Football (Soccer)/The Leagues And Teams

FIFA Divisions

The countries, teams and their leagues are divided into divisions authorized under FIFA. These regions are clearly shown in the following figure.

CONCACAF: Mostly includes the North and Central Americas including Trinidad and Tobago from the South America.

CONMEBOL: All of the South America.

UEFA: The whole Europe, including some countries in Asia.

AFC: The whole Asia excluding those that moved into UEFA.

CAF: The whole Africa.

OFC: As of January 1, 2006 Australia is a member of the AFC. OFC now consist of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and the rest of the Polynesian countries.

Confederations, Leagues And Teams

Each division has a confederation which manages a number of leagues lying under its territory. Let's start with the famous European UEFA.

UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is the division where Europe's teams are placed. The most famous teams are especially from this region including Germany, Italy, England ,France, Spain and Netherlands. The teams that are most famous are from these countries especially. Here's a good sort of all kings of football according to countries and leagues from Europe.

(A.) English FA Premier League

In 1992 the top division of clubs in England formed a breakaway league, enabling them to take a larger share of income from media rights in comparison to the rest of the football league. The Premier League (originally Premiership) currently consists of 20 clubs.

The top four teams in the Premier League currently qualify for the UEFA Champions League (at various stages during the qualifying process). The fifth place cub qualifies for the UEFA Cup, although extra clubs often qualify on the basis of league position depending on the winners of domestic cup competitions. The bottom 3 clubs are automatically relegated.

In terms of income, viewing figures and attendances the Premier League is the most successful domestic football competition in the world, and compares favorably across all sports. However many football fans within England are concerned with the vast sums of money involved, while clubs in the lower divisions struggle, with many entering administration and some going out of business. In addition the formation of the Premier League has lead to a generation of fans growing up with football as a TV only activity (as live games become more expensive to cater for corporate hospitality). This has lead to the slow death of the local football culture which developed over the last 150 years in England.

Manchester United

Manchester United Football Club is an English premier league football club that plays at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester. The club was formed in 1878, as the team Newton Heath F.C. It joined the Football League in 1892, and have only been relegated once since 1938. The mean attendances of the games are higher than any English football league team for all but six seasons starting in 1964. Manchester United are the current champions, having won the 2008-09 premier league. The team has won 22 major honours under Alex Ferguson. In 1968, Manchester United became the first European Cup champion from England, defeating Benfica 4-1. Their second European Cup came in 1999 as part of the club's famous Treble. Manchester United has been champions of England 19 times, and have won the FA Cup 11 times. Since the late 1990s, Manchester United has been one of the richest clubs in the world. Alex Ferguson is the current manager, with Gary Neville being the captain. Manchester's colours are red (home), blue (away), and white (third colours). Manchester United has classic rivalries with Liverpool, Leeds United, and cross town rivals, Manchester City. The club have won 3 UEFA Champions League titles. Surprisingly,the only major honour Manchester United has not won is the UEFA Cup. Many famous players have featured for the club, such as Peter Schmeichel,Gary Neville, David Beckham, Eric Catona, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Andy Cole,Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Teddy Sheringham,Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Wayne Rooney.

Arsenal

Known by the nickname of The Gunners, Arsenal are old rivals of both, Manchester United and Chelsea. Arsenal are currently playing in the new Emirates Stadium. They're currently managed by Arsène Wenger.

Chelsea

Known by the nickname of The Blues, they play at Stamford Bridge and are currently managed by Andre Villas - Boas. They are currently owned by Russian oil-baron Roman Abramovich. Chelsea have featured famous players such as Didier Drogba, Dennis Wise, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Nicholas Anelka, and Gianfranco Zola.

Liverpool

Known by their new nickname The Reds, Liverpool have not won a Premier League Trophy to date. They play at Anfield and are currently managed by Kenny Dalgish.

(B.) French Ligue 1

Let's look at some French ruling clubs.

Olympique Lyonnais

Known sometimes as Les Gones or OL, Lyon are champions and ruling Ligue 1 for 4 years in streak. It has a strong lineup and is widely known throughout Europe which includes the great players such as Anderson and Sidney Gouvou. They play at Stade de Gerland and are managed by Claude Puel.

Olympique de Marseille

Known commonly as Marseille, this team may not be known well these days but it had a great history. It even includes famous Spaniard Fernando Morientes. They play at Stade Vélodrome and are managed by Didier Deshcamps.

AS Monaco

AS Monaco is one of the more prestigious football clubs in France. A major accomplishment was reaching the 2004 Champions League finals.

Paris Saint-Germain

They play at Parc de Princes and are managed by Carlo Ancelotti.

