Comparing the Premier League among Europe’s Big 5 Leagues

Many consider the English Premier League to be the most exciting football league in the world. When it comes to television viewers it is certainly the most popular and when it comes to revenue it’s in a league of its own.

The Premier League continues to be rich and popular but they have not fared so well in the UEFA Champions over the past three seasons with the Spanish La Liga winning each and providing five of the six finalists in the process. Barcelona and Real Madrid have even combined to win nine of the last 19 finals.

Spain are running away in the UEFA Coefficient member rankings as a result whilst England are currently fighting off competition from Italy’s Serie A to have four entries into next season’s competition and the future. Chelsea are the only Premier League side to have lifted the famous trophy over the past eight seasons. Internazionale are the only Italian side to have the Champions League in the previous nine.

Can Manchester City, Arsenal or even Leicester City bring the trophy back to England this season? Paddy Power’s football odds don’t offer much optimism for fans of either club – Manchester City are the shortest priced at 12/1, followed by Arsenal at 14/1 and Leicester City longshots at 40/1.

Barcelona are the Irish bookmakers’ favourites at 10/3, closely followed by German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich at 7/2 and then defending champions Real Madrid at 5/1. Last season’s runners-up in this competition, Atlético Madrid, can be found at 8/1 despite a slow start to their domestic season. They finished above Bayern Munich in their group.

The popularity of the Champions League has grown substantially over the past two decades or so, just like the Premier League. Interesting, both competitions were rebranded in the same year, back in 1992.

TV audiences and revenues have increased to astronomical sums over the past 25 years and the below graphic compares how each of Europe’s big five leagues – Spain, Germany, England, Italy and France have differed.
In England, Bournemouth became the 47th club to play in the Premier League back in 2015. Of the five aforementioned leagues, only Italy has seen more sides play in their top flight since 1992 following Crotone’s debut at the start of this season.

Leicester City became the sixth different side to lift the Premier League trophy, after Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all succeeded before them. That’s one more different champion than either Spain or Italy have seen during the same period.

However, France’s Ligue 1 has produced 10 different winners since the formation of the Premier League. This includes the likes of Nantes, Auxerre, RC Lens and Montpellier!

Manchester United have won the Premier League on 13 occasions in 24 seasons. Among the big five leagues only Bayern Munich have won their domestic league on more occasions since 1992 (14). Barcelona follow closely with 12, whilst Juventus have 10 Scudettos in this time, and Lyon lead the way in France with seven.

This information and more can be found on the interesting graphic below: