You sure seem obsessed with the subject. You bring it up every chance you get. I'm sure we are all aware that the Premier League is the most popular but, speaking for myself only, I really don't care. It doesn't affect what I like and what I choose to watch. I mainly watch La Liga and little else. Bundesliga if Koln are playing. I rarely watch any Premier League. Wolves are my favorite English club but my following for them is passive and I've yet to watch any of their matches this season. But I do make it a point to check on their results when I'm skimming through scores on flashscore. I also enjoy watching Copa Libertadores more than I do the very popular UEFA Champions League (unless Barcelona are playing ). For you, it may be "slow and dull". But as Mourinho says, "They play with brain." If you equate tactical football to being "slow and dull" then that's fine. To each his own. I quite enjoy it myself. Also, in La Liga teams tend to "park the bus" against Barcelona and Real Madrid. When one team plays like that, matches will tend to be "slow and dull". But I enjoy watching the cat and mouse game, seeing how long the defending team can hold out. Different strokes for different folks. Anyway, congrats on your Premier League being the most popular on the planet, fwiw.
Ok, fair enough. The topic of the thread is about La Liga being interesting. And you say it's not interesting - or not popular - because it's essentially become a two-team league. (I disagree as Atletico Madrid have proven over the last five seasons that they can not only win the title but continue to compete. But for argument's sake we'll go with two teams) You then state that you believe La Liga will continue to not only be behind the Premier League as far as popularity and interest is concerned but also behind the Bundesliga and Serie A, leagues that have been dominated by one club (respectively, Bayern and Juventus) the past few years. Please explain your reasoning.
I believe in Spain the 'playing field' (pardon the pun) is not as 'level' as elsewhere, this seems to me to be because first and foremost the Spanish are desperate for their team (Madrid) to be heralded as 'the bestest/biggest' football club in the world, they get better TV revenue, they even get priority government treatment (all because they seem desperate for the world to herald them as the 'bestest'!), you will find that in Italy the 'top' will change over time, it was not long ago that people were saying the same things about Milan that they are now saying about Juventus), in England it was once Huddersfield, Arsenal, Wolves, Leeds, Liverpool, Utd, Chelsea now City that people were/are claiming would forever dominate but things will change, in Spain (and Scotland) though it has always been and always will be Madrid & Barcelona or in the case of Scotland Celtic and Rangers because everything is so skewed in their favour. Of course when a team is successful it is likely to stay at or near the top across a few seasons but because in the EPL Watford get the same TV revenue as Manchester United they are potentially, over time, in a much better position to challenge for success, I am trying to say that in Spain (or yes Scotland) they need to even things out across the board to increase competition across more clubs and hence make the leagues more interesting because despite all the 'derision' aimed at the EPL by the Spanish (and yes it is the Spanish in particular) it is NOT all about being the 'bestest'. Until they (Spain) can understand this (and posters on here show how hard they seem to be finding this) the league will not rival other Euro leagues in terms of popularity, of course this may not 'matter' to them anyway (particularly if they support one of the two I suppose!). https://www.ft.com/content/750e14a2-3f94-11e6-9f2c-36b487ebd80a
First off, your link appears to be behind a pay wall because it's asking me to select a subscription rate. The way modern football is today I feel the likes of Juve, PSG and Bayern will continue to dominate their leagues until who-knows-when. At least in Spain Atletico Madrid has put their foot in the door to keep things interesting. An argument can be made that while Barcelona and Real Madrid continue to leave everyone in the dust domestically, their dominance has helped the "Other 18" become stronger in Europe as evidenced by Europa League results. I know you don't want to talk about Spanish success in Europe but it is the reality, like it or not. "Dick waving"? lol So you'd rather have your favorite league be the most popular in the world than dominating other leagues on the pitch?
