Learned more in 10 minites than I have in the last 10 years after getting into the sport. It is very overwhelming. I spent the first five years just watching the matches and never really knowing the purpose.
I’ve been watching football since 2003. Ask any important question you have. Or just send a list of them. I’d be happy to help a new fan get into the sport.
@@oddsapper673 Yes. Each continent has a certain number of slots. The national teams of each continent face each other during qualifications, in order to get a ticket to the worldcup. The qualifications format vary depending on the continent : South American teams play each other in a league system. Whereas Europe,Africa, Asia it’s more of a multiple groups system...
As someone who grew up in South-America and Europe I find it curious that people don't understand it ... the analogy I personally would have used is the following: Imagine if the NBA was not a franchise, but a competition you would have to qualify for: The LA Lakers would play the California Basketball League, with other teams from California. The Boston Celtics would play the Massachusets Basketball League, with other teams from Massachusets, etc. At the end of the season the champion from each of the state leagues qualifies to play in next years NBA. So, next year, on tuesday and wednesday, we have the NBA games, where the different state champions play each other. Weekends are reserved for the local state leagues, and the ones playing in the NBA need to play in the local state league as well, if they want to qualify for next year's NBA. That is kind-of how the national leagues relate to the UEFA champion's league. With time it would turn out that some states have very strong leagues, while others don't. So - lets say - the campion from Montana always gets kicked out in the first round, while there is agreement that the vice-champion from California would have a good chance of beating everyone. So they introduce a "ranking coefficient", which basically says that if the participants from a certain state do well, that is seen as an indication of a strong state league, and you will get more spots in the NBA for teams from that league. And the Montana team that always loses, would eventually lose the Montana spot, that would be given to California. So, can Montana never get back into the NBA? Well ... some spots are reserved for qualifiers. So, let's say that for some states there is no fixed spot, but the last 6 spots are filled in from the champions of the 12 weakest states. They will play pre-season qualifying games and decide which ones take up those 6 spots, and if they do well, their strength coeffient will go up for the next season, so next season the champion from their league may get a fixed spot. That is how the UEFA champions league gives four spots for the english, and spanish league, for example, while the champion from hungary would need to go through qualification rounds to get a spot. But what remains true is that the main league for each team is their local national league (what in the US would be the state league). Unless you do well in that, you won't have a spot in the Champions League next season, so the Champions League is the icing on the cake, and the national league is the cake. And of course there are several tiers in the national league, as you explain. The worst teams get relegated to the next level lower tier for the next season, and the best teams move up to the next higher tier (except for the top tier, where you don't go further up). There is no draft system, because there are no schools or college championships. That is simply not a thing in Europe. If you are a kid that wants to play football (soccer) - or any other sport - you find a local club and join their youth team. If you play well, other teams in higher tiers will spot you and invite you to join their youth team, and there is a system in place for the monetary contribution they have to give the club you previously were for their player formation. All teams that play at the adult level are required to have youth teams as well in diferent age categories. If a team awards you a professional contract, they will sign you for a certain number of years. After that contract is finished you are free to go wherever you want. If another team wants to get you before your contract is over, they will have to buy your contract from the team that you are with now. Usually contracts with players have such a "release clause" stipulating how much someone would have to pay for the team to let you go. So what teams usually do if they want to have you is they renew your contract before it runs out, so they have the say in whether you stay or not. But of course as a player you can chose to not renew your contract if you think you will get a better deal somewhere else. Players in Europe are always free agents.
It just took you twelve paragraphs to explain a very rough approximation of professional European football and you don’t get why Americans have trouble getting into or fully conceptualizing it?
Correction: Not League Cup. It's the national cup (eg. FA Cup in England) which is open to all levels of teams including amateurs. The League Cup is a 4th competition which is contested by teams in the top 4 English leagues.
As a Belgian it's hilarious how often we get seen as weak while we have like the 8th best UEFA coefficient in Europe atm behind the big 5, Russia and Portugal. So yes, ahead of the Netherlands, Turkey, Greece, etc. We had more Europe(Champions league and Europe) spots than the Netherlands until last year. Netherlands jumped from 11th to 9th with their Ajax run last year. You forgot to mention that the cup winner also tends to take up a spot for Europe somewhere.(depending on what cup is won of course) A "few leagues". England has fully professional players 5 leagues deep but say, Belgium has 8 tiers of football.(including semi-pro)
Thanks for the response! My apologies though, didn't mean to sleep on the Belgian domestic league. Had no idea they got that many Champions/Europa league spots. I think the main reason people aren't as high on Belgian football though, is because most of the best Belgian players play in other countries. When you're watching Kevin De Bruyne play in Manchester every weekend, it's easy to forget that there are other good players in Belgium's pro league. That's all I meant by it.
unfortunately, i meet people online especially other premier league fans who think the other 3 of the big 4 leagues are farmers leagues. As an LFC fan i feel embarrassed when i hear that. also, i wouldn't put ligue 1 on that level until that league has a coefficient of 1 at some point. all of the other top 4 have been the number 1 league at one point or another in soccer history.
