2018/2019 TOP5 Leagues (97 Teams): Average: 1371.5 Median: 1328.5 La Liga (20 Teams): Average 1458 Median: 1415 English Clubs (19 Teams): Average 1387 Median: 1317 Bundesliga (18 Teams): Average 1370 Median: 1346.5 Italy Seria A (20 Teams): Average 1356 Median: 1299 French League (20 Teams): Average 1287 Median: 1266 Other Leagues Brasileirão (20 Teams): Average 1305 Median: 1304 Argentine League (26 Teams): Average 1230 Median: 1210.5 Portuguese League (18 Teams) Average: 1166 Median: 1112 Eredivisie (18 Teams) Average: 1128 Median: 1099 http://soccerverse.com/methods Add at this numbers these type of facts: http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/pdf/mr08_eng.pdf and results https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercontinental_Cup_(football)#Performance_by_confederation, Brazil being the Best NT after 1950 (could be much before with no fights between differents Confederations and more profesionalism) and historical positive results against European Teams: em 1560 jogos, contra os 12 grandes, foram 830 vitórias dos clubes daqui, com 344 empates e apenas 386 derrotas...https://uolesporte.blogosfera.uol.c...e-sai-jogando-contra-europeus-veja-o-ranking/ and maybe at least the average of Brazilian TOP20 clubs were top notch all XX century.
The numbers say that the Premier League (not the Russian one) is the most difficult league to play in. (See y-axis.) Numbers never lie, so of course this is correct.Please harass @canzhiye if you disagree. pic.twitter.com/zMMZKuVa0l— Tony (@TonyElHabr) June 18, 2021
I made a summary for European Leagues in the period 1995-2020. There's is 25 years divided in periods of 5 years each. Average League Tiers (1996-2020) 1st tier - 5 stars: Spain, England 2nd tier - 4 stars: Italy, Germany 3rd tier - 3 stars: France 4th tier - 2 stars: Portugal, Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, Belgium
Top10 European Leagues (1996-2000) 1st tier - 5 stars: Spain, Italy 2nd tier - 4 stars: Germany, England, France 3rd tier - 3 stars: Netherlands 4th tier - 2 stars: Russia, Greece, Czechia, Portugal Top10 European Leagues (2001-2005) 1st tier - 5 stars: Spain 2nd tier - 4 stars: Italy, England 3rd tier - 3 stars: Germany, France, Portugal, Netherlands 4th tier - 2 stars: Greece, Belgium, Scotland Top10 European Leagues (2006-2010) 1st tier - 5 stars: England, Spain 2nd tier - 4 stars: Italy, Germany 3rd tier - 3 stars: France 4th tier - 2 stars: Russia, Portugal, Ukraine, Netherlands, Romania Top10 European Leagues (2011-2015) 1st tier - 5 stars: Spain 2nd tier - 4 stars: England, Germany, Italy 3rd tier - 3 stars: France, Russia, Portugal 4th tier - 2 stars: Ukraine, Netherlands, Belgium Top10 European Leagues (2016-2020) 1st tier - 5 stars: Spain, England 2nd tier - 4 stars: Germany, Italy 3rd tier - 3 stars: France 4th tier - 2 stars: Portugal, Russia, Belgium, Netherlands, Ukraine
Until 1995, the South American leagues were as strong as the European ones. The national teams of these countries were mostly formed by athletes who played on the continent. South American national teams faced European national teams on equal terms. Clubs too, in friendlies or continental cups. There were periods when the Europeans were a little better, others when the South Americans were ahead. But overall there was balance. I think that at the end of the 70s, for example, the South American leagues were even better. Perhaps the best players in the world played in South America: Maradona, Zico, Falcão, Passarella etc. Falcão, for example, left South America in 1981 at the age of 27 and was the player with the second best rating in Serie A according to Gazzetta dello Sport. Several legends played all or a large part of their career in South American leagues, such as Pelé, Rivellino, Jairzinho, Tostão, Garrincha, Zizinho, Didi, Figueroa, Cubillas, Fillol, Carrizo, Labruna, Bochini, Moreno, Pedernera etc. It was the Bosman ruling (1995) that created this gulf between the South American and European leagues.
