Please explain soccer league setup to in layman terms. (football, leagues, ESPN)

[southfleddy]

So the other I was watching a game of soccer or to many people "football" and I thought how the heck are teams setup and who plays what and why is this league playing against each other. I have always understood soccer in terms of gameplay, but the way it's setup was so confusing that I didn't know where to start.

So can someone explain to me in laymans terms, how are soccer leagues setup. In while we are at it, how does FIFA decide who goes to the World Cup or not?

[FlyMIA]

What league are you talking about? There are basketball leagues too. You pay a fee make a team and play against other teams. The league provides the field/court and referees. People make their own teams.

As for FIFA, there ware qualifying tournaments. You need to win a certain amount of games and gain a certain amount of points in your region. So for example the European teams play each other and the U.S. plays Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras etc.. Teams in North America while Brazil, Chile, Colombia play each other in their region. The top teams in each region get to go to the world cup and are then randomly put into groups.

If you are talking about random games like the UK playing Ecuador or Germany playing Haiti or something those are just friendly matches. Each country has its own soccer organization and they set these games up whether for practice before the world cup like the games this week or just general practice for just practice.

[unquiltom]

Might be better to ask this in the sports forums?

[infinitekid]

Most leagues just have 20 teams, and play for points 3-win, 1-tie, 0-loss

whoever has the most points at the end wins the league.

then there are cups/tournaments which are generally set up by picking the top teams from whatever leagues they cover-they play a typical bracket tournament (along with league play simultaneously)

you can go to fifa.com for the wc but basically they've created Zones (covering various countries) and the top teams from each zone (based on interplaying each other) are invited until the fill out the world cup slots (each zone is afforded a certain number of spots)

[paull805]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ4i3KX2CW4

[Nast]

There are more or less three levels of governing bodies in global soccer - FIFA covers global international soccer, the continental bodies (UEFA for Europe, CONCACAF for North America, CONMEBOL for South America, etc.) support both national and club (professional) soccer, and then locally, each country has its own ruling body. The national organizations often support multiple tiers of soccer within their country, with the top level being considered the "elite" level that you're most likely familiar with (Premier League, MLS, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, etc.).

There are typically three types of competitions for these club teams at the national level:
- First is the regular league play. In England this typically takes place on weekends and the Premiere League teams playing against only other Premier League teams.
- Second is cup play (think the FA Cup in England and the DFB-Pokal in Germany). Each national organization will sponsor a season-long competition in which all members are eligible, regardless of which level they may be on. So here you may see a Premier League team face off against a second or third tier team, and sometimes lose. These games are sprinkled in over the course of a regular season, often taking the place of regular league games on some weekends.
- Third is international club play, such as The Champions League or The Europa League. The Champions League is made up with the top finishers from the prior year's regular league play for all UEFA countries (you can think of the Europa Cup as the NIT to the CL's NCAA tournament). So, for example, because Manchester City just won the regular season in the Permier League, Atletico Madrid won La Liga, and Bayern won the Bundesliga, all gain entry into the next Champion's League which will start in the fall. Over the years they have expanded this so the top 3 or 4 teams from many of the national leagues are eligible, depending on the strength of the conference. These games also take place over the course of the regular club season and are typically played on weekdays. You can have a team playing in all three of these competitions at once, which can be pretty confusing to the casual fan.

As far as FIFA selection for the World Cup goes, keep in mind that these are the actually the finals of a competition that has been going on for the past three years or so. The teams that are going are ones that qualified by playing against teams in their region. The ESPNFC site actually has a pretty good explanation of how teams qualified: Soccer / Football News and Scores - ESPN FC. Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup will probably start in 2015, not too long after this WC is over.

[Pete.]

Originally Posted by southfleddy

So the other I was watching a game of soccer or to many people "football" and I thought how the heck are teams setup and who plays what and why is this league playing against each other. I have always understood soccer in terms of gameplay, but the way it's setup was so confusing that I didn't know where to start.

So can someone explain to me in laymans terms, how are soccer leagues setup. In while we are at it, how does FIFA decide who goes to the World Cup or not?

You may have been watching an Open Cup match, which can be confusing. It's a yearly tournament open to all U.S. pro teams, which includes minor leagues like NASL, USL, NPSL, etc. Each league operates on their own just like any other sport. It's kind of neat to see the various levels compete against each other.

[infinitekid]

ive reviewed all responses and mine is the best followed by Paul's who gets points for video graphics

[southfleddy]

Wow, thanks everyone for sharing your explanations. I especially enjoyed the video posted by Paul. Thanks Nast for a detailed explanations on the setup as well.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by paull805

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ4i3KX2CW4

That is really helpful. I did not realize the FA Cups, UEFA, and regular season all commence simultaneously. So the regular season for the top flight leagues are almost like the college football before the BCS system in that you have to have the best record. Only difference is that all the teams in the top division have to play each other. But the FA Cup and UEFA Cup are american playoff style.

But I seriously need to ask. Is playing all those games good for your knees? The only that I can think of that is more grueling is the NHL season. How many days off inbetween a game do you normally get?