(C.) German Bundesliga

The Germany had a great history including their players, morale, fan support and the main thing, glory. It is the most watched football league,in 2007 there were 40,775(stadium)

FC Bayern München

Known sometimes as Die Bayern, they have won 20 league titles. They currently play their home games at the Allianz Arena in Munich and are managed by Ottmar Hitzfeld.

Bayer Leverkusen

They may now have been forgotten but this club has made the rise to the offensive Bayern Munich by selling the jewels Zé Roberto, Lúcio and Michael Ballack. Although their form has slipped in recent seasons(03,04) due to the loss of Ballack,Lúcio etc.,the team has played better in 05 and 06 . They play at BayArena in Leverkusen.

Schalke 04

They play at Veltins-Arena.

SV Werder Bremen

They have been raised now and are enjoying this new generation, the Werder Bremen has a variety of good players including Diego and Torsten Frings. They play at Weserstadion.

(D.) Italian Serie A

The Italians do have a number of excellent teams and star players. These are some "Calcio" kings, "Calcio = Italian football" for here.

Juventus

Juve are referred by many names and are the true Italian kings. They have a beautiful lineup of 5-star players with all offensive and defensive categories including Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedvěd, Alessandro Del Piero, David Trézéguet and many more. They play at Delle Alpi in Turin and are managed by Didier Deschamps.

AC Milan

One part of the Milan brothers (Inter & AC), the AC Milan definitely is out-of-question because of their good players, unbreakable morale and glory. Their lineup includes Abiatti, Antonini, Alessandro Nesta, Thiago Silva, Alexandre Pato, Zelatan Ibrahimovic, Cassano and many others. They play at Stadio San Siro.

Inter Milan

The other part of Milan brothers, Inter is likely leveled with their arch-rivals, AC Milan. Playing in the same stadium, they also have good players like Luis Snijder, Julio Cesar, Diego Militto,Pazzini, Lucio and Javier Zanetti. They are managed by Ranieri.

(E.) Spanish La Liga

Spanish La Liga is the second most-watched league because of its reputation among other leagues by including many great legends and current players. Here are some Kings, España style.

Real Madrid

Known as Los Galacticos, Real Madrid is currently the 2nd the richest club in the world, behind that of Manchester United. It has a very well-known and excellent lineup including Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Ozil, Íker Casillas, Pepe, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and many more. They have a good history and are still good. They hold a record of 9 UEFA Champions League. They play at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium and are managed by Jose Mourinho.

FC Barcelona

Known simply as Barça, they are one of the modern ruling generations of football today. With a strong lineup including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o, Xavi, Lilian Thuram, Carles Puyol, Rafa Márquez,Lionel Messi and many more. They play at Camp Nou (sometimes referred as Nou Camp) and are managed by Pep Guardiola.

(F.) Portuguese SuperLiga

Although not known so much maybe, but Super Liga do consists of great honored teams. Here are some of them.

FC Porto

FC Porto is the best club of Portugal. It has a good variety of players with a good morale. They play at Estádio do Dragão and are managed by André Villas-Boas. Some famous players are Hulk,Falcão, Moutinho and others. FC Porto is capable of upsetting some of the best teams.

Sporting Lisbon

Sporting Lisbon is a good club with a good environment and players with a inspiring hope, not bad. They play at Estádio José Alvalade XXI and are managed by Domingos Paciência.

Benfica

Benfica is also one of the successive clubs of Portugal. It has a average lineup but superb morale.With players such as Luisão,Fábio Coentrão,Nuno Gomes and Rui Costa,it has done well in Europe(UEFA) and at home. They play at Estádio da Luz and are managed by Jorge Jesus.

(G.) Dutch Eredivisie

They may have been forgotten but they are relived. Here are some Dutch teams which are ruling these days.

Traditionally, the big three of the Dutch soccer consists of Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV.

AFC Ajax Amsterdam

Ajax is the biggest club of The Netherlands which has got a superior class lineup and good morale. They're managed by Henk ten Cate. In the Netherlands, Ajax is known to play the 'prettiest' football. The youth department of Ajax is considered to be the best of the world.

Ajax won the European Cup in 1971, 1972, 1973 and in 1995, the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the European Cupwinners Cup in 1987. (Former) famous players include Johan Cruijff, Johan Neeskens, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Jaap Stam and many more.

Feyenoord Rotterdam

Feyenoord is a team that is known for its good morale and team-building, which makes them sometimes win over better skilled teams. Feyenoord won the European Cup and World Club Cup in 1970, and the UEFA Cup in 1974 and 2002.

