American reacts to Understanding European Soccer in Four Simple Steps: A Guide For Americans
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лис 2022
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to Understanding European Soccer in Four Simple Steps: A Guide For Americans
Source vid: • Understanding European...
Thanks for subscribing for more UK reactions!
How do you pay attention to so many teams? You Don't!! You pay attention to the team you support!
And the 4 or 5 you hate 😆
@@andrewgarner2224 the local derbys. My dad is a Saints supporter, hates Pompey.
@@andrewgarner2224 Really? I only hate 1 or 2 :p
As a football fan u do, I don't watch any games other than my team but I could still tell u who's top in most league in Europe and the top 5 leagues in England
I would say you can pay attention now thanks to apps like onefootball
It’s not just the europeans, football is succesfull worldwide. As a southamerican myself, I can say we are VERY passionate about the sport 😊
No, no, you're wrong. For europeans, especially such as germans, italians, etc, football is successful there and loved by many. It's still a sport, a hobby or a job.
You south americans, you put your everything into football. For you guys, it is an essential part of your life, for some even on the same level as religion or friends.
@@olgahein4384 yes football is religion🇦🇷🇨🇱🇧🇷🇺🇾🇵🇾🇵🇪🇪🇨🇧🇴🇨🇴🇻🇪
@@olgahein4384 what? apart from a couple of the nordic countries, football means everything to most of europe.
Not in Asia.
@@Anton-ki7ch football made in China dude :D
An addition: Just because there is a chance the winner of the league decided before the league ended, doesn't mean the excitement is essentially over. There are many exciting races going on, like battle of relegation, battle for 4th place (in big league, that means UCL spots), battle for European League spot, battle to be the best team among local rivals, etc. Often, the top 4 battle and the relegation battle were much more interesting to watch.
IMagine ESPN or SKIP from undisputed if nba had relegations...
And when the race is tight and the champion is to be decided on the last matchday, the excitement is extreme - need to follow 2 or more games in parallel!!
Wait so there are no playoffs?
It is a sport instead of a TV show
@@jamesgardner6707 if you want play off you can watch Championship
I saw a video recently with some guy stopping random people on the street in England and asking them to identify flags of various countries. Two lads in particularly were really good. The comments were full of Americans saying the average American would NEVER be able to identify those flags and moaning about the American school system. But it's not necessarily in school that British people learn to recognise flags. It's in sport. Because the most popular spectator sports in the UK - football, rugby, cricket and athletics - involve loads of international matches. That's where we learn all the flags (and anthems!) The most popular spectator sports in the USA don't involve playing a string of other nations.
I learned flags and national anthems because of international sportevents
I bet lots of us, even non-soccer fans like me, could identify a team by their jerseys, even if they change each year: Croatia with red/white squares, Argentina's white and blue, Oranje...
@@hypatian9093 I am not interested in sports, but I am confident to acknowledge some flags xD
And because we travel more and British airways Alitalia qatar airways etc all have flag colours on their planes and hotels like to have flags outside
Very true! I would consider myself to have a very good knowledge of flags, country locations and cities. This is mainly down to being a football fan.
The promotion and relegation system in European football is one of the main reasons I fell in love with it. It makes it so much more exciting even for the teams at the bottom. And the second is passion. The insane passion these supporters have for 13s because it’s their small town or a big city that they’ve generationally supported. We just don’t have that in America.
The fight for European cups qualifying spots at the top of the table is also increndibly tense sometimes. It often makes it interesting even towards the very end of the season. It's also a big financial incentive for clubs.
@@MrMerildoll exactly. And we don’t have that in American sports. If your team is shit, then there’s nothing to play for at the end of the season. May be a better draft pick, but that’s it.
@@adamgetzendanner to be honest I knew nothing about the American system and just assumed there was a similar promotion/relegation system. The fact that there is not must make things static and boring. Like, what is the point of a sports competition if there is so little to win or lose?
United States you mean, because in the American Continent we all have relegation, only MLS doesn't have
im jealous. i wish mls will introduce it one day instead of looking out for the rich owners.
