Recently, I was asked by a hallmate to explain how the European soccer structure worked. I thought, "Well, it's really simple," before launching into a 15−minute explanation. Turns out, it isn't so easy to understand, and I realized that no one had ever really explained to me how soccer was organized — I just sort of picked it up over the years of listening to soccer commentary and reading soccer articles on the Internet.
My friend cannot be the only one having these thoughts. So, in an attempt to foster better understanding of the beautiful game, here it is, my plain−English attempt to explain how soccer is organized in Europe.
To begin with, each country has its own league structure, independent of all other nations, which is commonly known as the "league pyramid." Atop the pyramid sits the best, highest quality league in the whole country. Those top leagues are the most publicized in the United States, like the English Premier League, Serie A (Italy) and La Liga (Spain), and contain the most well−known teams, like Manchester United, AC Milan and Barcelona. The teams in those leagues play each other team twice (for a 20−team league, that's 38 games), and the team with the most points at the end wins the league title (three points for a win, one for a draw).
Sounds simple enough, right? But it is at this point where most American fans start getting totally confused. Below each of the top leagues is the rest of the "pyramid," consisting of many other leagues organized in a sequential order. This is confusing at first, but becomes more clear when a new concept is introduced: promotion and relegation.
I'll use England as an example, where the league structure is as follows: 1) Premier League, 2) The Championship, 3) League One and 4) League Two (there are many others, but those are unimportant for this example).
Basically, at the end of each season, the bottom three teams in the Premier League are moved down ("relegated") into the Championship for the next season, the bottom four teams from the Championship are relegated to League One and the bottom four teams from League One are relegated to League Two. Of course, the reverse also happens ("promotion"), in which the top teams in the lower three leagues are moved up, thus restoring each league to its original number.
If you've gotten this far, you now understand how a typical European soccer league works. But of course, there are still several more levels of complexity to add on.
On top of the league system, each country's soccer federation organizes a knockout competition (sort of like an American−style playoff system or March Madness) open to every club in that nation, even the tiny ones. This competition (examples include the FA Cup, the Copa del Rey and the Coppa Italia) runs concurrently with the league season.
Finally, there is a third level: European competition. The top finishers in each of the leagues around Europe are entered into one of two tournaments during the following season: the Champions League (the top competition) or the Europa League (the subordinate competition). These tournaments also run concurrently with the league season and are organized much like the World Cup: Namely, there is a group stage and then a knockout round to determine the champion.
I know that I've left some things out (like the League Cup or UEFA coefficients) and glossed over others, but there could never be enough space to include everything. Hopefully, however, this guide will be a serviceable roadmap in what can be a very murky trip though the world of European soccer.
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David McIntyre is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at David.McIntyre@tufts.edu.
