Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial claim that The Saudi League is better than France’s Ligue Un angered some and left others scratching their heads. He did manage to get the obvious correct, the English Premier League is certainly the top league in the world for a variety of reasons. The list from there can be highly subjective, and with leagues growing fast outside of Europe, it can be challenging to sort them out across continents, in lack of direct competitions like the UEFA Champions League. Where exactly does the Saudi League fall in comparison? What about MLS, South American Leagues, and others around the world in nations spending big to put themselves on the world football map?
Ronaldo’s comments centered around the idea that the Premier League is 20 excellent teams deep every year, and PSG, despite being a European power, essentially is unrivaled domestically. So that’s the criteria we’re going with to rank the world’s top leagues and find where those outside of Europe truly slot in. What leagues provide the most quality top to bottom? Where do the most elite teams face the biggest challenges every week in their league?
Not a very controversial top choice. The money spent, the array of perennial challengers for the Champions League, and the depth of competition put the Premier League securely on top. To cite a recent example, Nottingham Forest was promoted a few years ago, spent a whole lot of money, so much so they were docked points in the 2023-24 season for breaching the league profit and sustainability rules, but now find themselves in second place going into the January transfer window. Above Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea to name a few. Top teams in other leagues simply do not need to watch their back like that.
Real Madrid and Barcelona make it impossible to argue the Spanish League is next on the list. On the contrary to Ronaldo’s accusation that France is a one-team league, Atletico Madrid has risen as a valid contender not only in Spain but in Europe as well. Real Madrid and Barcelona are arguably the top two clubs in the world, and consistently attract, and in Barcelona’s case, develop, the most elite talent in the world. Most would agree the lower half of La Liga is much weaker than the Premier League’s. The dominance and prestige of Spain’s top clubs make it a pretty close second to the Premier League, however.
In some years, it definitely is a one-horse race, with Bayern Munich leading start to finish, and by a lot. However, in recent years, various clubs have ascended into the spotlight. Borussia Dortmund has of course made multiple Champions League Finals in recent memory, including an all-German final against Bayern in 2013. Dortmund has also had a hand in developing world-class players like Lewandowski, Bellingham, and Haaland.
RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Bayer Leverkusen have also become formidable in recent years. Most everyone expected Harry Kane to pick up his first league title upon leaving the Premier League and signing with Bayern Munich, Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen foiled that with a historic unbeaten season, and Stuttgart edged out Bayern by a point for second place.
In years past, three and four might have been flipped. Serie A comes up a little short of the Bundesliga for a few reasons. Despite having three major clubs, Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter, none are Champions League contenders year in and year out. Juventus’s run of domestic dominance peaked at two convincing losses in the UCL finals during the 2010’s. Inter made it back to the finals in 2023, but their 2010 triumph was the last time an Italian team won the prize.
The power is seemingly spread out over a few smaller giants, however, the smaller clubs in Italy have made some noise as well. Atalanta currently leads the league table and is in a secure spot to advance to the next round of the Champions League, Napoli has also demonstrated elite form in recent years.
Former France and Marseille defender Adil Rami hit back at Ronaldo, claiming Saudi League players are overweight and eat McDonald’s every day. Saudi Arabia may have more parity in their title races than France, but the talent level across the league is superior in France. We don’t see big clubs from larger leagues buying up talent from Saudi Arabia the way the Ligue Un has exported players like Lenny Yoro for serious money.
Granted, PSG is in a bit of a decline right now and is still clearly in first place. They don’t currently have players like Mbappe, Messi, Neymar, Ibrahimovic, or Cavani, but PSG is still a team where world-class players choose to spend the prime of their careers, and that deals in elite young talent. Neither can be said for Saudi League clubs.
The first league we’re leaving the European continent for. A couple of leagues may feel slighted by this, but there is good reason to believe Brazil has a stronger league than some of the European nations yet to be mentioned. Elite talent comes out of Brazil, but the scale of it is relatively unmatched. When teenage phenoms pop up in Brazil, oftentimes we’re talking about one of the next best players in the world. From Neymar, Vini Jr., to Endrick, these talents are unique, and even though they don’t stay in Brazil, it’s a strong enough league where they can prove their worth at a young age.