What surprises me the most about these videos (UA-cam had already showed me other videos on "American reacting to European Soccer") is how shocked they are about the possibility of a team being relegated to a lower tier. It's something we (I would say the rest of the world, but at least in Europe and South America) find as natural (and logic) as the night coming after the day. Obviously is a matter of habit. I find so much insane the fact that a guy could any given day wake up and say "You know, that team you're fan of, well... I feel like moving it to the opposite corner of the country", and actually do it. That's savage.
Because in America they have franchises not clubs. Whereas all the "franchises" in Europe were originally clubs. In usa they ain't like that same here in nz
I would even say it's the only reason USA is still at a disdvantage at the World Cup. Their players are decent now but lack that little bit of extra fighting spirit and meanness that you can only learn under extreme pressure like relegation and hostile fans. USA identifies that problem and the best players go abroad to learn but they mostly are top players in top teams. Maybe they could learn more if they started in third or second division teams and had to survive week by week.
@@jestersage8700 actually the biggest difference is the formation of their respective sports associations. In American, their sports leagues are essentially governing themselves, so they are naturally very protective of each other, thus no relegation, also has profit sharing system etc. While the rest of the world usually has one independent association governing multiple levels of league and each clubs are running at their own risk.
tldr; American League are running on
a communist system while the rest of the world are capitalist.
@@zellhaufen8583 I think USA's problem in more of a cultural and development towards football. I may be wrong but I think it is a sport where if your good you'll need to pay to be able to play in academies etc. So I think it gatekeeps people pursuing it. compound that with the fact 'soccer' is generally considered a joke sport over there, uptake wasn't great when they could play something more culturally respected in the states. I think FIFA games have helped introduce Americans to the sport more though.
TBF it's happened in England, at least, a time or two -- Wimbledon => MK Dons is the one that comes to mind. Not too sure about other countries. It's certainly a rarity, and it's deeply offensive to me that here in the US, billionaires extort cities to essentially give them stadiums as gifts or else risk losing their team.
The FA Cup in England is a brilliant competition. Non league/amateur clubs have qualifying rounds to get to the main draw. Last night 2 teams played (Bracknell Town v Ipswich Town) the first team is made up of amateurs who have day jobs, the second team is a professional team, once very successful in the top flight of English football but having been relegated numerous times now plays at a lower (but still full-time and professional) level.
The match was played on a small pitch with no terraces so everyone who went had to stand. It was televised too.
This is a massive thing for the amateur clubs. It generates revenue and showcases their players.
Sometimes these amateur teams knock out the professionals and then it all goes bonkers 😂😂
Brilliantly summed up!
I'm an Ipswich fan but wouldn't of been sad if Bracknell beat us we're second in league one so the championship is our priority! 🏴
Also, it's a chance for the amateur players to get noticed. They can get picked up by a big team and go pro if they're good enough. Stuart Pearce was an electrician playing part time and ended up playing for England at the world cup
My wife's family is from York and they're all big supporters of York City FC. It still lives large in local memories of when York then at the bottom of Division 2 beat Man United (0-3) at Old Trafford in the League Cup. And that was 25 years ago!!
@@blotski I can remember York beating Liverpool in the F,A, cup. 🏴
Yes, it is not uncommon for one dominating team to effectively be champion well before the last game. The game schedules are set in advance, every club plays each other club 2 times. Thus it also is possible that the last games are not even with the top teams. However, there is always some element of tension. If the champion is already decided, other positions might still be contested. There is also the factor that teams can be relegated to a lower league if they fail to perform. Which has consequences for the club and its fans.
Der passende Begriff wäre "excitement", nicht "tension". "Tension" hat eine feindliche Note, wie bei "politische Spannungen" zwischen zwei Ländern.
@@hoodyniszwangsjacke3190 Ich würde Tension eher mit Anspannung übersetzen und das passt hier doch ziemlich gut. Immerhin drückt der Originalkommentar ja aus, dass es bis zum letzten Moment auch um negative Folgen wie den Abstieg oder den Verlust einer Champions League Position gehen kann. Excitement wäre ja eher eine positive Spannung oder Freude und das ist hier ja nicht gemeint.
I'm an Evertonian so I know all about the tension. 😟
Yes in England the fans improve as you get relegated as if you watch the championship or league 1 you probably get louder fanbases than the premier league
@Michael Sørensen so it's like a dumb version of Scotland's system?
I remember the year 2000, when the 4th division team of Calais made it all the way to the finals of France's national cup, after defeating major teams on their way. Absolute madness
Ou quand Annecy bat Marseille qui avait battut le psg juste avant 😭
In The Netherlands in 2007,we were 3th on the last day. 3 clubs, equal points. Nr 1(AZ) lost, number two(Ajax) won 0-2, number 3(PSV) won 5-1, and became champion on just +1 goal difference, over 34 games. PSV+50 goals, Ajax +49.Trough those last 90 minutes the championship constantly shifted: red card here, 1 goal there, 2 goals on the other field. After our game Ajax was still playing over-time, but the explosion of joy followed, after that game finished. Especially Ajax and PSV have a history together, of last day decisions, even on goal difference. The best championships, are the unexpected.
Veel geld verloren die dag.
@@rogierb7577 Niemand heeft toen gewonnen.
3th? I can’t even pronounce that 😂😂😂😂😂
@@mrjw6701 threeth
David and Goliath ; In Euro 2016, Iceland came second in their group unbeaten (which included a draw against Portugal and a win over Austria). In the round of 16, they famously beat England 2-1
there was another david and goliath later on. in the final, where portugal defeated the largely superior france. In France!!
@@goncalovilhena2139 In 2004 Greece beat Portugal in the European Championship final at Portugals own soil.
@@andreass4384 exactly the point i was trying to make
Portugal ❤️🇵🇹
I cried when we lost against Greece and then I drank too much Vinho do Porto 😅
@@rob4222 Is it a good wine?
The 2018 Champions League final had 380 million people watching worldwide (funnily enough I watched that while I was in the US, and the 2019 one). The most watched Super Bowl (and I’m a massive football fan, this is just for comparison) had 115 million viewers
Yes and no...
NBC, Telemundo and the streaming service Peacock and attracted an average of 112.3 million total viewers for the 2022 season. But that doesn't include the European viewers, which is estimated in the 30-50M range, so something in the range of 140-160M viewers.
Of course that is still absolutely nothing compared to the UEFA Champions League, or the FIFA World Cup, or even the Euro Cup :)
Also, the most viewed Champions League final, was actually Chelsea - Manchester City, with around 700M!!!!!!
The most recent FIFA World Cup had 3.57 billion people watching it. The compare only the 2016 and 2012 Olympics have had more viewers. I think the only other thing that comes close is Cricket funnily enough.
@@poulhansen3813 I’m gonna have to ask you for the receipts. There is no way 50 million Europeans watched the Super Bowl (which starts at midnight CEST of a Monday and goes for at least 4 hours). I’m sure there was a healthy number who did watch but not 50m, or even 30.
@@AlexRN More likely 50k than 50M. Anyway the absolute number of viewers is absolutely no-sense. It's a statistic usefull only for the share percentage, not for the absolute numbers. Nobody know how many people are watching TV, it's all based on an average estimate on long terms.
For example in 2006 Italian newspaper said that 28M of Italians was watching the World Cup final, for 90% of share. 28M is less than the people that voted at the last elections (the elections with the lowest afflunce of all time: 63.9%). I know a lot of people who didn't vote (people under 18 for example), I don't know anyone who didn''t watch that match. So probably that 28M was actually 50M or so.
Anyway UEFA said that UEFA Euro 2020 was watched by 1.9 billion of people with an overall viewership of live matches of 5.23 billion.
There is NO sport in the WORLD or in any LANGUAGE of the WORLD called "soccer"
I used to know many Canadians who would go to the UK on Ancestor Visas to work. The real attraction was football & the pub culture. Also, people from South America & Europe immigrated to Canada & brought their passion for the sport with them. Now, we love it too.
Soccer is a genius game.
Simple, affordable and exciting!
Also if you learn it deeper, you'll find a lot of details, tactics, individual skills etc.
