World's Top 20 Football Leagues Ranked

Statistically Ranking the World's Top 20 Football Leagues as of Jan. 3, 2013

As Malky is casting his net far and wide and people are commenting on the quality of the different leagues around the world. I wanted to find something to get it in perspective just how good these leagues are.

Im of the opinion that new signings can only play whats in front of them, but thought this might be of interest. I haven't seen anything very comprehensive speculating on the quality of the worlds leagues.

This also highlights what a great league we are in at the moment too when you compare it to the rest of the worlds. I would stress as it states beneath that this is not an exact science merely a finger in the wind thing.

See the original article here http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/14 ... ly/page/21

I have just broken down the top 20 so it can be read at a glance.

Surely a pub league punter or two has spent an afternoon making a case for which World Football League is the best (most quality, most competitive, etc.). Professional prognosticators have logged considerable airtime on the subject as well.

Whether you're Warren Barton or Joe Liverpud, most cognizant fans of the sport would agree that much of the world's elite talent tends to reside in La Liga, the EPL, the Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 or the Brasileirão.

Conventional wisdom has placed a premium on these six leagues but rarely do we hear any statistical framework in support. Fans of teams outside the Big Six would probably like to know how their leagues stack up globally as well.

With this set of ideas in mind, your gentle narrator has devised a layman's statistical quotient (working title, the M.F. Coefficient) using Elo-styled rankings for each team within their domestic league. Using data culled from the fabulous footballdatabase.com, we've assigned a raw ranking for 20 of the world's top leagues.

Our number-crunching here amounts to a simple baseline; no proofs, algorithms or slide rules necessary. Mathematicians and scientists probably want to see a formula, but it's a simple process—total the points for the teams from each league and divide by 15.

Your first question: Why 15?

Most of the top leagues have at least 20 teams.

The answer:

Some solid leagues like the UPL (Ukraine), the K-League and the SPL have as few as 16 teams. We wanted to give these leagues some consideration so this survey would be as robust as possible.

There's an alternate set of data that only includes leagues with 20 or more teams, but that's another conundrum for another dreary winter day.

We're well-aware our exacting readers will have some constructive ideas on this subject. Perhaps a bona fide statistician will help us refine the concept.

There are cool sites like this one for UEFA clubs and this one for CONMEBOL, and if we had an assistant we'd refine the data set that way.

But we don't.

So we'll just let this set of integers do the talking for now with a small sidebar per each mention.

1. Spain's La Liga
Score: 1662.30

2. Barclays English Premier League
Score: 1660.43

3. German Bundesliga
Score: 1654.98

4. Italian Serie A
Score: 1634.14

5. France's Ligue 1
Score: 1584.40

6. Brasileirão
Score: 1584.32

7. Argentina's Primera Division
Score: 1567.71

8. Dutch Eredivisie
Score: 1517.45

9. Portugal's Liga ZON Sagres
Score: 1498.42

10. Russian Premier League
Score: 1484.63

11. Mexico's Liga MX
Score: 1479.25

12. Turkish Süper Lig
Score: 1469.30

13. Ukranian Premier League
Score: 1453.87

14. Czech Republic's Gambrinus Liga
Score: 1450.46

15. Belgian Pro League
Score: 1438.96

16. Colombia's Categoria Primera A
Score: 1435.24

17. Uruguayan Primera Division
Score: 1433.25

18. Superleague Greece
Score: 1424.15

19. Romania's Liga I
Score: 1415.93

20. Peruvian Primera Division
Score: 1415.09

Peruvian League above the Championship? Fix!

This is very bad science, sorry... I dont know where to start. Also more worrying i didnt notice the danish league there! (Physics bsc)

I'd put the championship ahead of quite a few of them

So you just read my really cool danish league thread and stole my concept and made this shit imitation thread. Well done

I seen this article earlier somewher online and the danish league was above the belgium league, somone is pulling a fast one

I seen this article earlier somewher online and the danish league was above the belgium league, somone is pulling a fast one

No its not, not even in my thread danish league is one place below the belgian, that was the main point in my thread (with everyone rating strikers from the belgian league but doubting cornelis because of the league he played in)

Load of bollocks. It depends on what the criteria is. This is done on best teams and the total of their points. Real Madrid and Barca with their success of course makes La Liga top. Hardly surprising but stupid criteria to be ranking leagues on.

Where's the ranking of leagues on competitiveness, overall quality, star players, youth etc ?

1. Bundesliga
2. Premier League
3. La Liga
4. Eredivisie
5. Serie A

For me. The amount youth systems get overlooked as secondary is pathetic. Holland and Germany have been doing it right for years as have Spain. The PL I have only placed above on the fact that its more competitive than La Liga which is a 2 horse race every year. Bundesliga wins hands down for me as an overall average. Not the best in all sections but overall better whereas other leagues sacrifice things to do better in others.

I seen this article earlier somewher online and the danish league was above the belgium league, somone is pulling a fast one

No its not, not even in my thread danish league is one place below the belgian, that was the main point in my thread (with everyone rating strikers from the belgian league but doubting cornelis because of the league he played in)

Yeah thats what i meant 1 below i read it on your thread earlier

I seen this article earlier somewher online and the danish league was above the belgium league, somone is pulling a fast one

No its not, not even in my thread danish league is one place below the belgian, that was the main point in my thread (with everyone rating strikers from the belgian league but doubting cornelis because of the league he played in)

Yeah thats what i meant 1 below i read it on your thread earlier

1. Bundesliga
2. Premier League
3. La Liga
4. Eredivisie
5. Serie A

I'd go with that. Either the Champiosnhip or the French Ligue 1 in 6th

Load of bollocks. It depends on what the criteria is. This is done on best teams and the total of their points. Real Madrid and Barca with their success of course makes La Liga top. Hardly surprising but stupid criteria to be ranking leagues on.

Where's the ranking of leagues on competitiveness, overall quality, star players, youth etc ?

1. Bundesliga
2. Premier League
3. La Liga
4. Eredivisie
5. Serie A

For me. The amount youth systems get overlooked as secondary is pathetic. Holland and Germany have been doing it right for years as have Spain. The PL I have only placed above on the fact that its more competitive than La Liga which is a 2 horse race every year. Bundesliga wins hands down for me as an overall average. Not the best in all sections but overall better whereas other leagues sacrifice things to do better in others.

Remind me how many Champions league semi quarter finalists have come from the Eredivisie in the past decade. Look at the UEFA coefficiants and there is your answer on how good leagues are. Good players leave Holland for the big Portuguese clubs, it's a good league but by no means in the top four for quality.