We’ve just seen two breath-taking Champions League semi-finals in which two Bundesliga teams in Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich destroyed Real Madrid and Barcelona, the Spanish giants. The question now is, what is the best league in the world?
Since the formation of the English Premiership in 1992 and BSkyB pumping so much money into the league through TV rights, the English League has always been seen as the place to play. However, with the English teams struggling in Europe’s top competition this year is there now a good reason to question which country has the superior footballing league?
For entertainment value, I don’t think you can look past the Premiership in recent years. Sergio Aguero sealing the championship with the last kick of the game in 2012. Tevez keeping West Ham from relegation on the final day in 2007. Philippe Albert scoring “the chip” in Newcastle’s 5-0 demolition of Manchester United. The Liverpool-Newcastle with the epic 4-3 thriller in 1996. These are just some of the reasons why the Premiership tops any other league for entertainment values.
For footballing talent however, that is a different matter.
The Premiership for so long has been a “Top 4” league. Yes, the demise of Liverpool and Tottenham and Everton’s recent improvement, along with the huge money of Manchester City have seen the league become a bit more open. But besides that, the Premiership is simply becoming a business league. Sheiks and wealthy businessmen are only interested in the Premiership to turn over a profit. This is being reflected on the International stage.
Spain and Germany’s football in the International tournaments is second to none. Spain’s dominance at international level is beyond repute and with Germany’s young team up on the rise and putting in some impressive performances in the big tournaments, it doesn’t really surprise me that the four teams in the semi-finals are from these two countries.
Spain and Germany promote players from within their youth academies. If you look at the four Champions League Semi-finalists you will see that the majority of the players in their team have played for the club at youth level. Madrid may be a bit of an exception in terms of buying more players, but they aren’t buying foreign talent. Mostly Spanish players play in Spain and German players are playing in Germany. This culture of trusting in youth products is, in my eyes, making the Bundesliga and La Liga start to pull away from the Premiership.
When was the last time England produced multiple world-class talents? Rooney? Wilshere? Besides that, there isn’t really anyone else you could name, who is at the top level and still so young. Dortmund have; Reus, Götze, Hummels and Sven Bender. Bayern have; Müller, Lahm and Schweinsteiger. Barcelona have Messi, Xavi and Iniesta.
Out of that list, Dortmund have invested heavily in their youth and it has been proven this year. Three times they turned over Madrid in the Champions League. Was it worth it? Of course, the performances by the young German team, not just in the Champions League but in the Bundesliga in recent years, have shown that the Premiership may be more watchable, but for pure talent the Bundesliga is number one.
Some may argue that Serie A is just as good as the Spanish or German Leagues, but the days of the Italian powerhouses have gone. In the mid-90’s British television use to show “Gazzetta Football Italia” when the Italian League was at it’s height. Those would be the days when Italian teams would poach the best players from across the world. The Zidane’s, Henry’s and Viera’s have all played in Serie A. Now though, it seems like Italy is more of a backwater for footballing talent and the national side is not what it once was.
There is no doubt in my mind that the days of the Premiership being the best league in the world have long gone. Germany and Spain are the new leaders. For entertainment, I don’t think anything can compare to the English League, but for pure footballing talent you have to look at the Leagues on the continent.
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