logo
Tue 29 September 2020 | 5:30

Premier League: Most popular football league in the world

It's worth flicking through the early 1990s news to understand that Premier League has been one of the most popular leagues in the world over the first quarter of a century.

A few decades ago, football flourished in some media, but in others it competed with rugby and cricket for coverage, disappearing almost entirely during the summer off-season.

Fast-forward two decades and the way supporters consume media has changed dramatically: the internet has taken over, but newspaper sites largely dominate coverage.

Search engine, Google the name of almost every national newspaper and often the first page displayed in the search results is the football section; it crops up more commonly than the news section, the comment section or the business section.

It even outstrips the sport sector -- certainly, three of Britain's eight national newspapers allegedly have "football" displayed on the menu of their website, separate entirely from "sport." Football, it seems, is no longer sport: it's taken on a life of its own.

The followings are the most popular football leagues in the world:

In order to consider the Premier League purely in terms of its media coverage may seem peculiar but the division's rise has been based entirely around its coverage.

Premier League

Liverpool

are the current PL title holders but the league has seen giants rise and fall. The division itself was essentially created for visual entertainment, and effectively rescued Sky's satellite subscription service, that was previously running at a loss.

Nowadays, Sky is now under serious threat from BT in terms of broadcasting rights, yet the ridiculous thing is that BT wasn't even a broadcaster until recently and has entered television purely as part of a wider war against Sky in the broadband market.

Sky is now paying roughly over £10 million to broadcast every match, which is shocking considering rights to the entire final old First Division season, in 1991-92, cost less than £15m. However the figures keep coming, because viewers -- not withstanding a recent wobble which might prove significant in upcoming years -- have kept on paying.

Viewers will have kept on paying because the Premier League remains brilliant entertainment as the

most popular football league in the world

.

It has unquestionably benefited from occasionally ludicrous levels of hype and the manner in which matches are presented -- the camera angles close to the pitch, the crowd microphones providing an appropriate atmosphere, the stands generally near capacity -- has given it an advantage over rival European leagues.

There's a feature of "airbrushing" to the way we consume the Premier League; even when it's somehow ugly, it's somehow always presented as being attractive. And yet what's also undeniable is that Premier League football supplies tremendous excitement and the literal "product" itself has proved remarkably popular across Britain as well as throughout the world namely as most popular football league in the world.

Sport is essentially comprised of four completely different areas: technical, physical, psychological and tactical.

The Premier League has taken significant steps forward in each respect at different times and is now perhaps the most complete, balanced sporting league around.

The technical quality is inferior to La Liga, there's not the reliance upon physicality that you find in Ligue 1, the players aren't as psychologically intelligent as in the Bundesliga and despite a considerable improvement, the emphasis upon tactics is nothing like you find in Serie A.

And yet the Premier League thrives by blending these qualities, unquestionably connected to the fact it depends mainly upon importing talent from several foreign countries.

It was also a French forward, namely, Eric Cantona, who was the Premier League's first revolutionary, bringing artistry and invention to Manchester United from between the lines.

His record in English football is extraordinary: five titles in six seasons when you include his First Division title with Leeds, with the only fallow year coming when he missed half a season for starting a supporter at Selhurst Park.

In global terms, Cantona isn't remembered as fondly as Thierry Henry or Cristiano Ronaldo but he genuinely changed the Premier League stylistically, encouraging United to get the ball through the centre of the pitch rather than instinctively looking to the flanks. His influence in that No. 10 position encouraged other teams to look for their equivalent:

Arsenal

found Dennis Bergkamp,

Chelsea

landed Gianfranco Zola. The Premier League will never look back.

The league's physical improvement owes much to another French import, Arsene Wenger. His important impact at Arsenal is well-established: previously home to the division's most notorious drinking club.

Wenger introduced appropriate dietary practices to the Gunners' training ground and ordered stretching sessions that were considered bizarre at the time. He prolonged the careers of Arsenal's veteran defenders and improved the dynamism of their foreign attackers.