After coming into watching a few games, I love it, but I would definitely love to see more videos about how to actually understand some of the things some pundants are talking about, as far as tactics. How you can't tell if a player is in the right or wrong spaces ect. And what what we should be watching the game. How one new can analyze the game, so we hold or understand conversation of the matches. As well as be more observantly keen to the contributions made off the ball.
Finally! You've perfectly summarized what I've been looking for since I started following soccer. Well organized and perfectly articulated. Well done. Quick question - does winning the league title and/or the league cup afford teams a spot in the Champions? To wit; might a "cinderella" team win its league cup and get a spot in the Champions? Again, many thanks.
Thanks for watching! But no, a cinderella team can't qualify for Champions League by winning League Cup. For example though, you can qualify for the Europa League if you win the FA Cup in England, but Champions League is determined by where you finish in the League Table
@@snowmansportsmedia yes thats right. But you already qualify if you just play in the final. My local team Alemannia Aachen were runners up in the german league cup in the late 2000s. They played Europa League in the following season even though they were in the second devision of german football at that time.
There where a fault in your table of which team qualify for Europa league, the first EL spot goes to the FA cup winner, the 2nd and 3rd EL spots goes to the 5th and 6th placed teams. If the winner of the FA cup is a top 4 team, the first EL spot goes to the 5th place team in the league and the original 2nd and 3rd EL spots goes to the 6th and 7th placed teams.
European clubs in the top divisions often also have a reserve team in a lower division. For example, Ajax, PSV and other Dutch clubs have a second team in the lower division, so that the talents can gain experience. They can also win the league and cup, but not promote to the top division, but they can relegate. Often injured players of the professional team are temporarily added to the second team for rehabilitation. The pace and performance pressure is lower in the lower divisions. The injured player can then recover more quickly. Also teams such as Barcelona B and Real Madrid B that play in the Second League.
Recently got into the UCL was trying to understand the format but I was confused. But watcing your video just understood in 7mins.Thanks very much.Also understood many more things than before I did.
Fun fact! In my country the Netherlands are approximately 2400 clubs. Amateur and professional. In theory they can all become the Champions League winner.
In England there are 11 recognised tiers consisting of almost 100 separate leagues and approximately 2000 clubs between which teams are promoted/relegated, the top 5 tiers each have a single national league but as you go lower down the tiers they are made up of an increasing number of parallel regional leagues. This of course does not include the myriad of other teams that play in local pub/work place/school leagues etc.
Also the divisional average attendances for the likes of the Dutch and Scottish top flights, are FAR higher PER HEAD OF POPULATION, than for the so called "elite" leagues of Serie A and La Ligia!
Great video, however as an Australian I couldn’t understand any of the American sport analogies. Maybe reference to other sports so international viewers can understand aswell
Thanks for watching! I would recommend starting with the Premier League because it's probably got the most relevant, high-profile clubs and star players. It's also pretty balanced in comparison to the Bundesliga or Serie A where Bayern and Juventus win those leagues almost every season. But it's up to you, they're all great leagues. Personally, I like the Champions League the most because that's like the best of the best, but Premier League is a good place to start :)
This is amazing man! Thank you so much! I do have one question though.... I got really confused on the “Kicker” portion of the rules. Can you explain that again for me in the video I just got really confused?
my home squad Atlanta United won the MLS cup, u.s open cup, campeones cup and we are in the Concacaf champions league for the 2nd year in a row and we're the first club the Beat Club America 3-0
In most countries one spot for the EUFA Europa League is given to the cup winner. Back in the day the champions League consisted of champions only and the EUFA cup of only cup winners. This is al mixed up now because of financial reasons.
We know a good amount about the prominent Leagues, nice explanation though. Can you do a video on EFL, MLS? Would love to know more about the lesser known ones too.
