I was doing some thinking and looking at what is the strongest league in 70's my initial thoughts were cemented on how much three countries seem to have a far stronger case than others in England, Netherlands and West Germany. Some high level stats looking at performances in the European trophies, admittedly going to semi finals or further would probably give greater data. ENGLAND: EC: Liverpool x 2, Notts Forest R/U Leeds UEFA: Tottenham, Liverpool x 2 - Leeds, Arsenal in Fairs cup R/U Wolves, Tottenham CWC: Man City, Chelsea R/U: Leeds, West Ham 7 different teams won a European trophy 10 wins overall, 9 different made a final, 15 overall finals appearances, this is acontrast to national team failing to qualify in two WCs but argument was that was managerial and tactics as opposed to league strength. NETHERLANDS: EC: Feyenoord, Ajax x 3 UEFA: Feyenoord, PSV CWC: No winners or R/U 4 ECs wins, more than any other country, 100% record in finals (unless mistaken.... thats very impressive) 6 trophies, it was just the big 3 teams that dominated however. The is the argument that there is no better teams in 70s than Feyenoord and Ajax at their peak, and most of very strong and famous National team played a majority of football on home soil. WEST GERMANY EC: Bayern x 3, R/U Borussia Mönchengladbach UEFA: Borussia Mönchengladbach x 2, Eintracht Frankfurt R/U Borussia Mönchengladbach CWC: Hamburg R/U Fortuna Dusseldorf 4 different teams won a European trophy, 7 wins overall 10 finalists, 6 different teams made a final. Very strong internationally, with WC & EC win with almost all big players in Bundesliga that builds a very strong case. SPAIN EC: No wins R/U Atletico Madrid UEFA: R/U: Athletic Bilbao CWC: Barcelona R/U: Real Madrid We all know 70s was a down period for Spanish League, one European trophy, just four finals in total, stark contrast to 50s 60s and later on. ITALY EC: No winners R/U: Inter, Juventus UEFA: Juventus, R/U - Juventus in Fairs CWC: Milan R/U: Milan Another had a big drop off just 5 finalists and 2 trophies, but surprised so much after a dominant 60s with Milan & Inter win two Ecs each plus CWC for Milan and Fiorentina. BELGIUM: EC: No winners R/U: Club Brugge UEFA: No winners R/U: Anderlecht in Fairs Cup, Club Brugge CWC: Anderlecht x 2 R/U Anderlecht Impressive on this decade making 6 finals, but this was just two teams, and mainly Anderlecht, interestingly this equals Italy, and beats Spain and other so called big five in France.
This is wrong. FC Twente was runners-up in 1975. Also semi finalist in 1973 and 1978. Those two were the best in Europe (Standard Liege had not their act together yet), but also notable is Beveren reaching the semis in 1979, losing 2-0 on aggregate to eventual winner Barcelona (Barcelona's first UEFA recognized trophy). As noted on the other thread, the 'peak' in results and coefficients was clearly the mid-70s to mid-90s. There is also semi finalist RWDM in 1977, and maybe I forget someone else now. This has been discussed a few times. At the end of the decade they climbed to ~ top 5 position after they had opened their borders in 1973. The two Madrid clubs dominated the league, but Barcelona was actually with three semis and a win (all in the 2nd half of the 1970s) their stand-out best performer in Europe. One thing they could do was attracting a number of superstars, and then in particular their status at the moment of transferring (e.g. Netzer and such, at the moment the transfer happened). Superstars who were tournament MVPs.
Good spot, I knew probably have I missed one or two, this may lose 100% record but adds to Netherlands strong case with another finalist and one that is not one of the big three !
My top-10 European leagues in the 1970s. W.Germany England ---- Netherlands ---- Spain Italy Belgium ---- USSR France E.Germany Yugoslavia