There are countless soccer leagues worldwide, but which one is the best? It is not easy to choose one, although the IFFHS has identified the best league in the world, and the result is surprising. What are the Best Soccer Leagues in the World?’
The Surprising Ranking Of The Best Soccer Leagues In The World
One of the most common questions among soccer fans, whether they are soccer betting enthusiasts or not, is which is the best league in the world. We all have our favorite tournament, and if we look globally, it’s clear that the Champions League is the best competition in the world.
Florentino Pérez intended to create the best league in the world with his outdated Superliga. If we do a quick survey, the Premier League will surely lead the ranking of soccer leagues, also the Spanish League, which has come down in ranking.
That said, with hundreds of leagues throughout the planet, it’s difficult to elaborate this classification with the best leagues in the world. At a European level, we see that UEFA has its quotients when distributing places in its competitions.
Thus, the best leagues have four teams in the group stage, and the weakest will start in the preliminary round. FIFA does not establish this ranking, but the IFFHS does.
Ranking of the 10 Best Leagues in the World
Here we present the ten best leagues in the world in 2022 according to the ranking prepared by the IFFHS. Before analyzing the different tournaments one by one, we warn you that it’s a controversial classification.
Any classification based on cold statistics generates debate. Well, what would football be without debate – and in this case, it’s surprising not because the number 1 is not the Premier League, but rather because, for the first time in history, the best league in World football is not European.
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Brazilian League (Brazil)
Without a doubt, the great surprise of the classification. This first position is only understood by the overwhelming dominance of Brazilian teams in the Copa Libertadores, with four of the last five titles and the two finals featuring Brazilian teams.
This league is the ideal tournament to meet the future stars and see the last playing days of stars that return home after triumphing in the major European leagues.
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Premier League (England)
Since the Premier League was born in 1991, it has experienced a great boom. Today, its teams dominate the Champions League. It’s the league with the highest TV revenue and has the best coaches and footballers.
Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool are the current top three clubs. It’s not uncommon for footballers from upper-middle-zone teams from other leagues to go to the weakest teams in the league. They have the money, a product they sell well, and loyal fans.
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Serie A (Italy)
This league was the best in the world in the ’90s but lost steam with the turn of the century. However, it returned to green laurels thanks to Juve, Inter, and Milan. After the anxiety of the two Milanese teams, they could not get into the Champions League for years.
However, things have changed, and even other teams like Napoli, Atalanta, Roma, and Lazio have raised the bar.
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La Liga (Spain)
Until not long ago, it was the best league in the world. However, the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and then Messi made it lose ground against other leagues. Its teams dominated the Champions League in the first half of the previous decade. However, except for the recent Villareal and Real Madrid exploits, Spanish teams have struggled to reach 1/4 in recent years.
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Ligue 1 (France)
As in the case of the Bundesliga, the French league is PSG against the rest. The Qatari petrodollars have configured a true all-star of world football with Messi, Neymar, and Mbappé as great stars.
The rise of PSG has made historic clubs such as Olympique de Marseille, Monaco, and Olympique de Lyon take a step back from their aspirations, damaging Ligue 1’s reputation both at the IFFHS and UEFA levels.
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Primeira Liga (Portugal)
Sporting, Benfica, and Porto give the Portuguese league a presence in Europe, either in the Champions League or in the UEFA Europa League. We have also recently seen Sporting de Braga stand out. A fourth team that aims to break the hegemony of the three historical ones in an increasingly tight tournament. Portuguese clubs are sellers, specialize in exporting South American talent, and the competition is fascinating.
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Eredivisie (Netherlands)
The great role of Ajax in Europe in recent years (Europa League finalist, advancing stages in the Champions League) allows the Dutch league to be ahead of the Bundesliga. Internally, Ajax and PSV fight practically until the end, with the plus that Feyenoord, AZ Alkmaar, or other secondary teams join the fight for the title.
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Bundesliga (Germany)
Depending on the season, we could boil down the Bundesliga to Bayern and 17 other teams. The middle class previously represented by Bayer, Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, Schalke 04, or Hamburg has disappeared.
Their place is occupied by the new rich, RB Leipzig, but without being able to overshadow Bayern. At least the Bavarians give German football a presence in Europe. Of course, their stadiums are always bursting.
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First Division (Argentina)
One of the most passionate tournaments but also more complex to understand for fans due to the constant format changes. Opening and Closing, drag in the descents, the Super League, and the current format with 28 teams.
It’s not ranked higher due to the weak role of the Argentine teams at the continental level, especially in Libertadores. The drain of talents is its biggest handicap.
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First Cup (Paraguay)
It’s undoubtedly a great surprise to see this league, right? It’s the only league in the top 10 with two yearly titles, the Apertura and the Clausura. Olimpia de Asunción is the great ruler of Paraguayan soccer, with 45 titles and the honor of not having missed any of the 116 editions of the Guarani tournament.
They are followed by the current champions of the Clausura (Cerro Porteño, 34) and Apertura (Libertad, 21). Their teams are regulars in the semifinals in the Copa Sudamericana, which explains why they are there.
Criteria For Choosing The Best League In The World
In 1991, the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) began to classify the different First Division championships worldwide based on a series of parameters.
It changes the classification yearly, especially with the growth of competitions such as the Australian A-League, the Chinese Super League, the United States MLS, or some leagues watered by petrodollars from the Persian Gulf. To do this, the IFFHS is based on the following criteria:
- Teams participating in international competitions
- Results of their teams in continental tournaments
- Results obtained in the last ten years
Conclusion
Once again, we insist that this soccer league ranking is based on the IFFHS criteria. However, we all know that the Premier League is the most followed in the world, although games like El Clásico arouse interest that others like the London derbies or Manchester United-Liverpool do not.
It’s nothing more than a reflection of the difficulty in defining which is the best league in the world, either based on objective criteria used by the IFFHS or on our subjective criteria.