Released XI

Last week Premier League clubs revealed the players who they would be releasing, this prompted @False_Number9 to create a Released XI, here is my team to face his. I have not used any of the same players, not even from the bench, and therefore this presented something of a challenge. None the less a team has been put together.

Mucha (Everton) - Whilst Mucha only played 2 games in the season gone, one of them was a sensational clean sheet and man of the match performance against Manchester City which allowed Everton to win the game 2-1. His second performance being a good game in Everton's 3-1 defeat of Reading. At 30 years old Mucha still has plenty of years ahead of him and a steady run in a team could allow him to shine.

Stam (Wigan) - Despite being a casualty in Wigan's disappointing season Stam offers solid defensive contribution and reliable tackling. His greatest quality, however, is his ability going forward from right back. Stam is an ablle dribbler and adept at crossing. At 28 years old Stam could provide a newly promoted team with cover or fit in well in the Championship.

Ben Haim (QPR) - At 31 his best years are no doubt behind him, but Ben Haim has 72 caps for Israel and has played for clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester City. As a player with a wealth of experience and the ability to play anywhere across the line, a gamble on Ben Haim seems worthwhile, as if he were able to recapture his form for Bolton (04-07) he would certainly be an asset to any team.

Pearce (Reading) - Only 24 and already a full Republic of Ireland international it is surprising that Reading has let Pearce go. Said to possess "a superb work ethic and mentality" the centre back, who played 19 times in the 12/13 Premier League, offers terrific value for any team looking for an old fashioned centre back.

Tierney (Norwich) - Tierney was only able to play once last season, but as a 27 year old Tierney still has years in him. He is a player not dissimilar to Pearce in his willingness to put his body on the line for the good of the team. He is also a strong crosser of the ball.

Whitehead (Stoke) - Versatile, experienced and strong Whitehead is more of a destroyer than a creator. 26 Stoke appearances suggest he is still up to pace with the Premier League, and a pass success rate of 83.8% suggests he isn't completely bereft of qualities with the ball. At 31 Whitehead could steady an inexperienced midfield or offer cover to a higher calibre of player.

O'Neil (West Ham) - A different sort of player to Whitehead, ex-England U21 player O'Neil has good technique and this is reflected in his set piece taking ability, key pass rate and long shot accuracy. In this hypothetical team O'Neil and Whitehead would act in a similar way to Alonso and Khedira do for Real Madrid. O'Neil has never relied heavily on pace, and therefore it seems likely that, at 30, he has 4-5 years left playing at a high level.

Bentley (Tottenham) - One of the stars of this team. Bentley has amassed 7 full England caps and has played for Arsenal, Blackburn during their reliable 06-08 years and Tottenham. Bentley has exemplary technique and scored one of the best goals in North London derby history for Tottenham. Bentley is 28 years old and has the ability to play comfortably in the English Premier League.

Gera (West Brom) - 34 years old and subsequently lacking in pace, regardless Gera is a highly creative and intelligent player who is able to play in almost any attacking position. Gera scored 4 goals in 16 West Brom appearances last season and no doubt has another season or two in him.

Thomas (West Brom) - Whilst 30 years old Jerome Thomas is still a left winger with pace capable of causing defenders problems. Thomas, a junior England international, may well be a class below Malouda but offers a superior attitude to the Frenchman's and would be an asset to most Premier League squads.

Campbell (QPR) - 31 years old and injury prone, DJ Campbell seems like an odd choice. Despite this in the 10/11 season Campbell showed finishing prowess and scored 13 goals for Blackpool, with three players behind him who will create chances DJ Campbell, when fit, could relive his season at Blackpool and score amply.

By Alex Pointon

Follow us on twitter - @ChapsTalkFBall

Sources:

Whoscored.com

Wikipedia

http://outsideoftheboot.com/tactics-creator/

Kelvin and Alex's Predictions

Last August Kelvin and Alex predicted how the table would look come the end of the season. Now that the last Premier League fixtures have been played for the best part of 90 days we are capable of assessing who was most accurate. You can find Kelvin's predicted table here and Alex's here, also of use may be the final Premier League table, which you can view in full here.

