Teams/Leagues other than EPL

1,686 Views | 22 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by AGC
chjoak
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I've followed the EPL (Arsenal in particular) for 20+ years. Been getting an itch to add another team to follow in another league. Leaning towards Germany as I like the general style of play and my cable package gets a good bit of BPL games. We've had threads before with suggestions on EPL teams to follow for newbies. How about one for other Euro leagues? If you follow anyone outside of England, what league, team and why?
ThunderCougarFalconBird
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I follow Bayern for the simple fact that I've been to some of their matches and the bundesliga is a lot of fun to watch. The quality of play is probably close to on par with the EPL but it seems like there is more parity.

Italian league is getting back to being enjoyable after the fallout from their match fixing scandal a decade ago and Napoli finally having re-emerged from financial restructuring to take its place in the league.
eiggA2002
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I am a LFC supporter, but I couldn't give the same level of attention to a "2nd" team and don't want to. The most I could do is to casually follow another team. I'd label myself as a hard core LFC fan and a football/soccer generalist. aka I follow LFC very closely and feel like I'm pretty up to speed with what's going on in world soccer.

If I did, it'd be BVB (Borussia Dortmund). Also, I love the national teams and those competitions. Mainly Euros & World Cup and that is a good way to follow another team closely, but with little time commitment.
chjoak
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My knowledge/opinions of the German league/teams

Bayern - seems like the team that all non-Bayern fans hate. While they aren't as free spending as some of the top EPL clubs they always seem to get the best players from the Bundesliga on free transfers and relatively low wages. Rumors of numerous under the table deals with players.

Dortmund - exciting offense. tend to play young players

Leverkusen / Wolfsburg / Leipzig - seems to be the teams that Germans (outside of those cities) hate due to the circumstances of their existence (Leverkusen & Wolfsburg became prominent through corporate sponsor/ownership and Leipzig through big money ownership) and lack of history/tradition.

Hoffenheim - young coach playing non-traditional formations

Schalke - success in waves. Typically very good a developing young players.

Koln - currently in the lower division but I love the loyalty of players that come up through their system. Timo Horn & Jonas Hector could have left last season but chose to sign extensions and try to get Koln back to the top flight.
OregonAggie
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eiggA2002 said:

I am a LFC supporter, but I couldn't give the same level of attention to a "2nd" team and don't want to. The most I could do is to casually follow another team. I'd label myself as a hard core LFC fan and a football/soccer generalist. aka I follow LFC very closely and feel like I'm pretty up to speed with what's going on in world soccer.

If I did, it'd be BVB (Borussia Dortmund). Also, I love the national teams and those competitions. Mainly Euros & World Cup and that is a good way to follow another team closely, but with little time commitment.


This describes me pretty well. I'm a die hard Liverpool fan and have been as a kid.

I don't really have a second team but I do enjoy watching German soccer as a whole. The games are exciting and there's plenty of Americans there playing now, so it's easy to grind into FS1 or FS2 and find a good game in Saturday's/Sunday's.
ThunderCougarFalconBird
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chjoak said:

Dortmund - exciting offense. tend to play young players
I will say for Dortmund that they have (deservedly so) a reputation for making stars instead of buying them.

It seems like in a lot of other leagues, there is a very wide gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Spain is a decent example. There's Real, Barcelona, Athletico, and then everyone starts to get cyclical and/or is just window-dressing until the next Classico.
heddleston
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I tried to get into Serie A sincee it's on ESPN+, but i just couldnt. I think its the production, you can never hear the ultras and it just feels like a dead atmosphere.
wangus12
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eiggA2002 said:

I am a LFC supporter, but I couldn't give the same level of attention to a "2nd" team and don't want to. The most I could do is to casually follow another team. I'd label myself as a hard core LFC fan and a football/soccer generalist. aka I follow LFC very closely and feel like I'm pretty up to speed with what's going on in world soccer.
Bingo. Been a die hard Arsenal since I was a kid, but I'll watch/have on 5-6 soccer matches a weekend + midweek games every day.

If its on the tv, I'll at least have the channel on whether its EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS etc. Soccer is soccer and I love to watch it
deadbq03
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I'm an odd one here, but RB Leipzig is the primary club I follow.

I stumbled into a love of soccer during WC 2010, but didn't know what to do with it. I basically just watched international competitions (WC and Euros) only until 2015 when I started dabbling a bit in Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A. Basically whatever I could get with SlingTV.

After awhile I decided I wanted to pick a league/club to follow avidly, and family heritage won out so I went with Bundesliga. In the process of picking a club there, I really wanted to pick an East German club, since my paternal line runs deep with Saxons... but there weren't any East German clubs in B1. And then it just so happened that the very next season, this brand-new corporate backed club in Leipzig got promoted... and they were good and fun to watch. I was sold.

They're definitely the most unpopular club in Germany but I love em... and in a way it's fitting... a new soccer fan became a fan of a brand-new club.

And now they have Tyler Adams
Aggie1199
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I love Liga MX Cruz Azul is my team I have been to a few games in Mexico City!
randy828
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Many years ago I liked following SPFC (Sao Paulo Futbol Clube and Santos). SPFC had Kaka and about the same time Santos had Robinho and Diego. Good times in Brazil. I think it was before BeIn sports...maybe it was Fox Sports that would show South American futbol.


Dre_00
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Fox Sports World I think.

