Soccer: General Discussion

[RoyalShock]

I'm just now reading about all of this. And it seems like the coach could have really thrown the kid under the bus right away by making public his lack of effort in the warm-up match. Instead, he's being called a liar for saying he's still recovering from an injury. While obviously a lie, it seems to me he ran cover for the kid and did everything he could to protect his position on the team and shield him from public ridicule.

The rage should be against Gio and his mommy.

[SubGod22]

What could have been... Damn those Saudi's!!!

The Blue Testament - Cristiano Ronaldo was "Very Close" to Move to Sporting Kansas City

Breaking news came out on Friday evening that Cristiano Ronaldo was on the verge to sign with Sporting Kansas City first reported by Taylor Twellman and confirmed by Tom Bogert.

Everyone who watches the beautiful game and some that don’t, know who Cristiano Ronaldo is. The Portuguese legend has 949 competitive appearances between club and country with 701 goals and 223 assists in his career. He has had spells at Sporting Club de Portugal in Liga Portugal in the Premier League at Manchester United, La Liga side Real Madrid, Seire A at Juventus.

The 37-year-old striker was most recently at Manchester United for a second time in his career. Ronaldo had 40 appearances with 27g/5a. The five-time Champions League winner struggled with Manchester United this season with new coach Eric Ten Haag only making 10 appearances and scoring 3g/2a in all comps. Ronaldo’s contract was terminated just before the start of the World Cup after his infamous interview about the club.

Ronaldo signed with Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. He is reported to make $200 million a year with his new club. The other closest team to sign him... Sporting Kansas City! He was reported to have interest from other MLS teams as well.

That news was seemingly confirmed by club owner Robb Heineman retweeting the news from Twellman.

My brother had mentioned something about this in the last week. He's currently living and working in KC, but I hadn't actually looked into it until today to see what was actually said. It appears the SKC was in the final few teams and had multiple visits/talks with Ronaldo and his team. It's hard to compete with Saudi money, but it's somewhat exciting that SKC is willing to spend some money for the right person. I know he's at the end of his career, but the excitement he'd bring to an already soccer crazed community of fans in KC and the class on the field would have been something to see.

[Kung Wu]

OMG

[SubGod22]

OMG

Can you specify?

[Kung Wu]

Can you specify?

Reaction to your post of being thiiiiiiis close to having Renaldo play for SKC. Wow!

[ShockTalk]

OMG

I thought you were reacting to the first use of a "white card".

[SubGod22]

Fair. I thought I'd missed something. I can only imagine the impact a signing of that magnitude would have had in KC. Though I'm not sure how much I'd have gotten to see of him as I'm not sure I want to pay for the MLS Apple package just for SKC games.

I could guarantee though that the years of my friends and I saying we need to go to an SKC game would come to an end and we'd finally go at least once.

There's been rumors for months now about Messi ending up in Miami. Any chance SKC could throw money at him instead? I know there isn't, but one could dream. I'm seeing reports that he has no interest in resigning with PSG.

[Kung Wu]

Fair. I thought I'd missed something. I can only imagine the impact a signing of that magnitude would have had in KC. Though I'm not sure how much I'd have gotten to see of him as I'm not sure I want to pay for the MLS Apple package just for SKC games.

I could guarantee though that the years of my friends and I saying we need to go to an SKC game would come to an end and we'd finally go at least once.

There's been rumors for months now about Messi ending up in Miami. Any chance SKC could throw money at him instead? I know there isn't, but one could dream. I'm seeing reports that he has no interest in resigning with PSG.

Ronaldo (and especially Messi) playing here would have the same affect that Pele did when he played for the Cosmos -- ticket sales would go through the roof nationally at every venue they play at. Prior to Pele playing, the four largest NASL franchises averaged about 10,000 fans per game. Wherever Pele played, he drew an average of 40,000 fans per game with the Cosmos. It didn't hurt that they also had Franz Beckenbauer and Georgio Chinaglia too -- but the draw was all Pele. Same thing happens if Ronaldo and/or Messi shows up.

I hadn't heard anything about Ronaldo, but the rumor during the World Cup was that Messi would get a piece of the Miami franchise and co-own it with David Beckham. Man that would be the most awesome thing ever.

[Kung Wu]

Beckenbaur, Pele, and Chinaglia ... ! Not fair!!

[SubGod22]

Don't remember if it was in the article I posted or if I read it somewhere else, but could you imagine them having to play SKC games back in Arrowhead? Would they have?

Children's Mercy is a great place for a game, so I've heard, but it's already pretty much at capacity most games. Having a Ronaldo would have at least made them consider it. I don't know if they'd get 75k for each game, but they'd get a hell of a lot more than the 20k or so The Cauldron allows.

Guess it doesn't matter now, but still fun to think about the what if...