There are, as far as I see it, three ways in which to assess the accuracy of our tables;
1.) How close to correct we were in predicting the Champions League places and relegation spots
2.) How many team's final positions we guessed correctly
3.) The cumulative difference between predicted positions and final positions for each team

1.) On the left is Kelvins predicted top four and bottom three, on the right is Alex's.

1st - Manchester City (2nd)                          1st - Manchester United (1st)

2nd - Manchester United (1st)                      2nd - Manchester City (2nd)

3rd - Arsenal (4th)                                       3rd - Chelsea (3rd)

4th - Chelsea (3rd)                                       4th - Arsenal (4th)

-                                                                  -

-                                                                  -

18th - Wigan (18th)                                      18th - Wigan (18th)

19th - Swansea (9th)                                    19th - Southampton (14th)

20th - Southampton (14th)                            20th - West Ham (10th)

Both predicted the top four teams correctly, however Alex predicted the precise order, Kelvin didn't get one in the correct position. Both predicted that Wigan would finish 18th, both incorrectly predicted the other two relegated teams. 

Due to the more accurate top four Alex wins this round.

2.) Kelvin correctly predicted that Liverpool would finish 7th, that Fulham would finish 12th and that Wigan would finish 18th. This gives him three exact predictions.

Alex Predicted the top four exactly, Everton's 6th place finish and Wigan's 18th place finish. This makes six exact predictions.

Alex Wins this round.

3.) Kelvin's cumulative difference totals 78, with his farthest from the truth guess being Newcastle finishing 5th, which is 11 positions too high.

Alex's cumulative difference comes to 66, with two predictions 11 places incorrect (Newcastle and QPR).

As his total is 12 lower than Kelvin's Alex wins this round.

A clean sweep for Alex, for next years predictions all four CTF writers will contribute and see if Alex can retain his crown.

EDIT

Mark Lawrenson of the BBC also made a predicted table before the season began, that can be found here.

His top four contains all of the correct teams, however three of them are in the wrong position, making his top four prediction better than Kelvin's but worse than Alex's. Lawrenson, just like Alex and Kelvin predicted only one relegated team correctly, but his prediction for Reading to finish 20th was not exaxtly right, unlike both Kelvin and Alex's prediction of an 18th place Wigan finish.

Lawrenson only got one exact position correct, Manchester United finishing first. This is lower than Kelvin's three and Alex's six.

Lawrenson's total difference comes to 74, which is 8 higher than Alex's but 4 lower than Kelvin's.

Follow us on twitter - @ChapsTalkFBall

The Wayne Rooney Problem

Wayne Rooney has recently placed a second transfer request at Manchester United. He has also, reportedly anyway, said that he is prepared to perform a U-turn on this decision and stay at Manchester United. Regardless of how Moyes decides to react to this it is evident that Rooney is a volatile character who requires specific man management.

Rooney's second transfer request was placed after he fell out Ferguson's favour. Rooney has been playing second fiddle to Robin Van Persie, exactly the type of player Rooney believed Manchester United were not willing to sign when placing his first transfer request. Subsequently Rooney has found himself playing further back, sometimes as a centre forward and other times as far back as central/holding midfielder. Rooney has a game suited to these roles, partially down to Rooney's physical attributes. That will, however, be discussed later. It took an excellently executed press conference by the outgoing Sir Alex Ferguson to convince Rooney to stay at Manchester United in the wake of the first transfer request, is Moyes capable of talking Rooney into changing his mind a second time?

