Exposing the myth that La Liga isn’t competitive

Whenever you’re trawling through social media you often come across arguments between fans of teams in different leagues arguing why their’s is the better and why the other’s is flawed. It’s obviously impossible to reach a definitive conclusion as the trenches are dug and no middle ground given by either side. Even the soldiers at WWII managed to put aside their differences for Christmas but the same can’t be said of football fans.

I grew up in England so have seen more than my fair share of Premier League football. Like most kids growing up in the industrial haven of the north, there wasn’t much to do once I’d finished school. My parents didn’t have a computer and the internet was in its infancy, nor could we afford a games console. I used to arrive home, throw down my schoolbag in the cupboard underneath the stairs and go outside with my trusty football and play with the neighbours until I had tea, then back out until my mum opened the front room window to tell me I needed to have a bath before school the next day.

There was so such thing as Premier League football on terrestrial TV so the only time we got to see our teams was on Match of the Day or if they were selected by the BBC or ITV for their FA or League Cup fixture. Throughout my childhood Manchester United were the team to beat and naturally most of my school friends supported them. I was always different so went for the team that entertained me the most but who certainly weren’t the best. But that is what I loved about the Premier League: its entertainment value.

And, even now, the backbone of most arguments on the side of Premier League fans is that it’s more entertaining than La Liga. The reasons being that every side is capable of beating another on any given day, regardless of where the two respective teams are placed in the league. It’s unpredictable. Yet if you scratch beneath the service: is the Premier League any less predictable than La Liga?

Since the Premier League started in 92/93 there have been just 5 different winners. Manchester United have won it 13 times, Chelsea 4 times, Arsenal 3 times, Manchester City twice and Blackburn Rovers once. Prior to the influx of rich, foreign owners there had only been 3 different champions. Hardly unpredictable, is it?

“But in La Liga there’s only two teams that win the league,” I hear you shout? Now, while having two competitive sides is better than one (Manchester United have more than 4 times the amount of league wins that Chelsea do) it’s true that two generally fight it out. Barcelona have 12 league victories while Real Madrid have 7. Yet if you compare La Liga champions to Premier League champions they both have 5 different winners in the same time period: Atletico and Valencia have won it twice while Deportivo de La Coruña have won it once.

You could even argue the victories of Atletico, Valencia and Deportivo de la Coruña are more impressive as they didn’t come on the back of excessive investment. Real Madrid and Barcelona were still as powerful in those years but coaching, hard work and focus on team’s academies produced some wonderful upsets. On the other hand Chelsea’s upturn in success came on the back of major investment from a foreign owner under no restrictions, the same can be said of Manchester City. Even Blackburn’s solitary win came on the back of Jack Walker’s wanting to achieve his dream.

There is a lopsided nature to the finances in La Liga, no one can deny that. The big sides agreeing to negotiate their TV deals individually instead of collectively is arguably the single biggest mistake the league made. The short-sighted egos of a few ahead of what was best for the country has left a sour taste in the mouth of those less fashionable sides. Teams like Eibar, Levante, Rayo Vallecano and Getafe punching above their weight didn’t receive the financial rewards their efforts deserved. If teams in your top division are struggling to pay wages while the bigger ones are forking out €80-90m on transfer fees, there’s a huge problem.

Thankfully common sense has taken over and this is finally being corrected. The new TV distribution rights deal isn’t perfect and you’ll find no one claiming it is. It still protects the big guns too much and their slice of the pie dwarves that of their rivals but, and it’s a big but, everyone is going to receive more as a result of the deal. In the graphic above the % column relates to the increase compared to the 14/15 season (and the 16/17 should represent an even bigger increase). It safeguards the teams at the wrong end of the table and allows them to build for the future. A lot of smaller sides have had to make cutbacks on their academy in recent years but this should allow them to produce more home grown talents. It’ll also reward those coming up from La Segunda (Division 2) and give them a massive boost of cash for actually reaching the top table.

A lot of non La Liga fans are incorrect when they say the level below the Top 2 is poor. In fact, with respect, that’s an ignorant view to hold as it’s not even close to being true. Are Real Madrid and Barcelona, on the whole, better than the other 18? Yes, but don’t let that confuse you into thinking the rest of the sides in La Liga are merely cannon-fodder. Are any of the Premier League sides better than Real Madrid and Barcelona? I’d be inclined to say no. Does that mean they’re all rubbish? Of course not.

This year has seen La Liga become more competitive, more exciting than in recent seasons. Barcelona lost convincingly to Athletic Club in the Spanish Super Cup and Sevilla pushed them to the limit in the UEFA Super Cup. In the league Celta Vigo have beaten them as have Sevilla while Deportivo pushed them close too.

Elsewhere.. Real Madrid were held to draws against Sporting Gijon and Malaga and have lost to Sevilla and Villarreal. Sevilla have beaten ‘the big 2’ but were beaten themselves by Celta Vigo, Las Palmas and Real Sociedad. So Celta Vigo are strong this year? Yes, but they’ve lost (1-5 at home) to Valencia and Deportivo de La Coruña. So how about Depor? They’re doing really well but have lost to Sporting Gijon and Malaga. Valencia’s problems are well-documented but they’ve lost to Espanyol while they struggled at home against Las Palmas, Rayo Vallecano and Getafe. Villarreal beat both Madrid sides and led at the top of the table but then have losses against Levante and Getafe to their name. Has La Liga ever been this competitive?

Of course Premier League fans will point to Leicester City being top of the table and Chelsea near the bottom. It’s a fair point, granted, but in my opinion the gap has closed in the Premier League due to a drop in quality from the teams at the top as opposed to the chasing pack getting better. In La Liga the top 2 (or perhaps 3 now Atletico are challenging) are stronger than ever but the rest have improved greatly. With the exception of Arsenal I couldn’t see any of the current Top 4 in the Premier League being ahead of the current Top 4 in Spain. Of course, this is just one man’s opinion but I’m open to debate as much as the next person.

However there are many aspects in which the Premier League is miles ahead of its Spanish equivalent. The production quality of matches is second to none. The high-definition images in England look much crisper than the ones in Spain. The obsessive nature of replays in Spain can also become tiring for a viewer as I think after 2-3 times we can reach a conclusion but 8, 9 or 10 times is plain overkill. The organisation of matches is also way ahead of La Liga. You can sometimes be a fortnight away from a game week and still have no idea which day or what time it’ll be played. Fans are very much secondary to TV and it shows with the poor attendances up and down the country. The kick off times are also another slap in the face to supporters. I know it can be hot in certain months but games shouldn’t be played beyond midnight and especially not during the week.

The debate as to which league is the best will probably never end but the argument that La Liga isn’t competitive can no longer be used. The standard of football in Spain continues to go from strength to strength as can be seen by its teams’ performances in La Liga as well as in Europe - both the Champions League and Europa League.

Spanish football is probably at its peak in terms of the depth in quality it possesses. Could you honestly say the same about the Premier League?