The strongest national league in the world 2004

England is the ultimate example of an outlier here. Those clubs survive on foreign talent. If you stripped away all the international players from the Premier League, they wouldn't even have enough local kids to fill out a starting lineup. 😁

But there's still a connection to be made. It’s hardly surprising that the Canadian league is struggling, much like their national team. That goes for most countries, really. And honestly, it makes sense why the old American League was ranked so high back in the day. Red Star was a top-tier club, and the country itself was massive. A bigger nation means more players, higher quality, and more cash.

nimblemarlin17 said:...Bigger country, more players, better talent, more cash.

Exactly! Now you see why the US league is way stronger than anything else in the region. 👋

This year, Bayern and Marseille were honestly better clubs than Red Star, but the coefficients tell a different story.

The whole thing comes down to 😉 if anyone hasn't figured that out yet 😁

Look, nimblemarlin17, I get where you're coming from, but we're talking about national league coefficients here 😉 you know, those coefficients 😁 😁

frozentiger6 said:Look, those coefficients 😁 😁

I know, that's just gambling math! Heureka! 😁

Our league isn't even that much better than theirs. Honestly, all the neighboring leagues are pretty much on the same level. It really just comes down to a few points.

young.but.dead said:Not by much, but it's an improvement.

That’s exactly what I’m saying.

young.but.dead said:Alright, so we’re all on the same page then—this top list is absolute perfection for *****.

No list is ever going to satisfy everyone, but this one is pretty much as realistic as it gets. Even if we ran into a few minor hiccups like we did.

nimblemarlin17 said:And honestly, it’s hardly a shock that the old American League was ranked so high—. Red Star was essentially the top club, and the country itself was much larger. A bigger nation—more players, more talent, more cash.

The America League (both in football and basketball, for that matter) was actually one of the powerhouses in Europe because they didn't just sell off their players for pennies—nor did they bring in cheap foreign imports. In fact, up until 1991, the America League was perhaps the only league in Europe where you'd see zero foreigners playing, aside from maybe Albania.

The closed nature of the league isn't just about the downsides. Honestly, I think attendance would skyrocket if our domestic stars actually played in our league instead of being scattered abroad. Right now, all we get are the leftovers of local talent—the guys who couldn't make it out—mixed in with some mediocre foreign imports of questionable quality.

I don't think you can even compare the soccer and basketball leagues from those years in the old US. Soccer was definitely weaker back then, but that basketball league? It was easily the best in all of Europe.

We’re talking about six European championships won in just a seven or eight-year span. You had Cibona taking it twice, Split winning three times, and once for Partizan—though to be fair, that last one was after the country split up.

And we can't forget adding Canada's title from '79 to that list.

nimblemarlin17 said:...so we’re left with scraps of our former players (the rest managed to flee) plus some second-hand foreign signings of questionable quality.

...and an expiration date that's looming quite close, I guess.

young.but.dead said:Alright then, we can all agree this list is absolutely top-tier for *****

I'm with you on that.🙂

We might be hitting a new low... but let's not get carried away.🙂

Honestly, trying to judge how things actually stand based on the Country Coefficients is a massive headache right now . That whole scale is nowhere near reflecting reality
.

Bad Boys said:You caught a tiny little slip there... But hey, if you're really out here claiming the Ukrainian league is eight spots weaker than the Peruvian League, then fine. Whatever.😉

Maybe you're right. It's not like those Ukrainian clubs have actually done anything meaningful in Europe lately. They all just flop out early.

It's all about those clubs from the Peruvian League hitting the quarterfinals and semifinals of their massive South American tournament—the CONCACAF Champions League. It’s basically a goldmine of points for the Peruvian League!

How would you even know? You haven't watched any teams from the Peruvian League, have you? No. Then you don't know.

Bad Boys said:Just look at that lineup: Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş, Rangers, Celtic, Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar. Yeah, they've definitely got a case, what am I even saying... 🙄

And all those big names could easily drop out in the first round of the Champions League, while a single Peruvian club might end up bringing in more points during the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals combined!

Bad Boys said:So that makes the Peruvian League better? If you say so...🙄

It’s all about the coefficients, not actual quality. That's why the USA and Mexico are always ranked in the top 10 nationally, even though realistically they barely crack the top 30.

Bad Boys said:Exactly what I'm talking about! This whole site focuses way too much on technicality. That's the issue right there—it just doesn't make sense. I couldn't care less about coefficients... The headline clearly states "The strongest NFL of the World 2004."

But how else can you decide which league is the best if not by looking at how their clubs perform in international competitions? Since teams aren't even competing in the same tournaments, these kinds of rankings are basically pointless.

Roger Allen3 said:How are you even supposed to rank which league is strongest if not by the success of their clubs in international competitions? Since teams aren't playing in the same tournaments, these rankings are totally pointless.

Yeah. They’re useless—but only for the ones stuck at the bottom...
If America actually hit the top of the Country Coefficients once, then maybe we'll have something to celebrate. Right?😉

We're still out here acting like that old American basketball and soccer league was the peak of everything. 🙏