Moyes, as everyone knows, managed Wayne Rooney as a youngster at Everton. Their relationship was far from the best, with Moyes suing Rooney for libel in 2008, following accusations in the players autobiography that David Moyes leaked details of a private conversation to the Liverpool Echo. Moyes won between £50,000 and £150,000 and a "sincere apology" from Wayne Rooney. Since the legal agreement was reached the pair are said to be on amicable terms, however this may be put under significant stress as they enter into a working relationship. Although that is dependent on Moyes wanting to keep Rooney. Ferguson famously let a player go if he considered himself larger than the club, with Moyes chosen due to similar values as Ferguson then there is more than a chance that Moyes will also sell players he believes have such an attitude. There are certainly clubs willing to buy Rooney too, with PSG, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Monaco all rumoured suitors. The final factor likely to force Rooney out of the door is the fans. Rooney was booed by fans during the open bus parade celebration, and the talk of Falcao, Lewandowski or Fabregas as a replacement may cause excitement amongst the fans.

If the supposed U-turn is true and Rooney decides to stay with the newly crowned champions then he may have to cope with playing deeper. Many claim that Rooney is coming to the end of one of his worst seasons playing for Manchester United. He has, however, registered ten league assists, the joint fourth most in the league (and only just overtaken by Cazorla's four assists against now relegated Wigan) and only two fewer than PFA player of the year nominated and the league's top creator, Juan Mata. Rooney has also scored twelve goals, whilst only placing with joint 14th on the scoring table it does put his combined goals and assists in the top eight across the whole league. His slump may not be reflected in the numbers as strongly as some may suggest. Rooney also showed a capability of playing elsewhere on the pitch, a convincing performance against Stoke in mid April suggesting he could partner Carrick in midfield. This potential positional shift could add both playing time to Rooney's future seasons and add to Rooney's worth to Manchester United.

Whether Rooney stays at Manchester United or not depends very much on what happens behind closed doors between Rooney and Moyes. If Rooney commits his future 100% to Manchester United and is willing to succumb completely to Moyes' future plans. The statistics show that Rooney is of use to the team. However if Rooney is not able the commit wholeheartedly to playing a large part of Moyes' first few years as Manchester United manager then he should be sold to the highest bidder outside of England.

By Alex Pointon

Sources:

http://www.businessinsider.com/david-moyes-once-sued-wayne-rooney-2013-5

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/399473/Rooney-in-peace-talks-as-David-Moyes-wants-Wayne-to-stay-at-Manchester-United

whoscored.com

Life After Ferguson: the Moyes Appointment

 It has now sunk in, Sir Alex Ferguson is to end his time as Manchester United manager. In his 26 and a half years at Manchester United much has changed, for one I have been born and grown into a young adult. It is his longevity, ridiculous trophy haul, constant reinvention and never ending passion for the game that make him a one off. Sir Alex once said "there are too many examples of people who retire and are in their box soon after. You're taking away the very thing that makes you alive, that keeps you alive." It very much seemed that way with Sir Alex Ferguson, that football, that being the Manchester United manager, was what kept him alive. Waking up early and dealing with mounds of paper work before training seemed to pleasure him. To turn Ferguson's own phrase onto him, he is a "unique freak". However this piece is not an ode to Ferguson, it is about his successor. David Moyes is the man set to come in and replace the irreplaceable.

Many have said that Moyes is not the right appointment, that he lacks European experience or that his record against the traditional big four is poor. Despite Moyes' only real European experience being guiding Everton to the UEFA cup round of 16 in 2008 and the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League in 2005 the obvious question is, how do you gain the experience if you aren't qualified to compete in the competition? As for a poor record against the big four, that is neither here nor there. Never before has Moyes had a squad of Manchester United's quality at his disposal. Realistically it was not the points picked up against the very biggest teams that defined Eveton's seasons, it was consistently picking points up against those teams around and below them. That is not the case at Manchester United, the games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and even Liverpool and Tottenham can be the difference between a historic season and a forgettable one. It will be in his first year or two as Manchester United manager that he can define his ability to outwit the top managers in the country.