If the league drops in popularity and quality like Italy TV contracts and sponsorships will go down and slowly teams will have less and less purchasing power The popularity of EPL allows them to milk huge TV contracts and generate great revenue... Loom at Italy.once you deep low its hard to get back on track
For me, Serie A became popular, or more high profile, when they re-opened the league to foreign signings in 1981. The likes of Zico, Falcao, Platini, Boniek and eventually Maradona put the league into a whole other level. I'm not sure when it petered out (Parmalat scandal, maybe?) but I would think Calciopoli was when it nearly received its last rights. With La Liga I agree that it's basically Barcelona and Real Madrid that are making the league survive in terms of popularity but I'm not sure a more level playing/unpredictable Liga would make it more popular. Name an unpredictable league that's more popular than La Liga. Hell, name an unpredictable league.
To be honest I don't actually care, I don't care about 'other' leagues, not because I have anything against them but because they are not on my radar, I don't feel the need for constant bravado about the EPL (this doesen't seem the case in Spain) I have no 'insecurities' about the league, I only 'care' about beating Spurs as often as possible and by as much as possible and winning the league - cups are also an added bonus and if Chelsea aren't in them (ie Champions League this year) then I really have no interest in it whatsoever (I also have no interest in the 2nd rate Euro competition that they do have to play this year (sooner out the better)). I do think however that the EPL's popularity has NOTHING to do with the success of the English teams but it has more to do with the entertainment value of the 'product'. so I say, if the Spanish want their league to appeal to the world the way the EPL does they will need to make it more competitive and stop with the 'look how good two of our teams are' attention seeking or even worse the EPL denigration (this just comes across as petulant) because the fact that Madrid have won the Champions league isn't what is going to bring in eyeballs.
In my opinion the new Spanish champion will be Real Madrid. You can check the rates at https://www.lovebet.pl This is my assurance for the new season.
I’d sadly agree .. Real Madrid will certainly improve on last season and Barcelona’s Valverde will stick with his favourite guys Rakitic, Suarez and Roberto despite them being a mixture of decline and ineptitude. His tactics seem to be to bore the fans and opposing team to death and HOPE that Messi scores a goal or two ..
The biggest issue with La Liga is in the stands. If you look at an EPL or Championship game almost every game is sold out and the stands are packed. If you have two smaller teams playing in Spain, the stadium is almost half empty.
If you want to talk about the stands lets also talk about the plastic, lame atmosphere that exists in most English grounds. If you want to talk about interest, its true that only 2 teams in Spain have a good shot at winning the title. Atletico are 17:1 to win the league next season. But interestingly, those are the same chances odds-makers are giving Tottenham to win the EPL. So atm both leagues can be considered as 2-horse races. Of course the big difference comes after #3. You have 3 more teams in England that can beat the best on any given night (although no chance to compete with them over the length of a season).
La Liga isn't on Sky Sports in the UK anymore. It's on some channel no one has.Such a shame Revista was such a good wrap up show, after MOTD the only football show I watched most weeks. IMO for what it's worth Spain had two of the best club sides ever and it makes sense they dominates the way they did, it's like Nadal/Djokovic and Federer, one could argue the top heavy TV contracts perhaps facilitated this but having the 2 best players in the history of "club" football (for those enraged by this comment take notice of the air quotes) it's crazy Athletico have been so competitive hopefully like Djokovic they establish their greatness, obviously the era of the Spanish teams being all conquering in Europe seems to be over, maybe they can sneak in another title whilst the others are rebuilding, though they are rebuilding too, Athletico werea much better team than Benitiz's Valenica and have been unfortunate to come up against genuine greatness. Take into account Man City and Liverpool's point tally in a league with 6 strong teams, neither side is as good as the 2 Spanish giants were. In fairness to Italy they have tried to change their distribution model, I like Napoli a lot but I just cant see them overcoming Juve, Juve's grip on Serie A whilst the Milanese clubs have become even bigger basket cases than usual has been a disaster for Italian football. Talking of SPL I could honestly see Juve beating Rangers record. Bayern are my least favourite club in Europe (after Man U but that's for personal reasons) they knee-cap there closest rivals, basically taking the best Dortmund players, they are an unpleasant club imo, So Spain is more competitive than Germany or Italy and not much different from England. The one big difference from England is it's hard to imagine the big 2 lagging behind, finishing outside the top four on a regular basis like what has happened to Liverpool and Man U in recent years. TL- Basically La Liga wrap up shows are great, Sky get them back. I'm very close to cutting the cord.
