World Top 10 Football League

Ranking Top 10 Best Football League In The World 

1. Spanish La Liga

The Primera Division, commonly known as La Liga and as La Liga Santander for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league stems. Administrated by the Liga de Futbol Profesional, La Liga is contested by 20 teams, with the three lowest-placed teams relegated to the Segunda Division and replaced by the top two teams in that division plus the winner of a play-off.

A total of 60 teams have competed in La Liga since its inception. Nine teams have been crowned champions, with Real Madrid winning the title a record 32 times and Barcelona 24 times. Real Madrid dominated the championship from the 1950s through the 1980s. From the 1990s on wards, Barcelona (14 titles) and Real Madrid (7 titles) both dominated, though La Liga also saw other champions, including Atletico Madrid, Valencia, and Deportivo de la Coruna. In more recent years, Atletico Madrid has joined a coalition of now three teams dominating La Liga alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona.

According to UEFA's league coefficient, La Liga has been the top league in Europe over the last five years, and has produced the continent's top-rated club more times (18) than any other league, double that of second-placed Serie A. Its clubs have won the most UEFA Champions League (16) and UEFA Europa League (10) titles, and its players have accumulated the highest number of (FIFA) Ballon d'Or award (19).

La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 26,741 for league matches in the 2014-15 season. This is the sixth-highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the fourth-highest of any professional association football league in the world, behind the Bundesliga, the Premier League, and the Indian Super League.

2. English Premier League

The Premier League is an English professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League. Welsh clubs that compete in the English football league system can also qualify.

The Premier League is a corporation in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August to May. Teams play 38 matches each (playing each team in the league twice, home and away), totalling 380 matches in the season. Most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons; others during weekday evenings. It is colloquially known as the Premiership and outside the UK it is commonly referred to as the English Premier League.

The competition formed as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League, which was originally founded in 1888, and take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal. The deal was worth £1 billion a year domestically as 2013-14, with BSkyB and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 116 and 38 games respectively. The league generates  €2.2 billion per year in domestic and international television rights. In 2014/15, teams were apportioned revenues of £1.6 billion.

The Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people. In the 2014-15 season, the average Premier League match attendance exceeded 36,000, second highest of any professional football league behind the Bundesliga's 43,500. Most stadium occupancies are near capacity. The Premier League ranks third in the UEFA coefficients of Leagues based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons.

While 47 clubs have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, only six have won the title: Manchester United (13), Chelsea (4), Arsenal (3), Manchester City (2), Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City (1) . The current champions are Leicester City, who won the title in 2015-16. 

3. Bundesliga

The Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany and the football league with the highest average stadium attendance worldwide. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary football competition. The Bundesliga is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga. Seasons run form August to May. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played on weekdays. All of the Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal. The winner of the Bundesliga qualifies for the DFL-Supercup.

A total of 54 clubs have competed in the Bundesliga since its founding. FC Bayern Munich has won the Bundesliga the most, winning the titles 25 times. However, the Bundesliga has seen other champions with Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, Borussia Monchengladbach and VfB Stuttgart most prominent among them. The Bundesliga is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked second in Europe according to UEFA's league coefficient ranking, based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons. Bundesliga is the number one football league in the world in terms of average attendance; out of all sports, its average of 45, 134 fans per game during the 2011-12 seasons was the second highest of any sports league in the world after the National Football League. The Bundesliga is broadcast on television in over 200 countries.

The Bundesliga was founded in 1962 in Dormund and the first season started in 1963. The structure and organisation of the Bundesliga along with Germany's other football leagues have undergone frequent changes right up to the present day. The Bundesliga was originally founded by the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (English: German Football Association), but is now operated by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (English: German Football League). 

4. Italian Serie A

Serie A is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since the 1929-30 season. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new league, the Lega Serie A, was created for the 2010-11 season. Serie A is regarded as one of the best football leagues in the world and it is often depicted as the most tactical national league. Serie A is the world's second-strongest national league according to IFFHS and has produced the highest number of European Cup finalist: Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record 27 different occasions, winning the title 12 times. Serie A is ranked fourth among European leagues according to UEFA'S league coefficient, behind La Liga, Bundesliga and Premier League, which is based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champion League and the Europa League during the last five years. Serie A led the UEFA ranking from 1986 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1999.

In its current format, the Italian Football Championship was revised from having regional and interregional rounds, to a single-tier league from the 1929-30 seasons on wards. The championship titles won prior to 1929 are officially recognised by FIGC with same weighting as titles that were subsequently awarded. However, the 1945-46 season, when the league was played over two geographical group due to the ravages of WWII, is not statistically considered, even if its title is fully official. All the winning teams are recognised with the title of Campione d'Italia ("Champion of Italy"), which is ratified by the Lega Serie A before the start of the next edition of the championship.