For all Wenger's emphasis on technical quality in later years, it was Arsenal's physical dominance throughout this period that pressed rivals to up their game.

The influx of managers like Benitez and Mourinho saw the Premier League undergo an impressive tactical revolution. 

The psychological revolution is more complex. You can think of factors to be about determination, commitment, effort and self-belief, the qualities on which English players traditionally prided themselves.

But you can also consider it in terms of vision, in which case the likes of Xabi Alonso, David Silva and Santi Cazorla are among the most talented we've regarded as the Premier League and who have helped to popularize possession football.

For tactical revolution, meanwhile, the arrival of Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez in 2004 prompted an enormous improvement in the structure of Premier League clubs, as both managers analyzed the opposition to a greater extent than previous bosses.

Both had won European trophies immediately before arriving in English football and brought continental sophistication to England.

The Premier League, the

most popular soccer league in the world

went through its worst spell in terms of the goals-per-game rate but improved dramatically in European competitions to the point that for a time, the Premier League dominated the Champions League and became considered as Europe's best league in coefficient terms.

Since then, however, there's been a stagnation. The Premier League as the most popular football league in the world won’t boast the top clubs but it can surely still boast the most competitive section.

As things stand, the bookmakers consider that there are six clubs with a reasonable chance of winning the Premier League, with odds of 12:1 or under. Compare that to four in Italy, three in the Netherlands, three in Portugal, two in Germany, two in Spain and two in France; it feels like, in a second respect, the Premier League has got the balance about right, mixing outright quality and competitiveness.

The division is not ideal; it's not possible to ignore the staggering increase in ticket prices, which has changed the demographic of supporters and undoubtedly contributed to diluting the atmosphere at grounds.

It appears some larger clubs are positioning themselves to appeal primarily to tourists making a one-off visit, rather than local supporters. In England, where the football club is a significant representation of the local community, this is somehow problematic.

However, the fact that football supporters from around the world are so desperate to attend Premier League games is, by itself, a sign of the division's astonishing success.

The Premier League as the

most popular football league in the world

is an instance of the rest of the world at a time when Britain can't express that about much else.

The English Premier League is often considered to be the best football league in the world as well as the most watched soccer team and also one of the

most popular soccer leagues in the world

.

However, does such claim have any credence and reliability? What makes it apart from the Bundesliga in Germany or La Liga in Spain or few other most viewed football league of the world?

It can be argued that the enormous popularity of the league merely comes from the massive TV coverage it gets. Is that any firm ground for declaring it as the best league? Don't other nations have roughly equal selling power?

What puts the English Premier League apart as one of the

most watched football leagues

? In most European leagues, the title is only a matter of interest for two rival clubs, maybe three, but in the English Premier League, there are regularly six clubs who can realistically be crowned champions.

Think about that, namely as Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. And there's also the Leicester City factor to take into consideration.

How a small club like Leicester can win the premiership? How did that take place in the

most famous football league in the world

? It could be the English Premier League and its magical unpredictability that makes it the world’s most popular soccer team as well as the

most entertaining League in World Football

.

It seems to be attempting the impossible—giving some logical reasons as to why the English Premier League should be considered the world’s best football team of all and also as the most entertaining Leagues in world football.

For the first time ever, four English Premier League teams played in the finals of the European Cup 2019, namely, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, and Chelsea.

For the first time in soccer history all four clubs in the top Euro finals were from the English Premier League. Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Portugal . . .

The truth is that the semi-final result proved that the English Premier League is far stronger than the other Euro’s most viewed football league at this time.

An unbelievable atmosphere inside Anfield helped power Liverpool to a famous European victory in the semi-final of the Champions League.

They thrashed the best soccer team in the world as well as most viewed football league, Messi et al, and made history with one of the best comebacks of all time. Some consider it as to be better than the Miracle of Istanbul in 2005. Not quite.

