Comparing Europe's Top 5 Leagues - Which is currently the best?
EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 or the Serie A – which was the best in the last 5 seasons?There have been endless debates about which league is the best in the world, and that is something that cannot be determined very easily. It has been taken for granted that Europe has the best leagues in the world based on support, the lure of top players and past glory. The top five leagues have been rated in this piece, and the criteria on which they have been judged is given below. 1) Match Attendance2) TV Viewership and deals3) Competitiveness4) League Quality5) Club Competition FormNote: All statistics that have been used are from the last 5 seasons (2010/11 to 2014/15) unless specified.
#1 Match Attendance
Criteria: Average match attendances have been calculated
The English Premier League has the highest total match attendance among all the other leagues, with almost 13.75 million spectators attending games during the 2014/15 season. It is closely followed by the Bundesliga in second place with 13.3 million spectators, despite the average attendance being consistently higher than the Premier League. But over the course of the last five seasons, the German league has entertained an average crowd of 43,484 as compared to 35,729 for the Premier League.
La Liga comes in third place with 10.2 million spectators during the 2014/15 campaign, and the Spanish league has considerably less match attendances as compared to the top two, with 28,581 being the average over the past 5 seasons. Ligue 1 in France comes in last place, although it is threatening to overtake the Serie A in this round, as noticed in their average match attendance in the recent campaign.
| League | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 5 seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bundesliga | 42,653 | 45,134 | 42,609 | 43,497 | 43,527 | 43,484 |
| EPL | 35,283 | 34,601 | 35,931 | 36,657 | 36,175 | 35,729 |
| La Liga | 29,128 | 30,548 | 29,329 | 27,042 | 26,859 | 28,581 |
| Serie A | 24,031 | 23,459 | 22,796 | 22,212 | 22,149 | 22,929 |
| Ligue 1 | 19,912 | 18,665 | 19,392 | 21,108 | 22,356 | 20,268 |
Winner: Bundesliga
Source: ESPN