The league hosts three of the world's most famous clubs as Juventus, Milan and Internazionale, all founding members of the G-14, a group which represented the largest and most prestigious European football clubs Serie; A was the only league to produce three founding members. More player have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world-although Spain's La Liga has the highest total number of Ballon d'Or winners including the FIFA Ballon d'Or. Milan is the third club with most official international titles in the world, with 18. Juventus, Italy's most successful club of the 20th century and the most successful Italian team, is tied for fourth in Europe and eighth in the world in the same ranking. The club is the only one in the world to have won all possible official continental competitions and the world title. Internazionale, following their achievements in the 2009-10 season, became the first Italian team to have achieved a treble. Juventus, Milan and Inter, along with Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Napoli, are known as the Seven Sisters of Italian football.

5. Portuguese Liga

The Primeira Liga is the top professional association football division of the Portuguese football league system. It is organised and supervised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional. As of the 2014-15 season, the Primeira Liga is contested by 18 teams, with the two lowest placed teams relegated to the Segunda Lida and replaced by the top-two non-reserve teams from this division.

Founded in 1934 as an experimental league, it was officialised in 1938 and named Primeira Division  (First Division) until 1999, when it recovered the original naming. A total of 70 teams have competed in the Primeira Liga, but only five have been crowned champions. Among them, the "Big Three"-Benfica (35 titles), Porto  (27) are Belenenses (1945–46) and Boavista (2000–01).

The Primeira Liga has increased its reputation in the last few years, occupying the 5th place of UEFA's league ranking. It broke into the top five for the first time in the 2011-12 season, passing the French Ligue 1, one of the historical "big five" European leagues, for the first time since 19990. The Primeira liga also reached a world ranking of 4th according to IFFHS's 2011 ranking. 

6. French Ligue 1

Ligue 1 (French pronunciation: ​[liɡ œ̃]; League 1, formerly known as Division 1), is the primary French association football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2. Contested by 20 clubs, it operated on a system of promotion and relegation with Ligue 2. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 games each totaling 280 games in the season. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during weekday evenings, Play is regularly suspended the last weekend before Christmas for two weeks before returning in the second week of January. Ligue 1 is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked fifth in Europe behind Spain's La Liga, England's Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga and the Italy's Serie A.

Ligue 1 was inaugurated on 11 September 1932 under the name National before switching to Division 1 after a year of existence. The name lasted until 2002 before switching to its current name.  AS Saint-Étienne is the most successful club with ten league titles in France while Olympique Lyon is the club that has won the most consecutive titles (seven between 2002 and 2008). With the presence of 66 seasons in Ligue 1, the FC Sochaux-Montbeliard and Olympique de Marseille hold the record for most seasons among the elite, while FC Nantes holds the League record for longevity with 44 consecutive seasons (1963–2007). The current champions are Paris Saint-Germain, who won their sixth title in the 2015-16 season.

7. Dutch Eredivisie

The Eredivisie is the highest echelon of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. At the end of the 2015-2016 season it was ranked the 13th best league in Europe by UEFA.

The top division consists of 18 clubs. Each club meets every other club twice during the season, once at home and once away. At the end of each season, the club at the bottom is automatically relegated to the second level of the Dutch league system, the Eerste Divisie (First Division). At the same time, the champion of the Eerste Divisie will be automatically promoted to the Eredivisie. The next two clubs from the bottom of the Eredivisie go to separate promotion/relegation play-offs. The play-offs are played in two groups. Each group has one Eredivisie club and three high-placed clubs from the Eerste Divisie. In both promotion/relegation play-off groups, each club plays a home-and-away series with the other clubs. The winner of each play-off group plays in the following season's Eredivisie, with the other teams going to the Eerste Divisie.

The winner of the Eredivisie claims the Dutch national championship. AFC Ajax has won most titles, 24 (33 national titles). PSV Eindhoven are next with 18 (23), and Feyenoord follow with 9 (14). Since 1965, these three clubs have won all except for three titles (the 1981 and 2009 titles went to AZ and FC Twente won the 2010 title). Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord are known as the "Big Three" of Dutch football. They are the only ones in their current forms to have appeared in every edition of the Eredivisie since its formation. A fourth club, FC Utrecht, is the product of a 1970 merger between three of that city's clubs, one of the which, VV DOS, had also never been relegated out of the Eredivisie.

