and made them our designated 1st divsion instead of just creating a new one 9 years ago.

[Holyjoe]

K-League

The top division of South Korean football.
This league has been developing and changing rapidly in the 20 years of its existence - 2004 will bring about a new change in that there will be 13 (and possibly 14) teams in the set-up, so I'll describe the 2003 set-up that has just ended.

Number of teams: 12

Anyang LG Cheetahs
Founded: 1983
Colours: Red & dark blue
City: Anyang
Stadium: Anyang City Stadium (18,216)

Perennial underachievers who play in a Seoul satellite city. Large and noisy fanbase, they have a few good Korean youngsters on the books.

Bucheon SK
Founded: 1983
Colours: Red & black
City: Bucheon
Stadium: Bucheon Athletics Stadium (35,000)

Experiencing a lot of problems with owners SK, and finished well adrift at the bottom of the league in 2003. Another Seoul satellite club.

Busan I.Cons
Founded: 1983
Colours: Red & white
City: Busan
Stadium: Busan World Cup Stadium (53,864)

Managed by globetrotting Scot Ian Porterfield, they play in Korea's 2nd biggest city yet draw the smallest crowds in the K-league.

Cheonbuk Hyundai Motors
Founded: 1995
Colours: Green
City: Jeonju
Stadium: Jeonju World Cup Stadium (43,348)

Mid-table battlers.

Cheonnam Dragons
Founded: 1995
Colours: Yellow & purple
City: Gwanyang
Stadium: Gwanyang Football Stadium (14,920)

Mid-table battlers, same as regional rivals Cheonbuk.

Daegu FC
Founded: 2003
Colours: Sky blue & white
City: Daegu
Stadium: Daegu World Cup Stadium (65,754)

New league club, and one of only 3 clubs that aren't run by one of the major Korean conglomerates.

Daejeon Citizen
Founded: 1997
Colours: Red & black
City: Daejeon
Stadium: Daejeon World Cup Stadium (41,295)

As the name suggests, they are a publicly-run club (as opposed to being owned by a corporation). Attract far and away the best average crowds due to a fantastic promotional & marketing department.

Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix
Founded: 2003
Colours: Blue & black
City: Gwangju
Stadium: Gwangju World Cup Stadium (44,118)

The military team. Korean nationals must serve 2 years in the army, and the best sportsmen play for this side. In theory they'll have the pick of the best youngsters around, but they can't sign any foreign stars.

Pohang Steelers
Founded: 1973
Colours: Red & black
City: Pohang
Stadium: Steelyard Stadium (20,242)

Mid-table battlers, from a smallish east coast city.

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
Founded: 1989
Colours: Yellow & blue
City: Seongnam
Stadium: Seongnam City Stadium (21,242)

The biggest club in the league in terms of money and success, though not on fanbase. They have been K-league champions for the past 3 seasons and are owned by the Moonies. This has caused a lot of tension with the Seongnam population who don't really seem to want them there. Seongnam is a Seoul satellite city.

Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Founded: 1996
Colours: Blue & white
City: Suwon
Stadium: Suwon World Cup Stadium (43,923)

2nd-most successful K-league club after Seongnam, and yet another Seoul satellite city. One of the most successful Asian clubs in Asian Club competitions.

Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
Founded: 1983
Colours: Sky blue & white
City: Ulsan
Stadium: Ulsan World Cup Stadium (44,466)

Finished runners-up in the league for the past 2 seasons. Play in a southern city, close to Busan.

-----------------

2003 Average attendances
(city population in brackets)

1 Daejeon 19,082...(1,423,000)
2 Jeonbuk 12,692...(555,000)
3 Suwon 11,864...(957,000)
4 Anyang 10,126...(748,000)
5 Daegu 9,807...(2,369,000)
6 Ulsan 8,426...(838,000)
7 Jeonnam 7,746...(571,000)
8 Seongnam 7,682...(1,111,000)
9 Pohang 7,231...(408,000)
10 Gwangju 5,777...(1,406,000)
11 Bucheon 5,588...(987,000)
12 Busan 2,752...(3,504,000)

The total attendance for the 264 games of the 2003 season was 2,392,941 (average of 9,064 per game). When you consider the South Korean population is around 44,000,000 then you get the idea that the K-league isn't all that popular with locals - baseball is far and away the most popular league sport, with basketball running close to football for 2nd.
The season runs from March to November, avoiding the very cold winter months in Korea, but plays out right through the hot summer season. You may remember the 2002 World Cup was moved back 2 weeks by FIFA from its usual mid-June starting point to avoid the worst of the heat.

The 2003 season was played out over 44 matches (12 teams playing each other 4 times), however the 2002 season had 27 matches (10 teams playing each other 3 times), and not so long ago they used to implement a Championship group involving the top 4 teams, where it was possible that the 4th place team over the league season could win the title.

There is no promotion/relegation in the Korean set-up just yet. They have recently established a K-2 league which was played out this year, however it will be a few years yet (possibly as far as 2007) before the KFA unites the competitions with promotion/relegation.

From 2004 at least 1 new club will join the K-league:

Incheon United
Founded: 2003
Colours: Not chosen yet
City: Incheon (within 1 hour of Seoul)
Stadium: Incheon World Cup Stadium (52,179)

They may be joined by another Seoul-satellite club in Goyang to raise the numbers to 14, but that's not been confirmed yet.
There are plans in the future to create an actual Seoul K-league club (Seoul is one of the world's largest cities - most definitely the biggest one without a major professional football club I would have thought) and a few other cities in Seoul are looking to establish teams too.

It's a league that has a lot of potential to grow, but it'll take a fair while before that potential is realised.

[patrickm]

i'm more interested in the league of north korea.do they have a league? i want to live in the dprk. kim jung il is a living god.

[Bill Schmidt]

Originally posted by Holyjoe
K-League

There are plans in the future to create an actual Seoul K-league club (Seoul is one of the world's largest cities - most definitely the biggest one without a major professional football club I would have thought) and a few other cities in Seoul are looking to establish teams too.


Maybe it's just not possible because the league is so new. Teams like the New York Yankees and Arsenal can fit their big stadiums in the urban centers because they were there 100 years ago. Newer teams, like the NY Giants, and just about every Los Angeles team, have to set up shop outside the cities because it would be so expensive and complicated to build a stadium in the downtown area. Some of these teams are about an hour's drive from the downtown areas of the cities they represent, like the group of Seoul satellite clubs you spoke of. In the U.S., all of those clubs would probably still affiliate themselves with the large city, despite the distance.

[Bill Schmidt]

Originally posted by patrickm
i'm more interested in the league of north korea.do they have a league? i want to live in the dprk. kim jung il is a living god.

Your'e being sarcastic, right?