I was going to kick-off the year with a piece about how La Liga was world’s strongest league thus far this year (yes, stronger than the EPL). But, on a further look, I have come to the conclusion that trying to rate one of the big four leagues in Europe (i.e. La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and EPL) as the best League is next to impossible. All it has seemed to do recently is stir-up things and generate some genuine hatred of other leagues that one may otherwise come to enjoy. Each one provides a little more of something that the others don’t with the skill of La Liga, the goal-generating creativity of the Bundesliga, the tactical Nous of Serie A, and the speed, strength, and bravery of the EPL.

How can you compare the leagues legitimately? Compare the players, coaches, and teams between leagues in a qualitative manner? This method is fun, but subjective in nature and thus victim to opinion. It’s hard for people to objectively rate leagues in relation to their favorite. SkySports’ Andy Gray recently said that he’d like to see Barcelona prove it on the road at places like Stoke and Blackburn where climate and being kicked-off the pitch would truly vindicate Barca’s greatness. I guess he didn’t know that Barcelona already accomplished a similar task against Osasuna (where it had snowed) and Bilbao, two teams that are every ounce as tough as Stoke and Blackburn.

Why doesn’t the conversation include the Bundesliga and Serie A more? Borussia Dortmund’s pace this year is on par with Barcelona and Madrid. It is an absolute shame they aren’t in the Champion’s League this year. Also, has everyone forgot that Intermilan is the reigning Champions League winner? I know Jose Mourinho is gone, but respect is due.

What about a quantitative or statistical way of comparing the leagues like UEFA’s coefficients or IFFHS’s rankings of the top leagues in the world. This seems like a good idea. Numbers can be manipulated, but they can also at least serve as a guide. The problem with a strictly numerical method would be that you don’t have enough matches between teams on the bottom halves of tables playing against clubs from other leagues in a meaningful encounter. Data gained from head-to-head games between teams in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League only include teams in the top half of a league. So even if they don’t give a great indication of how strong leagues are from top-to-bottom, they would give an idea at least how the top halves of tables may rate.

What would be great is to have league challenges the way they do US Men’s NCAA Basketball like where all the teams in the ACC and Big Ten play each other for one game based on how they finished the season before. Although such a thing, where all the teams in La Liga and the EPL played each other based on their table position the year before, would give at least give bragging rights for a year. Good luck working this into an already congested fixture list.

If we are to determine the best league in Europe in terms of the strength of its teams from top to bottom, the best way may be to stack-rank them altogether on one table and see what it looks like. Would any league stand out? Please keep in mind with the point totals that the EPL teams have played about three 2-3 more games on average so their point totals are skewed a little higher. So where is the best soccer being played? Please check below, this took some time to anorak.

#. La Liga (Pts) – Bundesliga (Pts) – Serie A (Pts) -  EPL (Pts)

1. Barcelona (46) - Dortmund (43) - AC Milan (36) - Man Utd (41)

2. Real Madrid (44) - Mainz 17 (33) - Napoli (33) - Man City (41)

3. Villarreal (36) - Leverkusen (33) - Lazio (33) - Arsenal (39)

4. Valencia (31) - Hannover (31) - Juventus (31) - Tottenham (36)

5. Espanyol (28) - Bayern (29) - AS Roma (29) - Chelsea (35)

6. Atlético (27) - SC Freiburg (28) - Palermo (27) - Sunderland (30)

7. Getafe (26) - Frankfurt (26) - Inter (23) - Bolton (29)

8. Athletic (25) - Hoffenheim (25) - Sampdoria (23) - Stoke (27)

9. Mallorca (24) - Hamburg SV (24) - Udinese (23) - Liverpool (25)

10. Sevilla (23) - Schalke (22) - Genoa (21) - Newcastle (25)

11. R Sociedad (22) - Nurnberg (22) - Chievo (21) - Blackpool (25)

12. Deportivo (21) - K'lautern (21) - Catania (21) - Blackburn (25)

13. Hercules (19) - Wolfsburg (19) - Cagliari (20) - Everton (22)

14. Racing (19) - Bremen (19) - Bologna (20) - West Brom (22)

15. Osasuna (17) - St Pauli (17) - Fiorentina (19) - Aston Villa (21)

16. Málaga (16) - Cologne (15) - Parma (19) - West Ham (20)

17. Levante (15) - Stuttgart (12) - Cesena (15) - Wigan (20)

18. R Zaragoza (13) - M'gladbach (10) - Brescia (15) - Fulham (19)

19. Almeria (13) - None (0) - Lecce (15) - Birmingham (19)

20. Sporting (12) - None (0) - Bari (11) - Wolves (18)

So what stands out? Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, and Real Madrid are having historic seasons that are statistical outliers. If Villarreal were to win their next two games they’d have more points that Manchester United. It’s hard not to look at the tables and think La Liga isn’t the greatest power at the apex of the tables. But, does that make it the best overall? Being your resident WFD La Liga blogger, I unfortunately have to say no. The way the TV money is distributed in Spain alone assures a somewhat top heavy table. Oddly, in the much more equitable Bundesliga, we see a 10 point gap between #1 Dortmund and #3 Mainz just like #1 Barcelona and #3 Villarreal in La Liga.

Conversely, when looking at Serie A and the EPL we see two leagues with more parity. Should they be stronger overall because of this parity? Not necessarily. Serie A and the EPL play more defensively. That should result in more draws and thus less total points on the table. Serie A has a bit more draws with 45 than the Bundesliga’s 30 and La Liga’s 33. However, the EPL has a staggering 102 draws thus far this year. Parity may be more a result of styles of play than competitive balance.

If we look at the bottom of the tables, we see a lot of bad teams and underperforming teams. What is Stuttgart and Fulham doing down there? Does anything standout in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League spots or even the middle of the table? The more you look at things, not much jumps out.

So which league is the best? I say that you can’t legitimately tell which league is best top-to-bottom. And, I don’t think it really matters. Let’s call a truce to demeaning and dishonoring other leagues and enjoy them all; Ligue 1 and Eredivisie included. Peace I say.