There are other positives too, Moyes is 50 years old. Neither old nor young for a Premier League manager. He has had time to gain the necessary experience and now is at a good age to settle down. Prior to Ferguson stepping down Moyes was the third longest reigning manager in the Football League. In his eleven year tenure at the helm of Everton he has had to build teams, a much praised characteristic of Ferguson. This will stand him in good stead as Manchester United manager as he will, presumably, stay long enough to have to build upon and develop the league winning team Ferguson has left him. Jose Mourinho's longest spell managing one club is 3 years, meaning he has never had to have a truly long term vision in regards to squad building. Another advantage of bringing in Moyes (that may well apply to bringing in any manager) is that because the team is not "his" it is easier to identify weaknesses and ruthlessly act upon them. It is a wide held view that a central midfielder is required at Manchester United with Fletcher, Scholes and Anderson all going (or deserving to go, Ando), however Ferguson hasn't bought a defensive minded central midfielder. Carrick enjoyed his best season in a Manchester United shirt and this may have slightly masked the problem, none the less a new manager will be able to objectively assess the strengths and weaknesses of the squad.

Recently Everton have been playing better football than many give them credit for. Regardless of their reliance on physical strikers (Anichebe, Jelavic, Fellaini. Historically, Yakubu, Cahill) he often employs a system with focus on wide areas. Pienaar and Baines have developed one of the most effective and consistent midfielder - full back partnerships in the league. Proof of this is that 43% of Everton's play is in the left third of the pitch. 31% of Everton's play is on the right, leaving 26% through the middle third. In comparison to Manchester United, a team who historically attack in wide areas, Everton actually play more down the wings. Manchester United play 32% down the left side, 40% down the right side and therefore 28% through the middle. This indicates that Moyes is unlikely to change the style of play associated with Manchester United. Another point worth noting is Moyes' effective use of a clever playmaker, Leon Osman. Shinji Kagawa has been used poorly for his first season in English football and it is possible that Moyes will be able to utilise him more efficiently than Ferguson has, especially with rumours suggesting that Wayne Rooney has handed in a second transfer request at Manchester United.

Moyes is also accomplished in the transfer market. Rarely does he make a big signing that doesn't work well, and even so, with the budget constraints at Everton a big signing for them may not be considered so at United. For example Kevin Mirallas for £6.7m has been one of Everton's top performing players this season, for comparison purposes that is roughly £1m less than Bebe cost Manchester United in 2010. Another shining example is Marouane Fellaini, the powerful midfielder cost Everton £19.1m in 2008 and has gone on to prove his worth and his sought after by many of the top clubs in Europe. With Ferguson staying at Manchester United in a directorial capacity Moyes will always be able to ask for advice or guidance. This bodes for success in the transfer market.

All things considered Moyes is a smart choice as Sir Alex Ferguson's successor. Whilst Mourinho may have provided the club with a sense of glamour, it is stability that is most desired. Sir Alex Ferguson has delivered success almost every year for his entire stay at Manchester United, undoubtedly a tough act to follow. Mourinho may have offered an attractive quick fling, however Moyes offers the dependability of a life partner. Which is what is required at Manchester United in the wake of Ferguson's retirement.

By Alex Pointon

Statistics from

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

www.whoscored.com

Ever Present Players

I have always been interested by the phenomenon that is a player who can go a whole season without missing a minute of football. Obviously injury, rotation and form or the presence of a decent replacement are all reasons for a player to miss minutes. How many players have done this in Premier League seasons of the past? The 95-96 season was the first to be reduced to 38 games a season (previously 42). Surely fewer fixtures would make it easier to not miss a minute? Also, does the increasing physicality of the league make it harder to go all season without missing a minute?

As you can see the trend goes very much up and down, however were you to add a trend line (and I did) the gradient is -0.0312, to the non-mathematically inclined that means that that there is, on average, a very very slight decline in the frequency with which a player achieves this feat. If this season 7 players had not missed a minute (which has been equalled or bettered 10 times) then the gradient of the trend line would be 0.0078. Basically, the number of occasions that a player has gone all season and played every minute is neither really more or less frequent than it was at the beginning of the Premier League era.