(Former) famous players include Willem van Hanegem, Mario Been, Ruud Gullit, Ove Kindvall, Coen Moulijn and John de Wolf.

PSV Eindhoven

PSV is a team from Eindhoven, founded by Philips, which is still the sponsor. The biggest successes were achieved in 1978 when the club won the UEFA cup, and in 1988, when the club wins the European Champions Cup.

Some (former) famous players of PSV are Romario, Ronaldo, Ruud Gullit, Luc Nilis, Ronald Koeman, Arjen Robben,Ruud van Nisterooy, Philip Cocu and Jaap Stam. The most successful coach is beyond any doubt Guus Hiddink, who worked for the team from 1983 to 1990 and from 2002 to 2006.

PSV's nickname is boeren, which means peasants. The fans use this to distinguish themselves from the big clubs from the big cities in the west of the Netherlands.

(H.) Other Great European Teams

Apart from the leagues, they're also some minor leagues with superb teams that are also known throughout Europe. Here are they.

Olympiacos - Greece

Olympiacos is a well-known club of Greece. It's mainly rivaled with Panathinaikos. With a lineup including Rivaldo, they're managed by Trond Sollied.

Steaua Bucharest - Romania

Steaua has spent all its history in the country's top-flight league, and has finished below the sixth spot for only five times.Steaua made it to a European Cup final, which they won in front of FC Barcelona on penalties.Subsequently, the team never relegated and is currently one of the 2 teams to have only played inside the first league, along with Dinamo București.

Panathinaikos - Greece

Panathinaikos is clearly a good club of Greece,with 19 Greek championships and 16 Greek cups. Currently it's managed by Jasmiko Velic.

Rangers - Scotland

Rangers FC are by far the most successful club in the world when it comes to winning the national title. They have achieved this on 53 occasions in their history. Linfield FC (Northern Ireland) are the 2nd most successful with 49. Rangers are managed by Walter Smith, who is managing the club for the second time in his career. In his first term he led the club to 9 titles in a row 1989-1997. In his 2nd term he took the club to the UEFA Cup final in 2008 where Rangers took the largest ever support to an away game when 150,00 fans travelled to Manchester. He retired from Rangers at the end of 2010-11 season clinching his 3rd title in a row, leaving his position to assistant manager Ally McCoist who is looking to beat the record set by Smith in his previous term in charge.

Celtic - Scotland

Celtic won the European Cup in 1967, the first British team to do so. They also made it to the UEFA Cup Final in 2003,about 80,000 Celtic supporters traveled to Seville for the final. In 1984 Celtic were ordered by Uefa to replay a game against Rapid Vienna after fans threw bottles at the Austrian players while leading 3-0, Rapid won the replay 1-0. During the match a Celtic fan attacked the Rapid goalkeeper, and was arrested by police. The club's traditional playing colours are green and white hooped shirts and white shorts with white socks.

Grasshopperclub Zurich - Switzerland

[1] Grasshopperclub Zurich is also very known in their Swiss region. They're the most successful team of the Swiss football with 27 Swiss super league titles and 18 Swiss cups.

Shakhtar Donetsk - Ukraine

Shakhtar Donetsk is also a very good team especially because of their morale. They're managed by Mircea Lucescu.The team has done very well in recent years(they were very close to getting into the champions league second round,but lost to Benfica),having great eastern players such as Darijo Srna and Mariusz Lewandowski.

CSKA Moscow - Russia

CSKA is a very-well known team from Russia,they became the first Russian team to win the UEFA cup(after the break-up of USSR. They're managed by Valeri Gazzaev.Well-known players currently playing at CSKA Moscow are Vágner Love and Sergei Ignashevich.

Club Brugge - Belgium

Club Brugge is a well-known club of Belgium which is arch-rivaled with RSC Anderlecht. They're managed by Jacky Mathijssen.

RSC Anderlecht - Belgium

RSC Anderlecht is the most successful team in Belgium with 29 league championships,5 European cups in all European cup competitions and 16 cups in Belgium competitions. They're managed by Franky Vercauteren.Well known players are(currently) Daniel Zitka,Olivier Deschacht.And former players are Nenad Jestrovic,Seol Ki-Hyeon and Vincent Kompany.

Dinamo Zagreb - Croatia

Dinamo is the most successful and famous team from Croatia. Their arch-rivals are Hajduk. The club has been most successful in the '60s, when they won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (that would later become the UEFA Cup). They were runners up in 1963 and won it in 1967. They were Yugoslavia champions 4 times, and Croatian champions 11 times. They are regular participants in large European competitions (both the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League). Former players include Zvonimir Boban, Davor Suker, Luka Modric and Eduardo da Silva.