And now that you mention it, that ownership piece with Messi and Miami sounds familiar. I believe I also heard that he owns a home in Miami and his family spends a lot of time there anyway. Miami just makes sense if he ends up in MLS.

Slightly off topic, but which soccer league would be considered the top league in the world? I honestly have never paid much attention to the club team situations elsewhere, but after purchasing FIFA23 a few weeks ago, it's had me wondering. Is there a consensus #1 league? Are there a few European leagues that could make a case? I'm in my second year with a created player and on my fourth team. Seems the commentators in the game mentioned LaLigua is or could be the top league in Europe during one of my games with Real Madrid (my current stop). I'd spent the previous year mostly with PSG (straight up cheat code of a team) in Ligue 1. I started the year (played maybe 3 matches) with Monchengladbach of Bundesliga. Then I know the Premier League in England is a big deal. But I'm not sure if they're top dog or only seem that way from the outside knowing nothing because it's an English speaking country and resonates more with Americans because of it.

I'm assuming whoever would be number one, or in the running for it, would be in Europe. I'm not sure what goes on in South America in regards to professional leagues.

MLS will always be the league I care the most about for obvious reasons, but for the first time ever I'm actually considering looking into some of the Euro leagues. Damn video games! I know a few on here are more dialed into the international club scene than I am.

Fear the Dragon!

[WuDrWu]

Maybe we can get Roy Kent?

[Kung Wu]

Maybe we can get Roy Kent?

LMAO -- I had to google that name.

[SubGod22]

Slightly off topic, but which soccer league would be considered the top league in the world? I honestly have never paid much attention to the club team situations elsewhere, but after purchasing FIFA23 a few weeks ago, it's had me wondering. Is there a consensus #1 league? Are there a few European leagues that could make a case? I'm in my second year with a created player and on my fourth team. Seems the commentators in the game mentioned LaLigua is or could be the top league in Europe during one of my games with Real Madrid (my current stop). I'd spent the previous year mostly with PSG (straight up cheat code of a team) in Ligue 1. I started the year (played maybe 3 matches) with Monchengladbach of Bundesliga. Then I know the Premier League in England is a big deal. But I'm not sure if they're top dog or only seem that way from the outside knowing nothing because it's an English speaking country and resonates more with Americans because of it.

I'm assuming whoever would be number one, or in the running for it, would be in Europe. I'm not sure what goes on in South America in regards to professional leagues.

MLS will always be the league I care the most about for obvious reasons, but for the first time ever I'm actually considering looking into some of the Euro leagues. Damn video games! I know a few on here are more dialed into the international club scene than I am.

Fear the Dragon!

Decided to see what Google said. Top-11 Best Soccer Leagues In The World 2022. Reasoning is in the link. I'm still going to list the leagues below. I don't know how many domestic leagues exist, but I do know FIFA23 has I want to say 34 in the game. And I don't think they included any Mexican leagues and I want to say only one in South America. Venezuela maybe? It's obviously heavily Euro-centric as a video game. I bought it mostly because It is my one chance at playing MLS.

This list appears to be focused on viewership and buzz and not necessarily quality. Is there a huge difference, or does quality drive such things?

11 - Chinese Super League
10 - Brasileirao (top in S.A.)
9 - Ligue 1 (rated 7th best by UEFA)
8 - Eredivisie - Netherlands (rated 9th by UEFA)
7 - Bundesliga (ranked 4th by UEFA)
6 - Major League Soccer
5 - Primeira Liga (no mention of UEFA ranking)
4 - Superliga Argentina
3 - Serie A (ranked 3rd by UEFA)
2 - La Liga (ranked 1st by UEFA)
1 - Premier League (ranked 2nd by UEFA)

Sounds like there's some debate, but England, Spain and Italy seem to be in the debate for which is better. I don't know if this overall assessment is accurate or not, any such list can be debated on certain levels, but seeing MLS firmly in the mix as a top 10 league is encouraging. It's a much younger league than most of these and has been growing in size, strength and popularity over the last 20+ years. I wouldn't ever expect it to become #1, but the potential to possibly be in the top 5 with so much legit competition is encouraging.

It does seem that the Premier League is the most popular league in the world and apparently amongst the best. I may have to choose a random team to become a fan of.

Top 10 Best Soccer Leagues In The World Ranked (2023) - Here's another which favors more European leagues to others.