The likes of the Dutch Eredivisie and the Scottish Premiership, actually get divisional average attendances that are normally FAR higher PER HEAD OF POPULATION than those so called "elite" leagues of Serie A and La Ligia. In fact the Scottish Premiership often gets the highest per capita attendances in Europe! In Season 2017/18, for instance it got 64% of Serie A's divisional average attendance and 59% of that of La Ligia. However, Scotland had just 9% of Italy's population and less than 12% of Spain's! Yes, I know that to get a more accurate picture, adjustments would have to be made to take into account there being less clubs in the Scottish Premiership (12, as opposed to 20 in the Italian and Spanish Top Flights), as well as adjustments made to take into account the total number of clubs throughout each places league systems across all divisions. However, even taking that into account, it is likely that far more still attend Scottish matches PER HEAD OF POPULATIOIN, despite it having a so called "farmers league" and no doubt getting FAR less casual tourist fans attending its matches!
Basically every time a team plays, they can either win, draw, or lose. If you win, you get 3 points, a tie is 1 point, and a loss is 0 points. So if a team plays 4 games and wins 3 but loses 1, they would have 9 points. That's why in soccer/football, the standings or tables are point totals, as opposed to standings in the NFL or NBA where we just count records as wins and losses.
Thanks for the video ...I understood but with little problem ... Just a suggestion when explaining something don't base it on something like u did here for basketball .. I m from India and I don't know how basket ball cup works .. but still due to use of simple words i was able to understand everything 👍
There are several leagues in Europe, but only 5 are worth paying any attention to. Since I've been following this sport for 5 years, I'm gonna tell which teams I support and why. La Liga: Barca. Yes, my favorite team in the world. I'd known about Messi and Neymar before getting into Barca. Once I saw them beat Celtic 7-0 in the opening group match of the Champions League, I was like "Yep, that's my team.". But it's not just Messi that got me into Barca. There's also Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, etc. But I can't ignore the force they (and by extension, the Spanish national team) were with tiki-taka. Prem: Arsenal. They're a London club, so there's that. And what could be described as Arsenal territory (Islington, Camden, Hackney) seems pretty nice to live. I took note of the fact that they finished second the previous season, their highest finish in over a decade. There's also the whole Invincibles thing, but it wasn't until they beat Chelsea 3-0 that I really started following them (and yes, I'm deciding to ignore the fact that Chelsea went on to win the League that season). And they did play a lot like Barca under Wenger. Bundesliga: Dortmund. If I had to live anywhere in Germany, it'd definitely be Berlin. But no teams from Berlin really have any history. And picking Bayern Munich was just way too obvious. I dug into their history a bit and found out that they beat Juve in the 1997 CL final, and who doesn't love a good underdog story? I concede that Christian Pulisic (who I'm older than by three weeks) played a huge part in me supporting Dortmund. Not only him, but Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, and Auba. Serie A: Roma. I picked this team because they remind me of a team from my hometown: Dallas Mavericks. With there being obvious parallels between Totti and Nowitski. They also had Daniele de Rossi (who won the World Cup before he'd even turned 23!), Radja Nainngolan, and Salah. Ligue 1: Monaco. Thierry Henry played for them, they were managed by Wenger, their colors are red and white, and they lost the one CL final they've appeared in to an Iberian team. So basically, I support AS Monaco because they remind me of another team I support: Arsenal. It also helps that they won Ligue 1 that season with Mbappe, Radamel Falcao, Thomas Lemar, etc. as well as reaching the semis of the CL. I'm actually kinda glad I got into soccer 5 years ago instead of when I was 8 or something. I probably would've just picked the teams that always won, and could you imagine me supporting Real Madrid?
I know I am being predactied here but there is more leagues in basketball and and “American” Football as well they are just no where near as good and they do have the 4 yearly coipitions as well. But in my option it’s more fun when it’s more competitive world wide. i
I believe that Ligue 1 is as competitive as the Dutch League with Ajax, which have been very successful for much longer, PSG just got money injected recently so I would put Ligue 1 in 6th.
There's different teams in France though. Monaco, Lille, Lyon are all really good and better than anything the Eredivisie has to offer. Historically speaking there's also St. Etienne who I believe won the most Ligue 1 titles in history, Marseille and Bordeaux
It's strange that Barcelona and Real Madrid in la liga are probably the best football teams in the world, but the best league is the Premier League, because the teams are more balanced which makes the games more exciting. Any Premier league team can win the league, as Leicester showed in 2015/16 season, whereas in the other leagues there's only 1 or 2 favourites. Also more games played in the premier league, and generally more aggressive play.
which leauges can participate in chapions eauge. Like fa. seris a italy league and so on and so fourth. Because isnt there 8 leauges and the top 4 teams of each leauge qalify
In England you have the FA cup which is contested among all teams in the Premier League, the championship, league one and league two and sometime teams from the non league
I'm sorry mate League Cup and FA cup are two different tournaments. League cup is just for teams that is in English football league from Premier league to EFL League 2. FA cup is for every team like from Premier league to semi professional teams. E.g Arsenal V Sutton United who are in national conference leauge
Good explanation. I just didn't get the comparison part with the NFL or NBA. Why do Americans think that the world follows these tournaments like football.
