1. of the highest quality, excellence, or standing: the best work; the best students.
2. most advantageous, suitable, or desirable: the best way.
3.largest; most: the best part of a day.
4. most excellently or suitably; with most advantage or success: an opera role that best suits her voice.
5. in or to the highest degree; most fully
You've just used wikipedia and goal.com to try and say we're wrong. :/
The fact they've put Brazil > Italy is bordering on ridiculous.
It all comes down to what you consider 'best' to mean.
The way one could interperet this could be:
1. which has the best individual stars
2. which plays the most attractive football
3. which has the largest pool of teams that can realistically compete for the title
4. which has had most success (eg in continental football such as Champions League)
5. which has the most of the above
For the quality of the best teams, Ligue 1... Though I'd choose the Eredivisie in almost every other respect.
Brazil and Argentina would be poor choices. Sure, they're competitive, but that's because no team can maintain stability. As 'feeder' leagues for Europe, any players that show true quality are shipped out, leaving teams mere shells comprised of more up-and-comers, average squad members and players in the twilight of their career. I'd rank the English Championship (the best second tier league in the world) above 'em both.
.
Brazil and Argentina would be poor choices. Sure, they're competitive, but that's because no team can maintain stability. As 'feeder' leagues for Europe, any players that show true quality are shipped out, leaving teams mere shells comprised of more up-and-comers, average squad members and players in the twilight of their career. I'd rank the English Championship (the best second tier league in the world) above 'em both.
Championship above Brasileirao? You gotta be joking. Worse players, worse teams. Have you actually watched more than 2 games from there recently? Dont think so. True, they are feeder leagues for Europe, but still, lot of talent there, some discovered, some not. They discover "Robinho", WOW, everybody claps their hands as they have found the next Pele. Sold to Europe, next season, Nilmar, then, Neymar, then Paulo Henrique, then etc, then etc. They sell potential "stars" every season. So what? Every year there is a new name coming up, that means only, that there is still a lot more, which somehow shows you the quality of their players.
On topic now, has everyone considered measuring the level of the league depending on the winners of individual awards, like Balon d´or, FIFA Golden Boot, etc? I mean, considering the club he plays for at the time of the award. Would that be fair?
Well European games are the only way to compare the quality of the respective leagues. Because dutch teams are poor in Europe, then I'd say it's a valid point to claim that the standard of the league is worse. What are you using to measure the quality of the leagues? Your own judgement of the style of football?
Another point is that the Dutch league, to me, appears to be dominated by 4/5 sides (Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Twente and possibly Alkmaar), whereas Ligue 1, for example has been won by far more teams and is generally more competitive throughout. Being dominated by few teams means that the European representatives actually give an unusually high coefficient for the league as it does not reflect the lower quality of the other teams (a prime example being Scotland, where Rangers and Celtic go some way to disguising the horribly poor teams that make up the SPL). I think that the teams in Ligue 1 are of a higher quality than those in the Eredivisie on average, and I'd guess that the average wage and quality of the individuals will also be higher.
Whatever happens in dutch football doesn't seem to be great considering the quality (or lack of quality) in the sides that represent the league in Europe.
PS. Regarding the Championship, competitiveness does not cover up the obvious gulf in class between it and the top flights of other major footballing nations.
I do watch both Brazilian and Argentinian matches whenever I get the opportunity, so how often do you get to view the Championship?Championship above Brasileirao? You gotta be joking. Worse players, worse teams. Have you actually watched more than 2 games from there recently? Dont think so. True, they are feeder leagues for Europe, but still, lot of talent there, some discovered, some not. They discover "Robinho", WOW, everybody claps their hands as they have found the next Pele. Sold to Europe, next season, Nilmar, then, Neymar, then Paulo Henrique, then etc, then etc. They sell potential "stars" every season. So what? Every year there is a new name coming up, that means only, that there is still a lot more, which somehow shows you the quality of their players.
Add more exclamation points and question marks to your post next time, to really get your point across. What are you, the friggin' Riddler?Zagallo said:English Championship above Brazil and Argentina?????You haven't got a clue about football my friend. What a joker!!!
But each year they sell these stars, and it deflates the overall quality of the league.
I do watch both Brazilian and Argentinian matches whenever I get the opportunity, so how often do you get to view the Championship?
You say potential stars appear with regularity, well they don't. Hence a club doing particularly well one season, shedding a couple of players and falling to the bottom of the table. I've watched teams who won the Copa Libertadores one year become shells of their former selves the next. It might be okay if it was only the odd player, but managers are headhunted almost as much, something a lot less frequent in the Championship. But the main crux of the argument is competitiveness and quality of football, and in both the Championship is superior. Sure for the archetypal south American 'skill', individuals (and often entire teams) in Brazil and Argentina are of course a better representation of that side of the game. Football comprises a lot more than that. Your point 'worse players, worse teams' should be 'more effective players, betters teams', as son, it'd be the truth.
