Introduction

European football is perhaps the most popular professional sport there is, with broadcasts managing to rake in hundreds of millions of viewers year in year out. Despite this, after following a wide range of leagues across the globe, it has become clear to me that European football is the worst majorly established sport I’ve ever seen. Here are a few of its biggest flaws.

Underwhelming Moments

The format for winning any of the major European leagues is exactly the same: each team plays each other twice throughout the year; a win counts as 3 points, a draw is 1 point, and a loss is 0. The team with the most points by the end of the year is crowned the champion of that league. While the format may sound fine at first, upon deeper thinking, many issues become apparent.

A major problem with this format is the champion could be crowned before the season is even over. In fact, the champion could be crowned on a day where they don’t even play a match. Here’s a clip of the moment Manchester City won the Premier League just last season.

Where even are they? Winning a Premier League title means making history, it means glory. This should be a moment celebrated on a pitch with fans cheering them on, not in some random living room with players in loungewear. Additionally, is winning a title due to another team losing really the experience players want?

The current format has managed to produce some classic moments in the past: for instance, Aguero’s famous title-winning goal against QPR in 2012. However, moments like this should be almost yearly occurrences, giving football fans iconic memories to look back on. With the current format, it’s almost a given that moments like 2012 will be sparse.

Lack of Parity

Looking across the champions of Europe’s top 5 leagues in recent history, you’ll see very little diversity. In the French league, you have PSG winning the league 10 times in the past 12 years. If you look at the Bundesliga you’ll see Bayern Munich as the champion 11 times in the past 12 years. Even if you look at leagues that have more than just one team winning the title every year, such as La Liga, the Premier League, or Serie A, you’ll find that it’s the same few teams finishing at the top of the table each and every year.

The reason for the lack of parity is due to the major disparity in money between the European giants and the rest of the clubs. Some clubs were able to generate their funds through historic dominance from many years ago, such as Real Madrid or Manchester United, while other clubs were simply purchased by extremely affluent individuals that were able to pump billions of dollars into the club, such as Manchester City or Chelsea. Either way, the path to riches for smaller European clubs is highly unrealistic and near impossible to emulate. This discrepancy in funds results in major clubs purchasing premium talent from across the world year after year, leaving almost no chance for smaller clubs to win the title.

Now, there are some exceptions to this; for instance, a common example is Leicester City in the 2015/16 season, where they were able to win the Premier League despite having never placed top 3 in club history, and finishing 14th just the season before. While Leicester’s season undeniably miraculous, that’s just the problem: it was a miracle. The very next season Leicester went right back to finishing 12th place in the league. Furthermore, the club was unable to keep many of their top talents, due to the inability to match offers from clubs such as Chelsea or Manchester City, and their best players were pilfered from them over time. Just 7 years after their glorious title winning season, Leicester City placed 18th in the league, and was relegated to the league below. All in all, while it may be possible to get lucky for a season, the hope for becoming a major club as a smaller club is essentially zero.

Poor Scheduling

Perhaps the most frustrating part of all of European football is its highly confusing schedule. For starters, while it does make sense to have the top placing teams in Europe qualify for the Champions League, why do the teams that qualify not compete until the next season? This leads to a lot of confusing scenarios where a team might qualify for the Champions League during a stellar season, only to find itself in significantly worse form by the time the competition begins in the following season. This disconnect can create odd scenarios, such as a team that excels domestically one year but struggles to maintain its form after losing key players or undergoing managerial changes.

The delay between qualification and participation means that the tournament often doesn’t truly reflect the current state of Europe’s top clubs. Instead, it rewards past performance, which, while fair in some respects, can feel disconnected from the dynamic nature of the sport. This issue is further compounded by overlapping schedules, where teams juggle domestic leagues, national cup competitions, and international tournaments, leading to fixture congestion and fatigue. It’s no wonder that fans often find themselves struggling to keep up with the various competitions and their timelines.

Solution

With so many problems plaguing European football, the only way to fix them is a complete overhaul of the system: new leadership, a new governing body, new everything. A similar idea was once proposed in the form of the infamous Super League, but it faced immense backlash from fans who are deeply rooted in tradition. Fans organized protests, boycotts, and social media campaigns that ultimately forced many of the involved clubs to withdraw their support. The reaction highlighted how resistant football enthusiasts are to significant changes, particularly those perceived as undermining the sport's cultural fabric. Any attempt at reforming European football must consider this steadfast loyalty to tradition and work within the boundaries of what fans are willing to accept. Without their support, even the most well-intentioned proposals are doomed to fail.