Most frequent not missing a minute-ers

Name	PL seasons without missing a minute
David James	8
Brad Friedel	5
Jussi Jaaskelainen	5
Shay Given	4
Tim Howard	4
Pepe Reina	4
Nigel Martyn	3
Paul Robinson	3

That list is exclusively populated by goalkeepers, with David James well ahead of Friedel and Jaaskelainen. The most seasons managed by an outfield player is 2, achieved by just 4 players (Gareth Southgate, Alan Wright, Wayne Bridge and Sylvain Distin). All of the outfield players to have achieved this are defenders. Alan Wright is the shortest player in Premier League history and once strained his knee reaching for the accelerator in his new Ferrari.

By Alex Pointon

Follow us on twitter @ChapsTalkFBall

Statistics from www.transfermarkt.co.uk

South American football - Is it as good as European football?

After reading a piece about football in the USA I got into a conversation on twitter about the merits of football in regions other than Europe. We concluded that there are some prejudices against non-European football, and I decided to look further into it. Predominantly I was looking for any statistical evidence for or against the assumptions people make.

How do you go about objectively assessing the quality of a football league? That was my first question. The most obvious measure of a league is the quality of the teams who compete to win it. Are Barcelona better than Ajax? Yes, so you could deduce that the Spanish Primera BBVA is a better league than the Dutch Eredivisie. Other things matter too, though. Football is entertainment, and predictability isn't very entertaining. In the Dutch Eredivisie four teams are separated by just four points at the top of the table with 29 games played,  whereas in Spain thirteen points is the difference between Barcelona and Real Madrid in 1st and 2nd. Does that mean The Dutch Eredivisie is better as it is providing a more entertaining finale to the season? Now you see my conundrum. Then there is also the individual quality of the players to be taken into account, performance in continental competitions and possibly even the reputation of the league.

To begin with I focused on South American football, widely considered to be the continent closest to Europe in terms of domestic football. Despite the acceptance that South American teams are good, there are still preconceptions about the leagues. For instance it is a widely held opinion that a player cannot be great until he has left South America and plied his trade in Europe. The most topical example of this would be Neymar, despite a return of 131 goals in 214 games for Santos (0.61 goals a game) and already having gained 31 full caps (and scoring 19 goals in doing so), many protest that he cannot be compared to the likes of Messi, Ronaldo or, for that matter, any player in a top European league until he too is playing in Europe. On the other hand Pele is considered to be one of the best, if not the best, player in history. However Pele played 86% of his official games for Santos (91% if you take into account his "unofficial games"), and the only other continent Pele played domestically in was North America. That is, no matter how interesting, another argument for another time. It does, however, lead me onto my first point. It is impossible to say that South America produces worse players than Europe. When looking at the winners of the FIFA world player of the year awards since 1991 a clear trend occurs...

Continent of nation	Nation	Times won	Players
South America	Brazil	8	Ronaldo (3), Ronaldinho (2), Romario, Rivaldo, Kaka
South America	Argentina	4	Messi
Europe	France	3	Zidane
Europe	Italy	2	Baggio, Cannavaro
Europe	Portugal	2	Figo, Ronaldo
Europe	Germany	1	Matthaus
Africa	Liberia	1	Weah
Europe	Netherlands	1	Van Basten

... the award has been won by a South American on twelve occasions, a European ten times and once by an African. This would suggest that, if anything, the South Americans produce players better than Europeans. Another measure of the quality of an individual player may be the market value attached to that player. The ten most valuable players in the world (courtesy of www.transfermarkt.co.uk) are as follows...

Continent of nation	Nation	Player	Value
South America	Argentina	Lionel Messi	£105,000,000
Europe	Portugal	Cristiano Ronaldo	£88,000,000
Europe	Spain	Andres Iniesta	£61,500,000
Europe	England	Wayne Rooney	£57,000,000
South America	Colombia	Falcao	£53,000,000
Europe	Spain	Cesc Fabregas	£48,500,000
South America	Brazil	Neymar	£44,000,000
South America	Brazil	Hulk	£39,500,000
South America	Uruguay	Edinson Cavani	£39,500,000
South America	Argentina	Kun Aguero	£39,500,000

... According to the (absolutely marvellous) transfermarkt six out of the world's most valuable players are South American and only four are European. Between them the two tables make it difficult to argue that the best South American players aren't as good as the best European players, if anything the evidence suggests that it is the South Americans who lead the way when it comes to producing the world's best players, with Europe only just keeping up. So if South American players are better than Europeans, how are their national teams?

