Football (Soccer)/The Leagues and Teams

FIFA Divisions

The countries, teams and their leagues are organized into divisions as shown in the following map.

Football League 3/FIFA Division

Teams

Mexico Wolves

Atlanta Kings

Atlanta Liverpool

Pittsburgh Wolves

Cleveland Bulls

Cleveland Bears

CONCACAF: all of North and Central America, the Caribbean island countries as well as Guyana and Suriname in South America.

CONMEBOL: the ten remaining South American countries.

UEFA: the whole of Europe plus some countries in Asia.

AFC: the rest of Asia plus Australia, which joined on 1 January 2006, having previously been part of the OFC.

CAF: the whole of Africa.

OFC: New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands including Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.

Confederations, Leagues And Teams

Each division has a confederation which manages a number of leagues within its territory. Let's start with the well-known European confederation, UEFA.

Football League 3

FS1/NBCSN

Mexico Wolves

Atlanta Kings

Atlanta Liverpool

Pittsburgh Wolves

Cleveland Bulls

Cleveland Bears

UEFA

UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is the governing confederation of all European teams and leagues. Many prominent leagues and teams originate from UEFA members such as Germany, England, Spain, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland and others.

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 club qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, although extra clubs often qualify on the basis of league position depending on the winners of domestic cup competitions. The bottom three 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 led 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 led 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 and is one of the most successful clubs in Europe. 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. The team won 38 trophies 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 20 times, and have won the FA Cup 12 times. Since the late 1990s, Manchester United has been one of the richest clubs in the world. Jose Mourinho is the current manager, with Wayne Rooney 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 honour Manchester United has not won is the UEFA Europa League. Many famous players have featured for the club, such as Peter Schmeichel,Gary Neville,Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Andy Cole, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Teddy Sheringham, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Angel Di Maria, Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

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 Antonio Conte. They are currently owned by Russian oil-baron Roman Abramovich. Chelsea's squad features some famous players such as John Terry, oscar, Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, Falcao, Willian, Pedro, Thibaut Courtois and Cesc Fàbregas.

Liverpool

Liverpool Football Club is a Premier League football club based in Liverpool, currently managed by Jürgen Klopp. Liverpool F.C. is one of the most successful clubs in England and has won more European trophies than any other English team with five European Cups, three UEFA Cups, and three UEFA Super Cups. The club has also won eighteen League titles, seven FA Cups and a record eight League Cups. In spite of their successful history, Liverpool are yet to win a Premier League title since its inception in 1992.

Liverpool was founded in 1892 and joined the Football League the following year. The club has played at Anfield since its formation. The most successful period in Liverpool's history was the 1970s and '80s when Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley led the club to eleven league titles and seven European trophies.

The club's supporters have been involved in two major tragedies. The first was the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, in which charging Liverpool fans caused a wall to collapse, killing 39 Juventus supporters and resulting in English clubs being banned from European competitions for five years. In the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, 96 Liverpool supporters lost their lives in a crush against perimeter fencing. None of these tragedies were the fault of Liverpool supporters.

Liverpool has long-standing rivalries with neighbours Everton and with Manchester United. The team changed from red shirts and white shorts to an all-red home strip in 1964. The club's anthem is "You'll Never Walk Alone".

League 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 or OM, 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 José Anigo.

AS Monaco

AS Monaco is one of the more prestigious football clubs in France. A major accomplishment was reaching the 2004 Champions League finals. They play at Stade Louis-II in Monaco.

Paris Saint-Germain

They play at Parc de Princes and are managed by Unai Emery. The club has won six Ligue 1 titles and its roster features big names like Neymar, Ángel Di María, Marco Verratti, Edinson Cavani, Dani Alves and Thiago Silva.

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 25 league titles. They have five European titles. They currently play their home games at the Allianz Arena in Munich and are managed by Carlo Ancelotti.

Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund is the second most successful club in Bundesliga having won eight titles. Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang plays for Dortmund.

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.

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, Christiano Ronaldo just to name a few. 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. 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, San Siro, they also have good players like Diego Militto, Pazzini, Lucio and Javier Zanetti. They are managed by Stefano Pioli. In 2009–2010 season, Inter win the European treble under José Mourinho.

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, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos, Luka Modrić, Pepe, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and many more. They have a good history and are still good. They hold a record of four UEFA Champions League titles and six European Trophies. Their home ground is Santiago Bernabeu stadium. They have achieved La Decima in 2014 winning their tenth European title

FC Barcelona

Known simply as Barça, they are one of the modern ruling generations of football today. With a strong lineup including Luis Suárez, Neymar, Lionel Messi and many more. They play at Camp Nou (sometimes referred as Nou Camp) and are managed by former player Luis Enrique. Barça is the only club to have won treble twice. Formed in 1899, Barcelona has won 24 La Liga titles and five European titles.

(F.) Primeira Liga

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

Benfica

Benfica is the most successful club in Portugal. It has a average lineup but superb morale. Some famous players are Luisão, Maxi Pereira, Nicolás Gaitán, Júlio César, and others. They play at the Estádio da Luz and are managed by Jorge Jesus.

FC Porto

FC Porto is the second most successful club in Portugal. It has a good variety of players with a good morale. They play at the Estádio do Dragão and are managed by Julen Lopetegui. Some famous players are Jackson Martinez, Quaresma, Quintero and others.

Sporting Lisbon

Sporting Lisbon is the third most successful club in Portugal. It has players with a inspiring hope, not bad. They play at the Estádio José Alvalade XXI and are managed by Marco Silva.