No, I don't think it wouldn't be cool if all the best teams competed in one single big league. The CL is enough. Football is about culture and tradition. You support your local team. We don't need any more hyper capitalization.
I actually really appreciate this comment, you're absolutely right about the tradition and culture. I only meant it from an organizational aspect for new fans of football. Because it is somewhat confusing at first to learn about all the leagues and tournaments and which teams to pay the most attention to. Football is rare in that it's the only sport where all the best players don't play in the same league. That's all I meant, but I'm with you, I love the different nuances that make each league unique!
Like the NBA & NFL...they're Leagues in one country the same as these. It's not the League Cup either. They're National Cups, like DFB Pokal, FA Cup etc. Other than that not bad for an American.
What is club Soccer? You mean football right? The football Most country in the World Love. Lmao Just kidding. I love watch video of people teaching americans how football works. Great Video.
The thing is in american sport leagues, there is typically a massive skill difference between the top league and the number 2 league. For example the worst team in the NHL last year would likely blow out the best team in the AHL (the league below the NHL)
Good point, I should use examples from other leagues more. I guess I just gravitate towards the prem league because I'm most comfortable with how it works
U said the UCL is the Greatest Club Tournament in the world. But what about the Club world cup. U can't enter that tournament without dominating ur entire Continent. The UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Produces the best club in Europe but the CLUB WORLD CUP Delivers to us the best Club in the Planet. So please which is better 🌝😒😒
That's fair, but comparing a week-long, 7 team tournament to a year-long, 32 team tournament is tough, especially when you consider that the vast majority of top players, talent, clubs, and leagues reside in Europe. With all due to respect to Auckland City, they were the Oceania champs in 2022 - does anybody truly believe they would ever go far in the UEFA Champions League? I don't think so 🤷🤷
@@snowmansportsmedia. Yeah U're right. But I'm not talking about how long the tournament is.. I'm talking about the Quality of play and the level of drama in the club world cup in comparison to the UCL. Every team in the club world cup...Has enough pride to spare
Lol which league do you think is? I understand La Liga has had a higher uefa coefficient most of the last 10 years because of Real dominating the Champions League, but I still feel like the Premier League is the strongest/deepest
@@Jan_Tenev I don't see how being American makes me more biased towards one foreign sports league over another, but okay. La Liga has amazing players too
3:12 Difference: American Sports don't have promotion relegation, so a team in an American second division will just win and stay in second division. However in European Soccer (I say only soccer cause I don't watch basketball, baseball, american football) The winners of Second Division get promoted to first division, so they get a prize for winning second division besides a trophy.
well typically the teams in "second divisions" aren't separate teams in American sports. The best example is probably baseball where you have AAA, AA, and A teams, which play in their own leagues that are supposed to be "under" the professional leagues. "Soccer" has something similar where you have the second teams or the U21s and the U19s and so forth for the top teams, and they play in the lower tier leagues.
@@Kinglovenson Simple if u are Under 13 you can join Formation Club that u can get in whit test and the will Coche YOu until u are ready than u will play competition whit ppl your age and if u are monster at the game you can even play against older player other Club will go see your job on the Field and if they are interested in you they buy you from the club to play for there team and when you hit 18 year old you become Pro and you will play in the league that your club is in or you will be sold to another against money this how u start the better u are the more you get
Lots of helpful info except it would be way more helpful without all the basketball references. Not everyone that wants to learn more about soccer is a basketball fan.
"It would be good if there were one league across Europe" - That was a little bit ignorant and I almost left a dislike because of it but then I remembered you don't have the cultural understanding that I do so I'll try to educate you, there are clubs trying to make this "Super European League" happen and it's a bad idea, in Football in Europe there is this driving idea that every team could end up in the big leagues, it's what motivates a lot of players and coaches not playing at the highest level, basically the clubs in the lower leagues would have zero chance of becoming one of the big teams and the teams in this league would have very little chance of dropping out, this sort of magic feeling would be lost.
I actually really appreciate your comment, because you're right, I don't have the European cultural upbringing with football. Everything I know has been self-taught from reading and watching. I didn't know there were clubs trying to form a super league. Are they big clubs?
@@snowmansportsmedia Yes, Europe's richest clubs are trying to make a closed league of their own, there are a ton of videos explaining it, the best one I've come across is from Euro Football Daily.
