European Soccer Leagues And How They Stack Up

I know you've all been waiting but here are some performance statistics for various soccer leagues in Europe.

Europe about 25 competitive soccer leagues. I'll name them here (and I merely mention those with a UEFA coefficient ranking and pulse. Leagues that consistently have teams participating in various tournaments I didn't restrict it to those who have one at least one trophy in one of the major tournaments. I'll eliminate those soon enough): Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Czech Republic, Russia/USSR, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Portugal, Belgium, Scotland, France, England, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain.

I couldn't examine every single one of those leagues - I do have a "life" if you can call it that - so I basically grabbed the ones I knew off the top of my head had a long, substantial record of success. Basically,  I took those that have been in the top four in coefficients. Not that this is the best measure but coupled with the number of wins and appearances, I think a decent pattern appears where we can begin to see where the elite leagues are.

We know England, Germany, Spain and Italy tower over everyone else. They're the elite. Next comes the power leagues. Here, we see France, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium. I'll also throw Scotland in the mix because, given its size, it's held its own. Hungary finished as the second top league (with eight top four finishes) in Europe five times in the 1960s and into the early 1970s. However, it tailed off after this. Central Europe had a little revival in the 1970s and early 1980s led mostly by Poland's nationals sides but that too has sputtered and does not qualify as a long-term measure.

The USSR also was a strong soccer nation between the 1960s and 1980s. Its league finished second eight times. With only managing two spots in the top 2. USSR also witnessed decent international success with four finals appearances (including a championship in 1960) at the European Championships - now the Euro.

So I'll focus on the nine Elite/Power group. I think my sample size is adequate. As you will, four leagues make up the foundation of European soccer.

Let's work backwards from the bottom up. France poses the most perplexing problem in determining where they rank. The coefficients are pretty good. In fact, after the top four, France has had the most top 4 placings with 15; including five as the second top league.

However, since 1955, France was won only two trophies while reaching the finals 14 times (2-12). Contrast this to the Netherlands. The Eredivise reached the top 4 only 10 times but equaled France's five 2nd place placings.Where it distances itself from France is the fact it won an impressive 17 titles - mostly powered by Ajax; one of the great clubs in European soccer history - in 26 finals appearances (17-9).

Even Belgium has more in its trophy case with seven titles having reached the finals 18 times (7-11) though it only managed to reach 3rd in the rankings twice and a top four placing seven times.

Then comes Portugal. What it lacks in top 4 coefficient muscle (the best it has done is three 4th place rankings), it makes up in titles. After the Netherlands, it won the most titles with 10 and 24 finals appearances (10-14).

Finally, Scotland. The smallest country on the list saw its league reach the top 4 six times reaching as high as third place once. Scotland won four trophies and 12 finals (4-8).

Thus, Top Four rankings for those countries look like this:

France 15
Netherlands 10
Hungary 8
Soviet Union 8
Belgium 7
Scotland 6
Portugal 3

Titles:

Netherlands 17-9
Portugal 10-14
Belgium 7-11
Scotland 4-8
France 2-12

*Russia has three titles. Sweden two. Hungary one.

Now the elites. It's night and day as you'll see. I won't bother with the blah, blah and just hammer out the numbers.

Number 1 placings:

1) Spain 16
2) England 15
3) Italy 13
4) Germany 10

 Number 2 placings:

1) England 12
2) Italy 10
3) Spain 9
4) Germany 6

Top Four:

1) Italy 43
2) Spain 40
3) Germany 37
4) England 36

Titles:

1) Spain 49
2) Italy 47
3) England 38
4) Germany 22

*Notice the Netherlands are close to Germany. However, that's about to change as the gap will widen a little this year because of the three tournaments German teams will be competing for a title in.

Finals appearances:

1) Spain 86
2) Italy 82
3) England 72
4) Germany 50

Tournaments considered: Champions League (Fairs), Euro/Uefa, Cup Winners, Super Cup, World Club/Intercontinental.

Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal competed in a tournament called the Latin Cup between 1949-1957. If we add those titles the picture looks like this:

1) Spain 53-38- 91 appearances
2) Italy 49-36 - 85 appearances
3) Portugal 11-16 - 27 appearances
4) France 3-16 - 19 appearances

Finally, before all these tournaments, there was a prestigious tournament called the Mitropa Cup played between the best clubs in Europe at the time which came mainly from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy who were by far the most powerful countries in the 1920s and 1930s. Mitropa's peak years were 1927-1939 and resumed after the post-war until (1955-1992) but never regained its eminence.

What can we preen from all this? Among the top four, Spain and Italy arguably have been the two best leagues over a period of time.

However, because of Mitropa (and its World Cup triumphs in the 1930s) Italy has been a powerful, top league (and national side) on a consistent basis more than any league.

So we can break down Italy's Mitropa record in two parts. The first part, 27-39, Italy won two titles bringing their overall total to 51-36 (87 appearances). Between 55-92, Italy won another nine titles which would bring their record to 60-47 (107 appearances). Italy is one battled tested league.