Luckily it is easier to compare the ability of national teams than it is players of differing nationalities. Historically some of the greatest international teams ever have come from both continents (Hungary in the early 50s, Holland in the early 70s, Brazil in the early 70s), however there is no use looking too far into the past. The current FIFA world rankings list the top ten international teams as...

Continent of Nation	Nation	Points
Europe	Spain	1538
Europe	Germany	1428
South America	Argentina	1292
Europe	Croatia	1191
Europe	Portugal	1163
South America	Colombia	1154
Europe	England	1135
Europe	Italy	1117
Europe	Netherlands	1093
South America	Ecuador	1056

... Spain sit comfortably atop the world rankings, whilst only three non-European teams are within the top ten. Whilst Brazil are languishing in 19th with 909 points it is worth noting that due to the hosting the 2014 World Cup they do not have to go through qualification, subsequently missing out on many matches and hence opportunities to pick up ranking points. Nevertheless the top ten international teams is not flattering for South America on the whole. Surprise package Ecuador lie 2nd in the CONMEBOL qualifying group aided by the goals of Caicedo, Benitez and Rondon. Even so there are other south American teams that despite not being ranked within the top ten are still considered dangerous teams to play against. Uruguay ranked 17th have performed worse than expected in their World Cup qualifying and are currently 6th of nine, with only Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay below them. Regardless of form a front three of Forlan, Cavani and Suarez is one that no defence would want to face, even that of current number one team and reigning European and world champions Spain. Whilst international football in South America may not currently be at an all time high but it is worth taking into consideration that whatever teams do reach Brazil 2014 it is likely that they perform better than expected, due to factors such as climate and the location being close to their countries and therefore they are sure to have more supporters at their games. When looking at World Cup winners and runners up since Italia 1990 this is how the continents stack up...

Continent of nation	Nation	Times winner	Times runner up
South America	Brazil	2	1
Europe	France	1	1
Europe	Italy	1	1
Europe	(West) Germany	1	1
Europe	Spain	1	0
South America	Argentina	0	1
Europe	Netherlands	0	1

... Only twice has the tournament been won by a South American side in comparison to four victories by European sides. It is exactly the same in terms of runners up too, with two runners up coming from South America and four from Europe. Just once has a South American side partaken in a third place play off, one Asian team and ten European teams. The two tables combine to paint a damning picture of international football in South America, not one in keeping with the quality of player I have previously shown South America to produce. Relatively low success within the international game has few excuses, isolated incidents cannot be blamed as the data I have used takes time into account and hence isolated incidents are bound to balance out. There are three reasons I can think of as to why these teams aren't performing consistently on the international scene, firstly South American footballers are scattered across the globe, many playing in different European leagues and some still playing within South America. Most of the highly performing European nations also have strong domestic leagues, this leads to a higher number of players remaining within that division and encourages familiarity with one another as well as benefits such as a more uniform style. Secondly, South America only has a population of roughly 387,500,000 which is just over half (52%) of the European population of 739,200,000. This may explain why they are able to produce the very best individuals, but not the same quantity of very good players to support the truly world class ones. The third possible reason for a lack of form in the international game could be due to their economic states, many of the South American countries are categorised as newly industrialised countries or less economically developed countries, therefore their governing bodies (rather understandably) focus on things other than sports. Even so South American national teams have plenty of room to improve and may even get more respect than they deserve. For instance, who would you rather your international team played in the final of a competition, Greece or Uruguay? I imagine many would prefer that their team played Greece, however Greece are actually placed four places higher than Uruguay in 13th. It is having reached the conclusion that international football in the CONMEBOL region as not reached the peaks it could have done I move onto looking at domestic football in the region.