@@snowmansportsmedia What's (I think) more important to consider is that in Europe sports isn't corporate... At least not in it's conception. The UEFA and the national associations may be very corrupt and a lot of money circulates in professional football but the clubs aren't part of those associations like how in the US the big teams are franchises of a larger organization. In stead the clubs are independent and are members of an association to participate in competitions that the association organizes. So for instance in the Netherlands where I'm from we have the KNVB which is the national football association, they are responsible for all official football competitions in the Netherlands from the professional level all the way to youth football. They are also responsible to organize our national delegation for international tournaments like the European and World cups. And although there are some differences between professional and amateur football clubs, in theory it's possible for new clubs to join professional football. And the clubs that participate in the professional league's do so based on merit rather than decree. Unlike with competitions like the NFL or NBA, the KNVB or the Football Association in England do not decide which teams participate or where they are based. They only certify those clubs that are eligible and their performance dictates which league they will play in. And while it's almost impossible for new clubs to join pro football. Most, if not all the big clubs of today have humble beginnings as neighborhood or community football clubs. However these days they're established institutions with large organizations supporting the competitive endeavor. But while money is an important factor for performance, it cannot buy that institutional presence that football clubs have in their community. So while for instance the Oakland Raiders could move to Las Vegas it would be unthinkable for Chelsea or Tottenham to move to a different part of London, let alone move to a whole different city! Throughout Europe football is an important part of our culture and our local identities. And ultimately... when it comes down to it... we have to support our local team. So when you're from Rotterdam you can like Ajax... NAH! You can't! You can't like Ajax if you're from Rotterdam, just like you can't like Real Madrid if you're from Barcelona. So while I admire clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool. I can't help but root for my local club and hope they do well in the competition. And it is possible for any club to do well if circumstances line up right for that year.
Amazing video, but as a south american I must say that you should have explained about the FIFA clubs world cup. I know that europeans don't usually care about this competition because the Champions League winner will probably win the world cup as well. However for non--europeans that is a great competition since it's the only chance for us to see our weaker local clubs playing against a huge UEFA club.
To be fair to them, (as an Englishman who calls it football obviously) "soccer" as a term comes from the rule system, Association Football or 'asoccer' as opposed to Rugby Football both Union and League or Gridiron Football (American Football) it's a differentiation that fits. As a separate note it's also funny to hear as an Englishman the "League Cup" seeing as that is the name for another domestic cup competition not the FA Cup
Condescending snobs such as you are why Americans can't stand international soccer fans. You people are always disrespectful. We're not going to start calling it football when we already have a sport called that in the US. It will just confuse things even more. Just let us be and stay out of our business. Grow up.
@John Doe yeah I think people can be a little pretentious about it on both sides. That's why I try to switch it up, soccer/football, and keep it casual cuz sometimes you get a guy who's like OH MY GOODNESS YOU JUST CALLED IT SOCCER, WERE YOU RAISED IN A BARN OR SOMETHING? For me it ain't that serious
Why can’t America just like football (soccer)? It’s clearly the best sport in the world. Virtually the most popular and most played sport in the world but yet “it’s a girls sport” and seen as feminine to play here. It’s such a shame. The MLS could be the best league in the world if America actually cared and invested money into this sport instead of having our sports commentators here not even know who tf Messi and Ronaldo are. Absolutely ridiculous.
Another example is Red Bull Leipzig. Red Bull invested in an amateur club in 2009 and has been promoted within every season since then. Oberliga Nordost> Regionalliga Nord> Bundesliga 3> Bundesliga 2> Bundesliga 1> Champion League.
@@snowmansportsmedia it's not about different sports. It's about how sports in general is grossly commercialised in America compared to the rest of the world. If I were you I would be begging for leagues where teams actually can be degraded. The fact that teams can rise and fall is what develops the game and makes it interesting. I'm always surprised that Americans themselves does not want to change their system.
This makes me happy. Im going to try watching some soccer and i really didnt like how confusing it allm was. Im going to rewatch this a few times to try and really understand this, but this is great.
This is helpful! Question: do these club league all have the same “season” in order to qualify for the Champions League? As an American, I am aware of our NFL, NCAA, and MLB season dates - but could you shed some light on the yearly season dates of European soccer? Thank you :)
Most European Leagues run from August to May and they all typically start around the same time, give or take a week or two. So no, it's not exact. For example, the Premier League may be 4 weeks into their season, while the Bundesliga is only 2 weeks in, but again, the timeline is roughly similar. Most leagues around the world play from August-May because they don't want to interfere with the World Cup and other huge International tournaments in the Summer. Thanks for watching!
Now how do the UEFA and lets say the Premier League play concurrently (same time), lets say Chelsea is playing in premier league AND UEFA during the same time. How do they manage?