A lot of great Brazilian players also choose to spend their careers in their home league. Some try Europe but prefer the style of play in Brazil. Not unlike the English Premier League, as its continent’s top league, it also has great parity in champions, while still experiencing dominant teams stringing multiple titles together. Similarly, the young talent they export often comes from a variety of clubs, the three mentioned above from Santos, Flamengo, and Palmeiras respectively.
The Portuguese League kicks off a new tier of leagues in Europe. Largely a developmental league, not many great players spend their best days here. Despite being competitive in Europe, and even having a Champions League winner in 2004 with FC Porto, even coaches who build successful programs are quickly snapped up to bigger opportunities. Jose Mourinho was, after triumphing with Porto, and Ruben Amorim recently was hired by Manchester United after a successful run with Sporting.
The Dutch league is similar to the Portuguese league. A handful of clubs like Ajax or PSV export great talent across Europe. Ajax have a rich history, but they’re the last team from the Netherlands to be crowned European champions, and that was in the 90s. Likewise, successful coaches like Ten Hag are often lured away to bigger clubs, making the Eredivisie largely a developmental league in Europe. It’s also one whose teams may not be as intimidating of a European opponent as the top Portuguese clubs, or even some of the upper mid-table of France, Italy, and Germany.
Again, entering another tier here, maybe to the dismay of Scottish, Belgian, Danish, or Turkish fans, but the reasoning is pretty simple. Oftentimes, promotion contenders in England’s second division outspend teams in the top leagues of other nations. For teams like Leeds, Sheffield United, and Burnley, the current top three, promotion to the Premier League is far more consequential than the Champions League qualification for teams like Celtic, Rangers, or Brugge. They seldom go deep into the tournament, much less contend to win it.
It’s far more plausible for a Championship team to get into the Premier League, establish stability there, and then seriously compete in the Champions League. We’ll see if Nottingham Forest can hold on to its qualifying spot in the table. The second flight in England is also just as useful as a developmental league for many top-flight leagues, Furthermore, the teams demoted down to the Championship are also rich in Premier League talent, which is often sold off to Europe’s most desirable leagues, in order to reinvest for another shot at the Premier League.
Similar to the Brazilian League in many ways, and competitive with Brazil in South American club competitions, the Argentinian league rounds out the top ten. Certainly a developmental league from the standpoint of Europe’s top clubs, for some South American players winding down their European careers, it’s a preferable spot to Saudi Arabia or MLS. It is however a more well-rounded league in terms of also producing high-end young talent and pushing the competition on the second most competitive continent in the world.
Neither league is a place where great players play in their prime. MLS has another problem, its larger assortment of teams spreads talent even thinner, and the bottom of the league can be quite weak. Both leagues are spending the money to bring in stars who will advance popularity, supporting the growth of infrastructure in each league. Until elite academy products start winning in Europe, or better yet, stay in the US or in Saudi Arabia, these leagues will continue to be viewed as retirement leagues.
If Christian Pulisic came to an MLS team and built a dynasty here, that may give the MLS Cup some juice, and create a giant for the rest of the league to chase. In this most recent iteration with LA and New York in the finals, it was tough to get excited about. It wasn’t a big game to the world, and even within the confines of American sports cities, it didn’t feel like it was the Lakers or the Yankees in the finals.
The MLS structure makes it difficult to build a great and long-lasting team from a financial standpoint, and most teams don’t seem concerned about doing that anyway. They’d prefer to let Messi run them out of their home stadium, because unfortunately, that’s a bigger draw than going to see an actual good team in your home stadium. Fortunately, MLS is focusing on its own youth academies, and is debuting players at young ages who are primed to transfer to big clubs abroad. That’s something Saudi Arabian clubs must focus on as well, now that they’ve drawn the big names in.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Premier League take was spot on, however his disdain for the Ligue Un is a bit over the top, if not outright ridiculous. The French league simply operates on a more competitive scale due to playing in Europe. It may be easy to pick the league winner in France, but it is still a top-tier European league. Saudi Arabia is spending the money to get big names in the league, even at younger ages than those phasing out to MLS, but until players begin to value the domestic and continental titles and pursue them in the primes of their careers, the Saudi Pro League and MLS will continue to be viewed as inferior, despite the money and popularity.
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