1 - English Premier League
2 - Spanish La Liga
3 - German Bundesliga
4 - Italian Serie A
5 - French Ligue 1
6 - Portuguese Primeira Liga
7 - Belgian Pro League
8 - Dutch Eredivisie
9 - Turkish Super Lig
10 - Major League Soccer

20 Best Soccer Leagues In The World

20 - Danish Superligaen
19 - Chinese Super League
18 - Major League Soccer
17 - Greek Super League
16 - Turkish Super Lig
15 - Swiss Raiffeisen Super League
14 - Ukrainian Premier League
13 - Argentina Primera Division
12 - Belgian Jupiler Pro League
11 - Austrian T-Mobile Bundesliga
10 - Championship (English second league)
9 - Russian Premier League
8 - Portuguese Liga
7 - Brazilierio Serie A
6 - Eredivisie
5 - Ligue 1
4 - Bundesliga
3 - Serie A
2 - La Liga
1 - Premier League


So there's very little consensus on the whole, outside of the top few leagues. One of these lists admitted they probably had MLS too low, but seem to deduct credibility because they bring in so many players at the end of their careers rather than trying to find the top young players. Though it seems that when a top young player is found in MLS, they're eventually sold to a European power in Italy, Spain, France, Germany or England. How many members of the USMNT play in MLS? Do any of them? I know it was a young roster so there may be a few, but it seems a lot of them are playing in Europe. I know MLS has some limitations financially as it's been growing, but a stronger push to keep some of the top young talent or even go invest in some top young talent from 2nd leagues in Europe or something wouldn't be a bad thing. Though I'm still not opposed to bringing in guys in the twilight of their careers as they're still names and will increase eyes on the product.

This post got way too long but I'm bored at work and Google is dangerous sometimes. I also can't speak to the credibility of any of the links posted.

[Kel Varnsen]

Good stuff, SubGod22 . Your research reflects my basic understanding from watching (and from playing a lot of FIFA).

As far as quality, top two are EPL and La Liga, with some order of Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 coming after that.

Tier 1
EPL
La Liga

Tier 2
Bundesliga
Serie A
Ligue 1

Tier 3
Eredivisie
Portugese Liga
Russian Premier League
Turkish Super Lig

Then it's a jumbled mess after that.

The domestic leagues in places like Argentina and Brazil typically serve as feeder leagues for La Liga, Ligue 1, and Serie A.

One of the things I find fascinating is what leagues typically have players from what other countries. La Liga typically has players from Portgugal, Brazil, and Argentina, and you don't often see English or German players there. The Bundesliga typically has players from the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, or Austria. Serie A typically has players from France, Argentina, Brazil, or Spain, and you typically don't see English or German players there. It's primarily a language and cultural aspect, but I find it interesting.

One thing that will hamper MLS until the quality improves drastically is that soccer fans in the US are (generally) more concerned with the USMNT than they are a particular local club. I know that's the case for me. I like to see SKC do well, but I am much more heavily invested in the USMNT doing well by an order of magnitude than I am SKC.

[SubGod22]

I think that's where I'm wired differently. I care more about SKC in general than the USMNT. Don't get me wrong, I'll watch and follow the national team, but I'm more invested in the club. Perhaps part of that is because my favorite players generally aren't American. Johnny Russell is my absolute favorite soccer player and has been since he arrived at SKC. I'm not sure if any member of the USMNT I'd consider me a fan of. Granted, there's a lot of youth on the squad and being someone who hasn't followed insanely close and doesn't pay attention to European soccer at the moment, I simply don't have a connection there. I was hoping Gianluca Busio would make the team, but that goes back to SKC as well. I'm not sure how he's doing in Italy though. Really wish SKC would have kept him around, but going to Italy was supposed to be better for him.

I guess that's part of what has to change for MLS as well, and was pointed out in one of the articles I read. MLS will need to take itself more seriously over time and while it may not be able to compete with that Tier 1 or Tier 2 you put together, I'd like to think it could eventually move into that Tier 3 category. Most everything I've read praises MLS for the strides it's made over 25 years and that it's come a long way and has garnered much more respect internationally than one may have assumed it would even a decade ago. But a lot of that will come down to its continued growth in the US and the funding it's able to provide.

I will also admit that the relegation system used in what I gather is most countries, is a good incentive to be successful and push clubs into spending and finding young talent. That's simply not a concept most Americans fully understand but the thought of an MLS 2 or whatever that did something similar is intriguing. I get it all conceptually but have no real feel for it in practicality, but it apparently works in Europe.

I did see one of the negatives mentioned in an article was how Europe has an academy system they use well. I didn't fully understand that as a knock to MLS as don't MLS teams also use an academy system? Or are there only a few that do? I know SKC has one and they have utilized it quite a bit. I believe the current roster has seven or eight guys who've been through it. Is it the same in name only?

Regardless of it all, soccer is growing in the US and MLS I believe has played a large part in that. And while some knock MLS bringing in aging stars, that's probably one of the reasons MLS and soccer in the US is doing better. Names help draw in average fans and youngsters get to see special talents before they walk off into the sunset. It plays a part.

I never should have purchased FIFA 23. It's making me want to know more and who has time for all that?