As I said in the introduction, football is a form of entertainment and predictability isn't usually entertaining. Whilst no matter what the situation, it is enjoyable watching Barcelona weave their intricate passing plays even if you know it's exactly what will happen, speaking by and large it is an open finish to a competition or a real sense of mystery as to who will win a tournament that gets fans excited. It is for that reason that I will look at the finalists of the European and South American continental club competitions since 1990, the Champions League (European cup prior to 1992, and hereafter just referred to as the Champions League) and the Copa Libertadores, in order to gauge how open these tournaments are and the strength and depth of the leagues which compete in them.

Country of club	Club	Times winner	Times runner up
Italy	AC Milan	4	3
Spain	Barcelona	4	1
Spain	Real Madrid	3	0
England	Manchester United	2	2
Germany	Bayern Munich	1	3
Italy	Juventus	1	3
Netherlands	Ajax	1	1
England	Chelsea	1	1
England	Liverpool	1	1
France	Marseille	1	1
Germany	Borussia Dortmund	1	0
Italy	Inter Milan	1	0
Portugal	Porto	1	0
SFRY/Serbia	Red Star Belgrade	1	0
Spain	Valencia	0	2
England	Arsenal	0	1
France	AS Monaco	0	1
Germany	Bayer Leverkusen	0	1
Portugal	Benfica	0	1
Italy	Sampdoria	0	1

The finals of the Champions League in the period have been made up by 20 teams, 14 teams have won the competition and six have lost in the final without having won the competition. Crucially eight nations have had a team reach the final. Before thorough evaluation I will show you the finalists of the Copa Libertadores in the same time.

Country of club	Club	Times winner	Times runner up
Argentina	Boca Juniors	4	2
Brazil	Sau Paulo	3	2
Paraguay	Olimpia	2	1
Brazil	Internacional	2	0
Brazil	Cruzerio	1	1
Brazil	Gremio	1	1
Brazil	Palmeiras	1	1
Brazil	Santos	1	1
Chile	Colo-Colo	1	0
Brazil	Corinthians	1	0
Argentina	Estudiantes	1	0
Ecuador	LDU Quito	1	0
Colombia	Once Caldas	1	0
Argentina	River Plate	1	0
Brazil	Vasgo da Gama	1	0
Argentina	Vélez Sársfield	1	0
Colombia	Atletico Nacional	0	2
Colombia	América	0	1
Brazil	Atlético Paranaense	0	1
Ecuador	Barcelona	0	1
Mexico	Cruz Azul	0	1
Colombia	Deportivo Cali	0	1
Brazil	Fluminense	0	1
Mexico	Guadalajara	0	1
Argentina	Newell's Old Boys	0	1
Uruguay	Penarol	0	1
Brazil	São Caetano	0	1
Peru	Sporting Cristal	0	1
Chile	Universidad Católica	0	1

Opposed to the 20 finalists of the Champions League 29 teams have reached the final of the Copa Libertadores. 16 teams have won in South America, whereas only 14 have won in Europe. The largest difference is in the number of teams who have made the final without having won the competition, 13 teams have been the bridesmaid and never the bride in the Copa Libertadores, over twice the number of teams in the same position in Europe. This is evidence that the South American leagues have greater depth than the European leagues. The next vital statistic from these Copa Libertadores finalists is the number of countries to have had representatives in the finals, it was eight in the Champions League, as a further indicator of more depth in South America nine nations have had teams reach the final. Cynics may say that it is because of a lower quality of football in South America, something along the lines of "it's easier to be a 6/10 than a 10/10". A sensible person, however, can see beyond those sort of assumptions and understand the argument I am trying to put forward. Another attribute of a great league is a worldwide reputation, whilst reputation is difficult to measure directly the thoroughly researched game Football Manager has a reputation score out of 200 within its database for each competition. The reputations for the top division of all of the nations to have had a team represented in their respective continental club competition as well as the Champions League and Copa Libertadores are as follows...

