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Football, Futbol, Soccer, etc. (Official Thread)

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For whatever reason, I've started to really garner an interest in soccer. I understand most of the rules just fine, the problem is I really don't understand how all of the leagues and such sort out. I think the number of leagues is just a bit overwhelming to me. Any helpful links or sites that can give me a better representation of how the leagues line-up on international scale? I'd appreciate some help, thanks!
 
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SCBuck13;2313785; said:
For whatever reason, I've started to really garner an interest in soccer. I understand most of the rules just fine, the problem is I really don't understand how all of the leagues and such sort out. I think the number of leagues is just a bit overwhelming to me. Any helpful links or sites that can give me a better representation of how the leagues line-up on international scale? I'd appreciate some help, thanks!
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I'll see what I can find & post it when I do, but it took me quite a while to figure it all out myself to be honest. It's very different compared to North American sports & I think that was what took me the longest to understand.
 
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SCBuck13;2313785; said:
For whatever reason, I've started to really garner an interest in soccer. I understand most of the rules just fine, the problem is I really don't understand how all of the leagues and such sort out. I think the number of leagues is just a bit overwhelming to me. Any helpful links or sites that can give me a better representation of how the leagues line-up on international scale? I'd appreciate some help, thanks!
Click to expand...

That part can take a while to sort out because it's not like American sports where there's a season and then a playoff at the end. Each league and tournament is a distinct competition, and can be in two or three at a time.

In club football, these are the four types of competition that you'll encounter most often:

  • Domestic league (Barclay's Premier League, Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Serie A, etc.)
  • Domestic cup (FA Cup, Copa del Rey, etc,)
  • League cup (Capital One Cup)
  • Continental competition (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, etc.)

I was never able to sort it all out until I picked the club that was going to be my club. I think that helps unravel the calendar a little bit. Before I did that, I just tried to follow American players abroad and watch matches as a neutral, and it all ran together for me. If you haven't picked a league or a team to follow yet then doing so would probably help a lot. After that, just focus first on following them in their domestic league. If you can keep up with that, the other stuff will come around.
 
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Smudger;2313792; said:
I'll see what I can find & post it when I do, but it took me quite a while to figure it all out myself to be honest. It's very different compared to North American sports & I think that was what took me the longest to understand.
Click to expand...

That would be much appreciated, thanks!

jlb1705;2313798; said:
That part can take a while to sort out because it's not like American sports where there's a season and then a playoff at the end. Each league and tournament is a distinct competition, and can be in two or three at a time.

In club football, these are the four types of competition that you'll encounter most often:

  • Domestic league (Barclay's Premier League, Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Serie A, etc.)
  • Domestic cup (FA Cup, Copa del Rey, etc,)
  • League cup (Capital One Cup)
  • Continental competition (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, etc.)

I was never able to sort it all out until I picked the club that was going to be my club. I think that helps unravel the calendar a little bit. Before I did that, I just tried to follow American players abroad and watch matches as a neutral, and it all ran together for me. If you haven't picked a league or a team to follow yet then doing so would probably help a lot. After that, just focus first on following them in their domestic league. If you can keep up with that, the other stuff will come around.
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That's kind of how I figured it would work out. I'm not really even where sure to begin with that though, as I hardly know any players, or much history of the clubs. I'm a beginner in every sense, but you've got to start some where, right?
 
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one of the bigger things to understand is that in most countries, the leagues are tiered and teams actually get dropped down a level if they finish in the bottom 3, or so, slots. It's called relegation. The next lower league, in turn, promotes its top few teams (and demotes its bottom few). It would be like sending the worst few MLB teams at the end of each year to AAA.
 
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SCBuck13;2313785; said:
For whatever reason, I've started to really garner an interest in soccer. I understand most of the rules just fine, the problem is I really don't understand how all of the leagues and such sort out. I think the number of leagues is just a bit overwhelming to me. Any helpful links or sites that can give me a better representation of how the leagues line-up on international scale? I'd appreciate some help, thanks!
Click to expand...

From an earlier post of mine:

Okay get ready.

Each country in Europe has it's own league, where divisions of 20 teams compete to finish at the top. Each team plays every other team twice (once home and away) in it's division. A win is 3 points, a draw gives both teams 1 point, and a loss is 0. At the end of 38 "matchdays" (19 teams x 2 matches each) the team with the highest point total is the champion. In the event of a draw, the team with the highest goal differential is the winner. Goal differential is the number of goals scored versus the number of goals conceded.

Each country has 3+ divisions. If you finish in the top three, you are promoted to the division above you next season. If you finish in the bottom three, you are relegated down to the next lower division. You want to make it to the highest division in your country.