From 1990 to 1999, the official name of the league was PTT Telecompetitie (after the sponsor, PTT Telecom), which was changed to KPN Telecompetitie (because PTT Telecom changed its name to KPN Telecom in 1999) and to KPN Eredivisie in 2000. From 2002 to 2005, the league was called the Holland Casino Eredivisie. Since the 2005-6 season, the league has been sponsored by the Sponsorloterij (lottery), but for legal reasons its name could not be attached to the league (the Dutch government was against the name, because the Eredivisie would, after Holland Casino's sponsorship, yet again be sponsored by a company providing games of chance). On 8 August 2012 it was made public that the American-based Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch had secured the rights to the Eredivisie for 12 years at the expense of 1 billion euro, beginning in the 2013/2014 season. Within this deal the five largest Eredivisie clubs should receive 5 million euros per year for the duration of the contract.

8.Argentine League

The Primera Division is a professional football league in Argentina. It is the country's premier football division and is at the top of the Argentine football league system. Contested by 30 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Primera B Nacional (second division), with the team placed lowest at the end of the season being relegated. The season runs from February to May.

In 1891 Argentina was the first country outside the United Kingdom to establish a football league. In the early years, only teams from Buenos Aires and Rosario were affiliated to the national association. Teams from other cities would join in later years.

The Primera Division turned professional in 1931 when 18 clubs broke away from the amateur leagues to form a professional one. Since then, the season has been contested annually in four different formats and calendars. The league has been under its current format since the 2014 season.

The Argentine championship was ranked in the top 10 as one of the strongest leagues in the world (for the 1st January 2015 – 31 December 2015 period) by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). Argentina placed 4th afterLa Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and Bundesliga (Germany).

9. Brazilian Serie A

The Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A is a Brazilian professional league for men's football clubs. At the top o the Brazilian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition.Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie B. It is currently sponsored by Cherolet and thus officially known as the Brasilerao Cherolet.

Due to historical peculiarities and the large geographical size of the country, Brazil has a relatively short history of nationwide football competitions. Only in 1959, with the advancements in civil aviation and air transport and the need to appoint a Brazilian representative to the first edition of the Copa Libertadores was a nationwide tournament created, Taca Brasil. In 1967, the Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo was expanded to include teams from other states, becoming the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, which as also considered a national tournament. The first Campeonato Brasileiro with that name was held in 1971. The three tournaments-Taca Brasil, Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, and Brasileirao-were unified by Brazilian Football Confederation in the Brazilian championship history in 2010.

The Campeonato Brasileiro is one of the strongest leagues in the world; it contains the most club world champions titles, with 10 championships won among six clubs, and the second-most Copa Libertadores titles, with 17 titles won among 10 clubs. The international Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) ranked the league fourth in strength for the 2001-12 period after the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), and Serie A (Italy). The Campeonato Brasileiro is the most-watched football league in the Americas and one of the world's most exposed, broadcast in 155 nations. It is also one of the world's richest championships, ranked as the sixth most valuable with a worth of over US$1.43 billion, generating an annual turnover of over US$1.17 billion in 2012.

Since 1959, a total of 156 clubs have played in the Campeonato Brasileiro. 17 clubs have been crowned Brazilian football champions, 12 of which have won the title more than once. Santos and Palmeiras are the most successful clubs of the Campeonato Brasileiro, having won the competition eight times each, followed by Sao Paulo and Corinthians with six titles each. Santos' Os Santasticos, considered by some the best Brazilian club team of all times, won five consecutive titles between 1961 and 1965, a feat that remains unequaled until today. The State of Sao Paulo is the most successful state, amassing 28 titles among five clubs. The reigning Brazilian champions are Corinthians, who won their sixth title during the 2015 season.

10. Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer is a men's professional soccer league, sanctioned by U.S. Soccer, that represents the sport's highest level in both the United States and Canada. MLS constitutes one of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. The league is composed of 20 teams-17 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada. The MLS regular season runs from March to October, with each team playing 34 games; the team with the best record is awarded the Supporters' Shield. The post season includes twelve teams competing in the MLS Cup Play-offs through November and December, culminating in the championship game, the MLS Cup. MLS teams also play in other domestic competitions against teams fro mother divisions in the U.S Open Cup and in the Canadian Championship. MLS teams also compete against continental rivals in the CONCACAF Champions League

Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 as part of the United State's successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The first season took place in 1996 with ten teams. MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years: The league lost millions of dollars, teams played in mostly empty American football stadiums, and two teams folded in 2002. Since then, MLS has expanded to 20 teams, owners built soccer-specific stadiums, average MLS attendance exceeds that of the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA), MLS secured national TV contracts, and the league is now profitable.

Instead of operating as an association of independently owned teams, MLS is a single entity in which each team is owned and controlled by the leagues's investors. The investor-operators control their teams as owners control teams in other leagues, and are commonly (but inaccurately) referred to as the team's owners. The league has a fixed membership, like most sports leagues in the United States and Canada, which makes it one of the world's few soccer leagues that does not use promotion and relegation, a practice that is uncommon in the two countries. MLS headquarters is located in New York City.