Where does MLS rank with other leagues in the world?

[jwblue]

Curious.

Also, I noticed there is a Chivas USA team now. How good is the Chivas team in Mexico? Do they rank with the top teams in Central America or the world?

IS

 

[LarryTalbot]

If I had to rank the world leagues it would go:

1. Italy Serie A
2. English Premiership
3. German Bundes Liga
4. French League
5. Holland Eredivisie
6. MLS, Belgium Jupilar

Compared to the other leagues, MLS is not really up there. Capping-wise, this league is ridiculous, anything can happen. I don't recommend betting on the MLS.

 

[jwblue]

Wow. I didn't expect the MLS to be in the top 6 on anyones list.

Thanks

IS

 

[acw]

I must admit that I like this question. Please give me as many matches as possible that have been played between MLS teams and other European teams the past 5 years and I may be able to give you some kind of an idea.

Regarding AVERAGE team strength in the European leagues. This is my list:
Spain La Liga
England Premier League
France
Italian Serie A
Germany
Spain La Segunda
England Coca Cola League
Italian Serie B
Portugal
Holland
Scotland
Belgium

wildemu,
I think you overlooked Spain.

I am also happy to dispute the order of the top five European Leagues, but for sure some of their next league teams rank much better than the top league teams of Portugal, Holland and Belgium, which is very much visible in betting turnover. Another interesting indicator would be the average salaries of players. It should not be too much out of line of what I just mentioned.

 

[LarryTalbot]

I completely forgot about spain, sorry. I would put spain in 3rd


Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, quality teams.

 

[LarryTalbot]

If we were going to limit it to top 5:

I would think it would go (No order)

Italian Serie A
English Premiership
Spanish Primera Liga
French League
German Bundes Liga

The 5th spot could still go to Holland, Germany, Scotland or even a secondary league like england's coca cola championship or Italy+Spanish 2nd leagues.

MLS is painful to watch; too bad espn doesn't want to show top-quality international soccer.

 

[HinesWard86]

acw-

ooooooo i dont know about that. i know your talking about average team strength, but teams like Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Utrecht, Az Aalkmar in Dutch League can beat the cream of the crop of the 2nd tier leagues in those respective countries. Also, same goes for Portugal. Remember Porto WON the Champions League last year I believe and that league still has some good teams in it like Braga, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon. Hell, Sporting Lisbon just beat Newcastle in a home-and-home. I think that there is a tier of 3 leagues above the rest. My list:

Italian Serie A
English Premiership
Spanish Primera
----------------
German Bundesliga
French Ligue One
-----------------
Portugese Superliga
Holland Casino Eredivisie
-------------------
MLS
Scottish League
Belgian Jupilar

The other leagues like Russia, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, I'm not sure about their strength. I know what the worst league you can bet on is though by far and thats Japanese J-League......they're horrible. However, when comparing remember this whenever a Premiership team comes from England they usually just play an MLS All-Star team in an effort to keep the game fair. Also, I know that Mexican teams have beaten MLS teams before, so take that for what it's worth.

 

[HinesWard86]

IS- also since no one has answered one of your original questions. Chivas Guadalajara is probably the most storied club in Central America. Personally, I'd compare them with Corinthians of the Brazilian League in respect to how good they are. There are plenty of good club teams in South America though and as of now I believe Chivas is as good as Velez Sarsfield

 

[LakersFan4Life]

where do rodney dangerfield and the ladybugs rank? :lolBIG: arty:

 

[LarryTalbot]

the hot daughter would by herself propel Rodney's team over europe's elite leagues.

 

[booze]

Probably not even in top 10 worldwide...but improving!

My list-

1) English Premiership
2) Italian Serie A
3) Spanish Primera
4) German Bundesliga
5) Argentine first division
6) France Ligue 1
7) Brazillian
8) Holland
9) Mexican
10) Scottish

....with MLS probably right around there, but still probably not on the same level as The English 1st division or Japan's J League. Hopefully if they build more soccer-only stadiums like in Columbus/LA they could build some good followings in the other metro areas. I know the Metrostars avg around 20,000 here in NY/NJ, but I think they could do even better if they didn't have to play in Giants stadium.

 

[fookineejit]

My rankings


1. UEFA Champions League (period)
----------------------------------
2. La Liga (Spain)
3. Serie A (Italy)
4. Premiership (England)
---------------------------------
5. Germany
6. France
7. MLS
8. Portugal
9. Holland
10. La Liga 2

MLS actually has a very good record against European teams although the Euro teams are normally just on a pre-season tour so it is not clear how serious they take the games.

I think the standard of play in MLS is not too bad but the league just looks bad because alot of teams play in 9/10 empty NFL stadia. If more teams get soccer specific stadia like the Home Depot Centre for the LA Galaxy the league will improve IMO.

Certainly if the last world cup is used as the most recent reiable test of MLS players then they are making good progress.

 

[matahari]

For me:

English Premier League
Spain La Liga
Italy Serie A
French Ligue 1
Germany Bundesliga
Dutch Eredivisie

For the rest I agree with this:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/crank2005.html

As for the places of lower leagues (1st(2nd) divisions) roughly add 15 to the place number in that table, e.g. England Championship would be somewhere between Israel and Serbia-Montenegro.

As for MLS my guess would be around Italy Serie B and French Ligue 2.

 

[szlem]

from my point of view:
1.Spanish, Englis, Italian are above all

2.French, German - also very strong

3.as for Dutch, Portugese - there are some excellent teams at the top and the rest is weak

4.other leagues sometimes offer 1-2 excellent teams (for instance PAo and Olympiakos in Greece, top Turkish teams, Belgian). Russian league seems pretty strong, as can be observed during the Champions league, especially home.

My Polish league sucks, unfortunately. Don't know too well the MLS, but I don't think those teams would have a chance in top European leagues - even if in some friendlies they present decent results, friendly games are not value at all. Top players go to Europe, not to the States

BTW: my 1st post here - hurray for me!!!!

 

[Concorde]

I must admit that I like this question. Please give me as many matches as possible that have been played between MLS teams and other European teams the past 5 years and I may be able to give you some kind of an idea.

Regarding AVERAGE team strength in the European leagues. This is my list:
Spain La Liga
England Premier League
France
Italian Serie A
Germany
Spain La Segunda
England Coca Cola League
Italian Serie B
Portugal
Holland
Scotland
Belgium

wildemu,
I think you overlooked Spain.

I am also happy to dispute the order of the top five European Leagues, but for sure some of their next league teams rank much better than the top league teams of Portugal, Holland and Belgium, which is very much visible in betting turnover. Another interesting indicator would be the average salaries of players. It should not be too much out of line of what I just mentioned.

Agree with you ACW, the best soccer is played in Spain, then Italy.
The bst MLS team will struggle winning the Italian 3rd division.

 

[acw]

I know what the worst league you can bet on is though by far and thats Japanese J-League......they're horrible.
I love them, absolutely love them! No home team advantage and just scoring and scoring. It is like basketball!