If you are one of the teams in the highest division, and then you finish in the top 2/3/4 teams (depending on which country your league is in) you qualify for The Champions League. The Champions League pits the top teams from the top divisions in Europe against each other to decide which team is the Champion of Europe. This is the highest honor that any european team can achieve, and is the boyhood dream of many youth football players in Europe. It's akin to our Superbowl.

Aside from these competitions, there are League Cups in each country which are essentially knockout tournaments. The FA Cup in England is the most prestigious of these, and has been naming a champion for well over 100 years. It is open to any team in any division in the country, so there is always the potential for David versus Goliath scenarios.

There are other tournaments throughout the season as well that you can pick up as you watch, but typically the teams don't place as much importance on them as the ones I've mentioned so I'll save the space on them.

That's my rundown :biggrin:
 
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Merih;2313823; said:
That's my rundown :biggrin:
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Got it. I had a basic understanding of some of that, but that really helps!

I do have a question about the Champions' Leagues though. So when a team wins, say, the Premier League, they would move on to the Champions League for the next year? And this happens every year? I understand the basic concept of relegation, but it's things like this that confuse me sometimes.
 
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SCBuck13;2313838; said:
Got it. I had a basic understanding of some of that, but that really helps!

I do have a question about the Champions' Leagues though. So when a team wins, say, the Premier League, they would move on to the Champions League for the next year? And this happens every year? I understand the basic concept of relegation, but it's things like this that confuse me sometimes.
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Not just the domestic league winners, but usually the top 2-3 teams from each (I think it's a weighted thing based on the calculated quality of the domestic leagues).
 
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SCBuck13;2313838; said:
Got it. I had a basic understanding of some of that, but that really helps!

I do have a question about the Champions' Leagues though. So when a team wins, say, the Premier League, they would move on to the Champions League for the next year? And this happens every year? I understand the basic concept of relegation, but it's things like this that confuse me sometimes.
Click to expand...

Champions League spots are determined on which country you're in. In England, Spain, and Germany the top 4 teams all get into the Champions League the following year. Italy, Portugal, France all get 3 teams.

That number is based on overall league strength in the previous few seasons and how a country's teams performed as a whole.

This is why you'll see fans of other English clubs rooting for other English clubs in Champions League (even if they would normally hate that team) so that the country can keep/gain Champions League spots.
 
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Merih;2313842; said:
Champions League spots are determined on which country you're in. In England, Spain, and Germany the top 4 teams all get into the Champions League the following year. Italy, Portugal, France all get 3 teams.

That number is based on overall league strength in the previous few seasons and how a country's teams performed as a whole.

This is why you'll see fans of other English clubs rooting for other English clubs in Champions League (even if they would normally hate that team) so that the country can keep/gain Champions League spots.
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Oh okay, makes sense. So do all these leagues play concurrently? It's my understanding that the premier league goes from August to May. Can that be said for all of the others?
 
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SCBuck13;2313847; said:
Oh okay, makes sense. So do all these leagues play concurrently? It's my understanding that the premier league goes from August to May. Can that be said for all of the others?
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Yep, for the most part these competitons are concurrent.

Champions League goes on for nearly as long, but the games are not as often.

The domestic cups don't last as long. In England the Capital One Cup is in the fall/winter and the FA Cup is in the winter/spring.

That really adds to the strategy for most teams, since it takes a lot of energy and resources to field a strong team in all competitions. The biggest and very best clubs can try to navigate all of them, but most will prioritize some competitions over others based on the culture and history of the club and their opinion of their own chances based on early results.
 
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And just to clarify something that originally confused me: teams are playing in multiple different competitions concurrently. For instance, Manchester United is currently playing their Premier League season; they are playing in the Champions League (they actually just got knocked out last week); and they are playing in the FA Cup. All of these competitions are happening at the same time. Winning the Premier League doesn't mean you move out of the Premier League and into the Champion's League - it means that next season, you will be playing in both.
 
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BengalsAndBucks;2314154; said:
And just to clarify something that originally confused me: teams are playing in multiple different competitions concurrently. For instance, Manchester United is currently playing their Premier League season; they are playing in the Champions League (they actually just got knocked out last week); and they are playing in the FA Cup. All of these competitions are happening at the same time. Winning the Premier League doesn't mean you move out of the Premier League and into the Champion's League - it means that next season, you will be playing in both.
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You can actually finish the Premier League season in the Top 3, and make the Champions League. Look at the UEFA CL as the European club tournament, the FA Cup is essentially the England's exclusive tournament, all which run during the Premier League season. Which only adds more excitement to the soccer season.
 
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