(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 Cruyff, 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 Nistelrooy, 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 150,000 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, Spain 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. The manager is Brendan Rodgers.

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. Some notable players include Siebe Schrijvers.

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.

AFC

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. It has 47 member countries, mostly located on the Asian and Australian continent, but excludes the transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey – which are instead members of UEFA. Three other states located geographically along the western fringe of Asia – Cyprus, Armenia and Israel – are also UEFA members. On the other hand, Australia, formerly in the OFC, joined the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, and the Oceanian island of Guam, a territory of the United States, is also a member of AFC, in addition to Northern Mariana Islands, one of the Two Commonwealths of the United States. Hong Kong and Macau, although not independent countries (both are Special administrative regions of China), are also members of the AFC.

Indian Super League

The league currently features ten teams from around India. Unlike other football leagues from around the world, the ISL is one of the few leagues to not use the promotion and relegation system but instead a franchise system along the lines of the Twenty20 cricket league. The teams play in a single table during the regular season and each team will play each other twice, once at home and once away from home, to complete a Eighteen game season. The Indian Super League champion qualify for the AFC Cup play-off spot. The Indian Super League has achieved the rare milestone of having registered the highest average stadium attendance for any football League in Asia.

Kerala Blasters

The Kerala Blasters Football Club was founded by former Indian cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar. Kerala Blasters FC is on first position in average home attendance among football clubs in Asia.

CONCACAF

CONCACAF (Confederation Of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) is the division where North America, Central America, Caribbean, and Surinam, Guyana, and French Guiana of South America are placed. The most famous teams are from the power house of Mexico.

(A.) Mexican Primera División

Mexicans aren't very known but games like FIFA 06 are getting their reputation through others up. Here are some good Mexicanos (amigos).After FIFA 06,their ratings has increased and in 2007 they were the 4th highest football league to be watched(stadiums)

Chivas de Guadalajara

Chivas is very well-known. Chivas and América are commonly rivalled with each other. They have won many major titles in their history. They play at Estadio Jalisco and are managed by Jose Manuel "chepo" De la Torre. Chivas is the current Champion in the Mexicna 1st division.

Club América

Club América is very well known in Mexico. It has a number of fans and have won most of the important titles in the league. They play at the famous Estadio Azteca and are managed by Alberto Daniel Brailovsky.

(B.) USA Major League Soccer

The USA is an emerging soccer nation in the World thanks to the creation of MLS in 1996.

D.C. United

The most successful team in the league, has the most trophies in the league. 1996 MLS Cup and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup; 1997 MLS Cup; 1998 CONCACAF Cup and Intra-American Cup; 1999 MLS Cup; 2004 MLS Cup. Currently the team is being coached by international Polish star Peter Nowak and consist of star player Jaime Moreno of Bolivia, Ben Olsen of USA, and Christian Gomez of Argentina.

Los Angeles Galaxy

An early rival team of D.C. United, it currently holds the most wins in the league. During the early years of MLS it was always successful but was mostly stopped by D.C. United when it came to MLS finals. However, with patience its dividends paid off during the 2001 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Cup; 2002 MLS Cup; 2005 MLS Cup and Lamar U.S. Open Cup. Currently it is coached by former Chelsea F.C. and New Castle F.C. coach Ruud Gullit.

CONMEBOL

CONMEBOL (CONfedración sudaMEricana de fútBOL) {in English: South American Football Confedration} is the confedration that rules the mighty South American region of football, some great emperors have been from this place. Lets explore them.

(A.) Argentine Primera División

Argentina has a very interesting league with many variable teams (i.e. any team beats the king anytime or sometime). It has actually two halves the Clausura and Apertura. Some Argentines are.

Atlético River Plate

River Plate is a good team and has the record of winning most season titles. It has a very famous and strong rivalry with Boca Juniors called the "Superclásico" on the Observer it was voted top of 50 sporting thing to do before you die as 70% of Argentina support River Plate and Boca Juniors. They play at El Monumental in Nuñez and are managed by Daniel Passarella.

Boca Juniors

Boca Juniors are very famous around the world and is very known because of their platinum legend Diego Armando Maradona know as D10S or "Pibe de Oro" and "el barrilete cósmico". They are highly respected throughout the world. They have won several cups and titles(23 division titles and 17 international titles). They play at La Bombonera and are managed by Miguel Angel Russo.

(B.) Brazilian Campeonato (1st Division)

Hola Brazil. Although the English invented football, the Brazilians perfected it. Brazil has many variable teams like Argentina. Here are the Kings.

Flamengo

Flamengo is one of the best clubs in Brazil. These days they have gone down a little bit, because they are organizing their finances, paying the taxes that te other clubs don't. Flamengo is the most followed club of the world, with almost 40 million fans. They have won many championships and titles. They are managed by Vanderlei Luxemburgo, ex-coach of Real Madrid.

Corinthians

Corinthians is the most popular club in São Paulo. They are rivaled with Palmeiras. They have a very good history in winning leagues and cups. They won the Brazilian championship in 2005. They're managed by Antônio Lopes.

Palmeiras

Palmeiras is superior to Corinthians. They are always furious against each other. Marcos, the 2002 World Cup winning goalkeeper belongs to them. They are managed by Émerson Leão.

Santos

They were famous because of the diamond legend, Pelé. They have been excellent at the era of the legend.

São Paulo

São Paulo is one of the major clubs in Brazil with winning a lot of championships, getting the fame and putting themselves in the South American map. They are managed by Muricy Ramalho.