I'm hoping to start following Ajax and see where it goes. They'll never be what they were but they are at least playing good football again and growing some good, young players.
wangus12
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Pretty sure they have a young US international making some waves in the youth system
wichoAggie06
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I follow Schalke 04 and I have been an official member for 1 year now.
I love the ideology of the club and the way it develops the young players.
I get that they don't win a lot but last years 2nd place finish felt like winning the Bundesliga.

And about the winning aspect, I am from Houston so Schalke not winning very often does not make it hard to follow because I have only celebrated 3 major championships in my 33 years of life.
nereus
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I'm rooting for Union Berlin to move into the top division (they are currently 2nd on the 2. Bundesliga table) but I wouldn't say I am really following them. I'm not watching their matches or anything. Just a general good wishing for a team with a neat story. It would also be good to see a second East German team in there, especially since their history and path to the top league would be so opposite to the other East German team already there.
gambochaman
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Nm
chjoak
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Dre_00 said:

Fox Sports World I think.

I'm hoping to start following Ajax and see where it goes. They'll never be what they were but they are at least playing good football again and growing some good, young players.


When I first started watching soccer I had a mild obsession with the Dutch NC and Ajax. Dutch league was damn near the only option for soccer on TV in my town and Ajax was the best at the time. I followed Bergkamp to Arsenal and started my EPL/Arsenal fanship.
chjoak
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nereus said:

I'm rooting for Union Berlin to move into the top division (they are currently 2nd on the 2. Bundesliga table) but I wouldn't say I am really following them. I'm not watching their matches or anything. Just a general good wishing for a team with a neat story. It would also be good to see a second East German team in there, especially since their history and path to the top league would be so opposite to the other East German team already there.


I'm kind of pulling for Koln in the same way. Not sure I want them to be my team to follow though.
chjoak
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Aggie1199 said:

I love Liga MX Cruz Azul is my team I have been to a few games in Mexico City!


Liga MX is a no go. I have bias due to my HATRED of the Mexican NC.
chjoak
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wichoAggie06 said:

I follow Schalke 04 and I have been an official member for 1 year now.
I love the ideology of the club and the way it develops the young players.
I get that they don't win a lot but last years 2nd place finish felt like winning the Bundesliga.

And about the winning aspect, I am from Houston so Schalke not winning very often does not make it hard to follow because I have only celebrated 3 major championships in my 33 years of life.

Right now I think Schalke is one of my contenders for many of the same reasons you cited.
chjoak
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deadbq03 said:

I'm an odd one here, but RB Leipzig is the primary club I follow.

I stumbled into a love of soccer during WC 2010, but didn't know what to do with it. I basically just watched international competitions (WC and Euros) only until 2015 when I started dabbling a bit in Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A. Basically whatever I could get with SlingTV.

After awhile I decided I wanted to pick a league/club to follow avidly, and family heritage won out so I went with Bundesliga. In the process of picking a club there, I really wanted to pick an East German club, since my paternal line runs deep with Saxons... but there weren't any East German clubs in B1. And then it just so happened that the very next season, this brand-new corporate backed club in Leipzig got promoted... and they were good and fun to watch. I was sold.

They're definitely the most unpopular club in Germany but I love em... and in a way it's fitting... a new soccer fan became a fan of a brand-new club.

And now they have Tyler Adams


I actually kind of like Leipzig as well. Like the style of play and frankly don't care about the stuff that pisses off most German fans since I don't have any history with the league myself.
agsalaska
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I am a premier league fan and thats about 90% of what I watch.

But I used to watch more. I watched a lot of Barcelona from maybe 2008-2014. They were awesome. I watch some Bundesliga. Its a great production. I rarely watch any National Team stuff unless its a major tournament. I also pay attention to several lower league teams in England, for no other reason than I find them interesting.
The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you never know if they are genuine. -- Abraham Lincoln.
ThunderCougarFalconBird
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I always like catching a non-league side or a big mismatch in the FA cup. I think Lincoln City and Plymouth both made serious runs last year and it was fun to watch

Also interesting in England (not sure how deep other countries' professional ladders really are) is that guys in the 4th tier still make plenty to be full professionals.
AGC
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blindey said:

chjoak said:

Dortmund - exciting offense. tend to play young players
I will say for Dortmund that they have (deservedly so) a reputation for making stars instead of buying them.

It seems like in a lot of other leagues, there is a very wide gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Spain is a decent example. There's Real, Barcelona, Athletico, and then everyone starts to get cyclical and/or is just window-dressing until the next Classico.


Not entirely true for La Liga. The Great Recession sunk Valencia as they bet on real estate around the stadium, but they used to have a top side (villa, navas, mata, negredo, etc.) and challenged in Europe. Sevilla did as well and are not an entirely poor club either but they've fallen off considerably in form. Atltico has seen a resurgence with simeone in charge over the past sixish years but other than producing El Nio they weren't a great side in the early 2000s. He's succeeded in getting them to CL finals and keeping talent with the money which makes a big difference.

Certainly it's no different than the EPL with the exception being there are no large foreign owned clubs that have succeeded in sucking up players and competing (Malaga is foreign owned and I believe Sevilla now too). Teams in big cities with lots of money always win.

It helps when you find a generational talent to combine with that money and win the CL multiple years. I think RM got like $80MM for the last champions and had Ronaldo for nine years to juice gate receipts and jersey sales. Messi has taken Barca to new heights as well in terms of money. Foreign money has inflated the transfer market and made it worse for smaller clubs. That stupid Neymar buyout altered the landscape. Even after bale no one else went crazy because they knew levy and Tottenham got the better end of the deal because of florentino's obsession. And I think man city owns Girona and are using it as a farm team, so that's working against it as well.
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