Continent of competition	Nation	Reputation
Europe	Champions League	200
South America	Copa Libertadores	180
Europe	England	180
Europe	Spain	180
Europe	Germany	175
Europe	Italy	170
Europe	France	155
South America	Brazil	150
Europe	Portugal	145
Europe	Netherlands	134
South America	Argentina	130
South America	Mexico	130
South America	Chile	112
South America	Paraguay	110
South America	Colombia	108
Europe	Serbia	108
South America	Ecuador	105
South America	Uruguay	103
South America	Peru	98

... Initially I was surprised by the reputation of the Copa Libertadores, mainly because it gains little media attention in England, and probably in Europe on the whole. However it is fitting that the two continental competitions have the highest reputation, but beyond that the most highly ranked South American league, the Brazilian league, has only three of the eight European leagues below it. However the Serbian league is a bit of an anomaly, Red Star Belgrade were a Yugoslavian team at the time of winning the European Cup in 1991, however since Yugoslavia has broken up and reformed as many separate countries and Red Star now play in the Serbian league. Most importantly five of the selected European leagues have a reputation larger than that of the largest South American. Also the next two chosen European teams (all of those chosen if you ignore the anomaly of Serbia) lie above the second most reputable South American league, the Argentinean league. The two tables so far give the impression that whilst more open and hotly contested than European football, domestic South American football is less reputable and a possible conclusion of that could be that it is of a lower standard. After them two tables I returned to my first quandary, how do you objectively assess the quality of a football league? The UEFA coefficient does this for all European leagues, sadly that is of no use to me though. One interesting system I did find is one implemented by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. Whilst an organisation I had never heard of prior to researching this piece (and also one who seem to have received a bit of criticism), they have developed the equation in which the total points (determined by wins, losses and draws) of the top five teams are added together in each league and multiplying them by their FIFA coefficients. The top ten leagues according to the IFFHS are as follows...

Continent of league	League	Points
Europe	Spanish La Liga	1283
South America	Brazilian Serie A	1057
Europe	German Bundesliga	1037
Europe	Italian Serie A	1034
Europe	English Premier League	1007
South America	Argentinean Primera Division	919
Europe	French Ligue 1	880
Europe	Dutch Eredivisie	738
South America	Paraguayan Primera Division	713
South America	Chilean Primera Division	712

... The IFFHS rankings reflect better of the South American divisions than the Football Manager reputations do, although that does not mean that either is wrong. It is possible that the leagues are of the quality indicated by the IFFHS table but are just less well know/advertised/televised than their European equivalents resulting in a smaller reputation. None the less South American teams are not to be ignored or laughed at, the English Premier League, often referred to as the best in the world, is not considered as good as the Brazilian league and is only thought to be narrowly better than the Argentinean league by the boffins at the IFFHS. These tables are not definitive thought, and the only way to really tell which club is best is to look at the head to heads between South American and European club teams. The easiest competition to look at is the FIFA Club World Cup. Having been running in its current format for eight seasons the eight winners are...

Continent of team	Team	Times won
Europe	Barcelona	2
South America	Corinthians	1
South America	Internacional	1
Europe	Inter Milan	1
Europe	Manchester United	1
Europe	AC Milan	1
South America	Sau Paulo	1

... Five wins by European teams to three wins by South American teams. Taking into account all of the factors I have used to assess the strength of domestic leagues and teams I feel that the FIFA World Club Cup is about fair in its representation of the two continents. It seems apparent that South American football is more hotly contested than European, this being evident in the number of teams competing for the Copa Libertadores. Despite the excitement caused by sheer unpredictability the teams are, regardless of the fact I wanted to prove otherwise, one step behind the best Europe has to offer.

I have shown that, on the whole, it is more likely for the absolute pinnacle players in world football to be South American than from any other continent. Despite that the international teams perform with far less consistency than those from Europe for one reason or another, having only three teams within the top ten FIFA world rankings. Finally, the club sides and the leagues they compete in are, whilst not maybe quite up to scratch with the elite European leagues, are certainly not to be considered as "Mickey Mouse leagues". It may not be long until staying within South America is a genuine career option for the best players.

By Alex Pointon

Sources include;
Wikipedia
Transfermarkt.co.uk
Official FIFA website
Football Manager 2013 database
International Federation of Football History and Statistics