My ranking of the best league in the world through history: 1888-39: England 1939-43: Italy 1943-46: Argentina 1946-49: England 1949-54: Italy 1954-66: Spain 1966-73: England 1973-83: West Germany 1983-88: England 1988-99: Italy 1999-04: Spain 2004-09: England 2009-18: Spain 2018-present: England Years: end with two numbers = season (30 June). Some notes: 8 September 1888: First league game in history played. Sep. 1939: English league suspended due to WW2. Summer 1943: Southern Italy invaded by the Allies. 1946: Ordinary league in England resumes. 4 May 1949: Torino plane crash; but Italy start importing many big name players (Gren-Nordahl-Liedholm, Præst, John Hansen & Nyers 1948, K. Hansen, Wilkes etc.) 1954-55: Italian corruption scandal; Udinese & Catania demoted after season. Inter and Juventus very weak seasons, Juventus starts serious decline which lasts until summer 1957 when John Charles and Omar Sívori signs. 1966: Spanish domination of European tournaments ends with Real Madrid winning the European Cup for the sixth time, and Barcelona winning the Fairs Cup for the third time. May 1982: Aston Villa defeats Bayern München 1-0 in the European Cup final, meaning English clubs had won the tournament six times in a row (Liverpool 1977, 78 & 81, Not. Forest 79 & 80). Hamburger SV broke the domination the following year, defeating the favourites Juventus 1-0 after a goal from Felix Magath. 1985: English clubs banned from Europe after the Heysel Final disaster (lasts until summer 1990, when Man. United is allowed in the Cup Winner's Cup, winning the tournament after defeating Barcelona 2-1 in the final). Summer 1988: Italy starts dominating European tournaments for many years. Germans Brehme & Matthäus signs for Inter and wins the Italian league in first season. Milan goes on in Europe and win European Cup two times in a row, with Gullit and van Basten (signed 1987) and Rijkaard (1988) as the three allowed foreigners in the team. May 2000: Real Madrid defeats Valencia 3-0 in the first Champions League Final involving two clubs from same nation. 2004: Mourinho and Porto wins the Champions League Final 3-0 against Deschamps Monaco; and German Otto Rehhagel leads Greece to win the Euros - a most unusual year in European football history. Mourinho goes on and wins the Premier League with Chelsea the following season, setting a new point record in the process. 2009: Barcelona wins the treble in Guardiola's first season as manager, completely dominating the opposition. May 2018: Real Madrid defeats Liverpool 3-1 in Champions League Final, winning the CL three times in a row - something not seen since the '70s from Ajax (1971-73) and Bayern München (1974-76). Milan in 1990 was the last club to win the EC/CL two times in a row. After the World Cup C. Ronaldo is sold to Juventus for €100m, but Real Madrid win again in 2022, even though they were dominated against PSG, Chelsea, Man. City and Liverpool. 2019: four out of four European finalist are English. Liverpool winning the CL 2-0 against Tottenham, Chelsea winning the EL 4-1 against Arsenal; but Man. City the team to win all available competitions in England.
I'm curious about Italy being ranked 1st at 1939-43. I think, the clubs from that era were weaker than italian clubs from previous and post years. My bets than argentine, even uruguayan/brazilian clubs were stronger in that period.
Well, it's hard to be sure, but Italy won World Cup 1938 and all those in the squad played in the Italian league. Bigger population could also be a factor (1940: Italy ca. 44 million, Argentina 14 million, Uruguay 2.15). Earlier professionalisation of football too (Italy 1926, Argentina 1931, Uruguay 1932). Serie A also had foreign pros during the war years (Examples: Albanians Lushta & Kryeziu, Uruguayans Andreolo, Puricelli & Alberti, Argentinians Pantó, Pisa & Demaría, Croatian Frane Matošić 1942-43). The three Eastern Europeans because of Italian annexation. Don't know about any relevant club matches that could decide this question, but I don't think Italian clubs, or Italian football in general, were stronger in previous years.