To quote that great poet Mick Jagger "That's not really true" - from Monkey Man. You have plenty of teams in the second tier that have great support, true you have your Wigan's and your Boro's but you also have Leeds and Wednesday. I am very happy for the teams that got promoted, none of them are duds. Though it would be nice to have Leeds back. When you consider the bleakness of Newcastle and the despair of Sunderland it's crazy how well they are supported. I'm very happy for Wolves, there are teams you've probably never seen, since they've never been in the EPL which would have crazy support, by English standards Bristol is a big city, very nice city with a hipster vibe, like a Seattle or Portland I would guess - Banksy, Chris Morris, Massive Attack, Portishead all originate from there and Bristol City are a well supported club. But what can you do Bournmeth and Burnley have earned the right to be there. Villa Park will be crazy next season and under the safe hands of Deadly Doug they could have not been more blase. Southampton should never be in the Premier League if Matt Le Tissier is not playing. Thinking about it there are always 6 or 7 grounds which are always a bit of a bore, maybe because they are just not big clubs - Rugby League is more popular in Wigan and Hull - or they know they are going to finish mid table, or the football being played is terrible. But that's always going to be the case. I used to live in Norwich and it's one of the few stadiums in the middle of town and it's actually a lovely town, not particularly a raucous fanbase but a very pleasant way to watch football, kind of like Fulham, it's kind of a straight swap, though Fulham were great fun, it was real jumpers for goalpost football. The Blades and Villa are much bigger teams than what they've replaced, though Cardiff could be a big team one day with sound management, their catchment area is like Barcelona's, the only problem is the Welsh are usually terrible at football, at least not as good as Catalonia.
Plus 95% of La Liga games are worth watching if you enjoy attractive, skilful , imaginative football .. I’d say that figure was nearer 15% in the EPL where the games are basically fast , furious and exiting till the end .. I only watch the games involving Liverpool , Arsenal , Wolves and I’ve got high hopes this season for Leicester..
Villareal's president may get his wish, although I think he'll have wished differently. There is talk that a European super league is in the offing. It may only be a couple of years out. I can only imagine how interesting La Liga would be without Real and Barca. At least it will give the little guys more a chance to actually win the title.
haha. How many times have I read that on these forums. 1.) The actual sport that is "Association Football" is popular because of Britains colonial past. Which helped spread the sport around the world. 2.) The English language has got nothing to do with the success of the Premier League. When I watched the Serie A in the 1990s, which was VERY popular in England back then, attracting 3 million views on Channel 4, the only Italian I knew was Ciao and arrivederci. The reason people are watching it lately is because of C. Ronaldo. You don't need to understand any language to watch a football game. Back then I could list all the players/teams/manages in the Serie A, who was getting sold and bought and keep upto date just fine, I even bought an Internazionale top. The argument is such a poor argument in why the EPL is so successful. Anyway, I got bored of defending the EPL a long time ago, it is clearly the most dominant number 1 league on the planet. La Liga is second. No shame in that. Take away Real Madrid and Barcelona and nobody cares. Hell, take away one player, C Ronaldo, and people have already got their heads turned to the Serie A.
Premier League is the most “popular” on the planet. Not much argument in that. “Most dominant”? Based on what?
Aside from when Liverpool , Arsenal and a few others .. Leicester maybe then if you want to see attractive football then La Liga is the place to be
I think the EPL could become the most dominant, especially if Messi signs for City. Other big European clubs want a super league, but if English clubs resist it we could see a very dominant EPL.
I don’t see a so-called Super League ever existing. The risk of finish near bottom of the table would frighten many away.