There seems to be an excess amount of soccer leagues and tournaments in the world today. Almost every country in the world has at least one major soccer league. The most famous leagues, however, are in England, Spain, and Italy. The most famous European tournament is, without a doubt, the UEFA Champions League.
To an American that doesn't usually follow these leagues and tournaments, it can be very confusing. I'm here trying to clear things up and show how these leagues and tournaments relate to MLS and the USA.
The top league in England is called the Premier League and was started in its current form back in 1992. Previously, the top flight in England was called the Football League First Division. It was part of a bigger league called the Football League which was founded back in 1888. It has twenty different clubs all competing to be the best in England. To many people the Premiership is the best league in the world. The rankings seem to agree with this fact.
The Premier League is ranked first in UEFA for the best soccer performance, ahead of Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A. More people watch the Premier League than any other league, and it's also the most lucrative league in the world.
The Premier League has always been kind to American players and MLS. A total of 21 Americans have played in the Premiership since its beginning in 1992. Among them were stars like Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna, Clint Dempsey, and Tim Howard.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Fulham had a reputation of bringing Americans to the club. However, with the loss of Brian McBride, that trend seems to be going to other clubs.
Don't worry though, it seems that many more players will move from MLS to the Premiership. The most recent player to make the move was Brad Guzan, who moved from Chivas USA to Aston Villa. Premiership clubs has also played many off-season friendlies in the USA. Most recently, West Ham United played MLS All-Stars, a match where MLS won.
Behind England's Premier League is Spain's La Liga, founded in 1928. Unlike the Premiership, La Liga has twenty four clubs competing to be the best in Spain. La Liga can boast the most successful clubs in Europe. La Liga is regarded as a technically better league than England.
Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and Valencia have all won five or more international trophies in their history. UEFA has La Liga ranked second in terms of performance. They're behind the Premiership and ahead of Serie A in Italy. Real Madrid have won the Champion's League or European Cup as it used to be known as a record nine times.
Until recently, La Liga hasn't had many Americans play in the league. However, with the transfer of Jozy Altidore to Villareal FC, it might spark Spanish interest in Americans. That's not to say that there's absolutely no interest in American soccer from La Liga.
Spanish giants Real Madrid signed a 10-year partnership with the MLS club Real Salt Lake back in 2006. Also, the other Spanish giant Barcelona played friendlies against MLS clubs during this off-season. Maybe other Spanish clubs will get on board and start helping out MLS clubs.
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