Let's remember Tottenham Hotspur with 3 goals down against a youthful and lively Ajax. Spurs scored the winner in the last minute.

The Soccer Players in the English Premier League

Is it true that the best players in the world play in the English Premier League, the most popular soccer league in the world and furthermore one of the most watched football leagues? The answer is in fact no.

Let's admit it from the outset—the elite top 2 players in the world are now playing their trade in Spain and Italy. That's Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Let's throw Luis Suarez into the mix as well.

You might have several names in your head, the Brazilian

Neymar

for instance; yet, the plain fact is the top 2 best exponents of the beautiful game are not playing in England.

But, it's not constantly wise to measure excellence individually. Football is a team game not an individual sport.

Add up the total numbers of quality internationals in the top ten teams in all the most watched leagues and who has most strength in depth? Definitely it's regarded as the

<span style="font-size:14.0pt">

English Premier League.

What does that mean in terms of pure football? If you're a regular spectator at English Premier League as

most viewed football league

, matches the chances are

 

you'll be watching top internationals week in and week out, not just when the elite teams turn up.

This makes a huge difference to the overall quality of play and gives the premier league the edge over other world leagues and letting it to stand out as most Entertaining Leagues in World Football as well as

most popular soccer leagues in the world

.

How do you know the English Premier League has more quality players regularly competing than any other league in the world and winning the title of

most popular soccer leagues in the world

?

Well, just look at the percentages of players turning out for their countries in top football tournaments like Euro 2012 and the World Cup 2014.

In Euro 2012, the English Premier League supplied 74 players, almost 20% of the total number, whilst the Bundesliga came second with 48 players, La Liga with 32, and Serie A with 31.

You'll find similar figures for the World Cup tournament as well. The English Premier League, is also one of the most Entertaining Leagues in World Football could be way ahead of the others when it comes to supplying the creme de la creme for major competitions.

The Stadium

In the state known as premiership, you don't have to travel far to face with the first class stadia. They have their own exceptional seating, viewing and facilities. Additionally, you have flawless playing fields to play football on during the season.

All the top ten clubs in the English Premier League all have exceptional home grounds—from the traditional rectangular favorites like Old Trafford and Anfield to the very modern fields like the Emirates where Arsenal play their trade.

Even the so-called smaller clubs have beautifully designed stadia, often designed to high standards.

Take recently promoted Southampton FC who play at St Mary's Stadium, the largest in the south of England outside London. It has a capacity of nearly 32,600 and features world-class facilities.

When the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) first broadcast football back in 1965 the coverage was in fuzzy black and white and just a handful of spectators tuned in for the important highlights of Match of the Day.

If I remember well, this was a match between Liverpool and Everton and the highlight was of a dog jumping onto the pitch and stopping the play! Even at that time, a few million viewers were tuned in, even if the goals were a bit of a blur and there was no true action on the side of English premiere league!

As a matter of the fact, fast forward 35-40 years and the English Premier League is now as one of the most watched football leagues in the world by over 600 million people in approximately 200 countries, a rather staggering number!

All the matches are broadcast live and enthusiastically anticipated. The income from the overseas broadcast rights is huge but what's special about the premier league is the fact that they are distributed collectively among the 20 clubs.

In other European leagues, with the Bundesliga as an exceptional example, the money tends to enter to the individual clubs with most TV as well as media coverage.

Therefore, the English league is in true sense of the word as one of the most watched football leagues in the world of sports, showing on any continent at any one time throughout the season.

The reason is because it has depth and quality and refreshing excitement unrivalled within the realm of football.

 


DISCLAIMER! Sportmob does not claim ownership of any of the pictures posted on this website. Again, we do not host pictures or videos ourselves. Our authors merely link to the rightful owner. Lastly, Sportmob have carefully considered and reviewed all of its content. Despite that, it is possible that some information might be out-dated or incomplete.