If there is one thing that is instilled in us, it is a competitive streak. No denying it, everyone has it in them, it is a part of human nature and with it brings an attitude like a raging bull, impetuous and inordinate to anything standing in its way. 

Over the past week I have been thinking about my first article I’d like to conjure, and it seems what better way than to start with one of humans’ many traits, competitiveness and well seeing as this is a football website, I guess I better perhaps stray towards its relation to the World sports.

There is no denying that I am an English Premier League fan. Born and bred in England through my entire rather short lifespan, the EPL is the league I grew up with - So naturally of course banter always strikes up between my friends and I about which league is better - and of course there is a massive difference of opinion, completely bias naturally.  

I must say I can’t question my comrades for their undying love for their countries’ leagues, despite some refusing to even come to a compromise, but I’ve always said ‘there’s no point in doing a job, unless it’s done well.’ 

So I casually throw the rest of my banana away and get to work on digging up as much information as I can, however I’m immediately hit with a large crossroads. How do you determine which league is best? 

My conclusion was to narrow it down to a few determinants, however that Idea quickly flew out the window, hitting several branches on the way down - poor thing.

I decided I’d have to compare four major leagues within Europe and see which one was more entertaining to the neutral, as lets face it, I’d be preaching to the wrong choir if I was trying to convert avid followers of their respective leagues.  

Through my research I looked at the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, the Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga in search of something that stood them out from the crowd. I narrowed the leagues down to present, well I say present - the last five years. Why the last five years I hear you say. Well it is a nice odd number.  I chose four categories of which are as follows: 

1.     Competitiveness.

2.     Average Attendance.

3.     Match quality and upsets.

4.     Number of goals per game ratio.

So without further ado, here is round one - Competitiveness. 

English Premier League Winners and runners up since 2005-06 season:  

·       Chelsea: 2005-06 (91 Points)  - Runners Up: Man Utd (83 Points)

·       Man Utd: 2006-07 (89 Points)  - Runners Up: Chelsea (83 Points)

·       Man Utd: 2007-08 (87 Points)  - Runners Up: Chelsea (85 Points)

·       Man Utd: 2008-09 (90 Points)  - Runners Up: Liverpool (86 Points)

Italian Serie A Winners since 2005-06 season: 

·       Internazionale: 2005-06 (76 Points)  - Runners Up: AS Roma (69 Points)

·       Internazionale: 2006-07 (97 Points)  - Runners Up: AS Roma (75 Points)

·       Internazionale: 2007-08 (85 Points)  - Runners Up: AS Roma (82 Points)

·       Internazionale: 2008-09 (84 Points)  - Runners Up: Juventus (74 Points)

Spanish La Liga Winners since 2005-06 season: 

·       Barcelona: 2005-06 (82 Points)  - Runners Up: Real Madrid (70 Points)

·       Real Madrid: 2006-07 (76 Points)  - Runners Up: Barcelona (76 Points)

·       Real Madrid: 2007-08 (85 Points)  - Runners Up: Villareal (77 Points)

·       Barcelona: 2008-09 (87 Points)  - Runners Up: Real Madrid (78 Points)

German Bundesliga Winners since 2005-06 season: 

·       Bayern Munich: 2005-06 (75 Points)  - Runners Up: Werder Bremen (70 Points)

·       VfB Stuttgart: 2006-07 (70 Points)  - Runners Up: Schalke 04 (68 Points)

·       Bayern Munich: 2007-08 (76 Points)  - Runners Up: Werder Bremen (66 Points)

·       VfL Wolfsburg: 2008-09 (69 Points)  - Runners Up: Bayern Munich (67 Points)

Round one goes to the Bundesliga with three different winners and three different runners up which just comes to show how unpredictable the Bundesliga is.  

Round two: Average Attendance * 

·       The EPL: 2005-06 - 33,875

·       The EPL: 2006-07 - 34,379

·       The EPL: 2007-08 - 34,241

·       The EPL: 2008-09 - 35,594

·       Serie A: 2005-06 - 22,717

·       Serie A: 2006-07 - 20,726

·       Serie A: 2007-08 - 25,115

·       Serie A: 2008-09 - 25,324

·       La Liga: 2007-08 - 28,920

·       La Liga: 2008-09 - 28,491

·       Bundesliga: 2005-06 - 40,806

·       Bundesliga: 2007-08 - 43,679

·       Bundesliga: 2008-09 - 42,610

Once again the German Bundesliga prevails over all with staggering average attendances which is a credit to the German fans as continuing increases in ticket prices hasn’t deterred them from watching their favourite team every weekend. 

It wasn’t until now that I finally realised that all the data and statistical information couldn’t help me keep a lid on this hotly covered debate. I was no closer to finding out which league is superior then when I started. I had once again reached another metaphorical crossroads, and as hard as I tried I couldn’t find the direction I was looking for, until I had an epiphany. 
 

After all this research I came to the same conclusion I had had before. If your team is in the EPL, then on the whole you’re going to be a fan of the EPL. You watch it more than any other league, it is more documented and more publicised. The same goes for any other league. The stats show that as a whole, the German Bundesliga is the best league to watch as a neutral but stats can be easily manipulated to use for one’s own purpose. 

Unless you watch every single league equally and don’t follow a specific team, then no-one is generally qualified to even debate which league is better. Stats don’t matter as they barely tell the story. All you see are numbers put into place to form the basis of an argument, it is how you interpret those stats that count and the misinterpretation is all to easy - and common! 

The age old debate will always linger on as there will always be followers trying to convert others to their league, similarly to that of a Mac user trying to preach his way to Windows users on how much better his Mac is.  

I will always support and follow my English Premier League. I was brought up watching it and I’ve loved every minute. You can preach to me on how great your league is and I can do the same, but in the end we will always be back in the exact same place - so STOP IT! 
 

·       Denotes missing data.

By Lucas Scott