Take a look at Tim Vickery's blog if you want to see someone truly lament the state of Brazilian and Argentinian football. The man loves it, but is under no illusions.
Add more exclamation points and question marks to your post next time, to really get your point across. What are you, the friggin' Riddler?
Hihi, Feyenoord one of the best clubs. Don't know if you've checked the news these couple past years, but they're **** these days. However, look at FC Utrecht, Roda JC and Vitesse these next few years. They're going to explode!
As for the best players in the Eredivisie: Suarez, Stekelenburg, El Hamdaoui, Sergio Romero, Afellay, van Wolfswinkel, Dzudzsak, Marcus Berg, Ola Toivonen, Jeremain Lens, Andre Ooijer, vd Wiel, Vertonghen, Eriksen, de Zeeuw, Brama, Theo Janssen, Luuk de Jong, Ruiz.
To name a few.
Stade Rennais FC - PSV Eindhoven
Olympique de Marseille - Twente Enschede
AS Saint-Etienne - Ajax
Stade Brestois 29 - Roda JC
Toulouse FC - Groningen
Montpellier Hérault SC - Utrecht
Paris Saint-Germain - AZ Alkmaar
LOSC Lille Métropole - ADO Den Haag
Girondins de Bordeaux - NEC Nijmegen
SM Caen - Heerenveen
FC Sochaux Montbéliard - NAC Breda
Valenciennes FC - De Graafschap
OGC Nice - Heracles Almelo
Olympique Lyonnais - Excelsior
AJ Auxerre - Feyenoord
FC Lorient - Vitesse Arnhem
AS Nancy Lorraine - VVV-Venlo
AS Monaco FC - Willem II
PS. This is not used to either prove or disprove my opinion, it's just to see what people think.
European teams hardly put effort into those competitions, coming as they do in the middle of the season.And at the Clubs World Championship the titles are quite even between South America and Europe, so that means that the quality of the teams are quite similar. I still remember when Velez Sarsfield played AC Milan for the title. Before that most people didnt even know where Velez was from, still, they beat the Italian club.
That's a poor way to think of things. The Premier League is superior to to the French league, but I wouldn't fancy Blackpool's chances against Lyon.Com´on, do you really believe, that a Championship team could beat Santos, Cruzeiro, Estudiantes, in a two leg playoff game?
I meant that Feyenoord have been one of only 5 teams to win the Eredivisie, and they used to be one of the best clubs. And yes I have checked the news these past couple of years now you mention it.
Yes you've named some good players. But I can do the same for Ligue 1. Gourcuff, Briand, Lloris, Hoarau, Gignac, Toulalan, Kallstrom, Bastos, Lopez, Heinze, Gonzalez, Diarra and that's only off the top of my head now, as I'm not trawling through entire squads. It comes down to personal opinion at the end of the day, but I can't really understand why people claim that the Dutch league is better than the French Ligue 1. I recognise the coefficients aren't foolproof but they're the best stats we have to go on, and they rank Ligue 1 far higher than the Eredivisie, which was around 8th or 9th. They show that Ligue 1 teams have consistently outperformed their Dutch counterparts in European competition, so surely that is an indicator that the quality of sides is superior in France?
Out of interest, I've pasted the league tables together to allow a bit of friendly comparison. Who do people think would win each game?
Stade Rennais FC - PSV Eindhoven
Olympique de Marseille - Twente Enschede
AS Saint-Etienne - Ajax
Stade Brestois 29 - Roda JC
Toulouse FC - Groningen
Montpellier Hérault SC - Utrecht
Paris Saint-Germain - AZ Alkmaar
LOSC Lille Métropole - ADO Den Haag
Girondins de Bordeaux - NEC Nijmegen
SM Caen - Heerenveen
FC Sochaux Montbéliard - NAC Breda
Valenciennes FC - De Graafschap
OGC Nice - Heracles Almelo
Olympique Lyonnais - Excelsior
AJ Auxerre - Feyenoord
FC Lorient - Vitesse Arnhem
AS Nancy Lorraine - VVV-Venlo
AS Monaco FC - Willem II
PS. This is not used to either prove or disprove my opinion, it's just to see what people think.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/table/default.stm
Take a look at the table and then tell me what other league is as close/competitive
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/table/default.stm
seriously though i think its got to be french league
European teams hardly put effort into those competitions, coming as they do in the middle of the season.
That's a poor way to think of things. The Premier League is superior to to the French league, but I wouldn't fancy Blackpool's chances against Lyon.
When comparing leagues you have to compare all the teams within. Just take the Championship, teams like Bristol City and Middlesbrough are struggling at the bottom with strong squads. Compare such a team with one languishing in Brasileiro Série A such as Goias. That team ecapsulates everything I've been saying. Loanees, average journeymen, players in the twilight of their career and a couple of bright lights - such as Rafael Toloi, who isn't going to be there for much longer. If we're talking hypothetical friendlies, I wouldn't fancy their chances agaisnt the organised, well drilled teams of the Championship.