The really cool thing about the relegation-promotion system is that it trickles all the way down to your local amateur league. For example, the Italian federation FIGC counts more than 12.000 (yeah, thousand) clubs, organised in several tiers, from the national level ( Serie A and B leagues) to scores of local leagues . There is nothing in principle that would prevent your local football club to climb the ladder, season after season, to the top. Some examples would be Chievo (a neighbourhood in Verona) or Sassuolo (a small town). The whole system is connected.
There are even clubs who went bankrupt, had to start over from the bottom, and then ended up top of the top league about a decade later. And that's where the magic lies for the fans: supporting their club both when you win and when you get kicked in the shins all season long. Sadly with the current stress occupying most people in Europe and the USA due to problems in politics and economics, the fanbase of many clubs have been increasingly violent in said support, sometimes even to the club itself for not being good enough. The UK however has dealt with these football hooligans before, as it's always been an issue with a sport as close to many European (and Central- and South American) hearts as football, and currently serves as a model for many countries for dealing with said vandalism after a particularly passionate match
You only have to look at Ryan Reynolds buying Wrexham and bringing them up the leagues. It would be so boring if only the same teams competed every year without the threat of relegation. In fact, in the US, some teams purposely want to finish bottom, so they get the first pick of the drafts - I mean what kind of punishment is that? lol
@@the_tactician9858 Sometimes even less than a decade. Fiorentina went from 4th tier to 1st tier after 2 seasons, Glasgow Rangers after 4 and Strasbourg went from the 5th tier to the 1st tier after 5 seasons.
I love watching some teams literally try EVERYTHING just to get some points to survive in a league. It's often more exciting what goes on at the bottom of the table, compared to the top. I still remember some pretty insane matches that saved some teams.
Just look at Everton at the end of last season, they celebrated survival like they'd won a title, and rightly so.
Three recent Premier League teams have been on the verge of going out of the FOURTH TIER over the last 25 years: Brighton, Bournemouth, and Burnley(until this season).
yes and also relegation is usually decided on the very last game, sometimes in the last seconds and for some reason it is more dramatic than the championship.
I can still remember how 1988 my team that was 18th and last on the very last game and already down 0-2 against 5th and had not won a single away game the whole season. And they scored 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and won 3-2 in away game and left relegation spot by 1 point, even through their goal difference was worst in the whole league.
One of the best matches I ever watched was SV Darmstadt 98 against Armenia Bielefeld, both not exactly Champions League material. A bit of context: In Germany, relegation in the three highest leagues is only set in stone for the bottom two teams who switch with the top two teams from the league below. But the 3rd team from the lower league and the third to last from the higher league actually play against each other two times, and the winner of those two games (with goal difference as a tie breaker) gets to play in the higher league.
The game in question was the second one of those so-called relegation games in the 2013/14 season. Darmstadt (the team I support because it's my hometown) was 3rd in Bundesliga 3, fighting their way up from being totally broke and playing in the regional league just three years before. They lost the first relegation game at home and had to win against Bielefeld in their stadium with at least a two goal lead. Both teams fought tooth and nail and the game went into overtime. Minute 120 came around and Darmstadt was leading 3:2, but they still needed that one goal to actually get to the higher league. The ref put three additional minutes on the clock, and in Minute 122, Darmstadt actually scored with an incredible shot which won them the relegation to Bundesliga 2, which they straight-up marched through to 2nd place the next year, qualifying them for the Bundesliga. They managed to stay there for two seasons and are now a staple team in Bundesliga 2, their moneyless, regional league playing days far behind them. It was an underdog team climbing their way to success, right out of a sports movie. I'm not even that big of a football enthusiast (I only watch occasionally), but that game I was jumping out of my seat, screaming at the TV and probably feared of going bald from pulling my hair so much. It was tense from beginning to perfect end, and I still remember it clearly.
The Champions league isn’t the only one international club competition, there is also Europa league and Europa Conference league, where qualify teams from cup or places from 2nd to 7th (depends on the national coeficient) and it is like the Champions league, but with less money, less prestige, worse teams etc. but it has its own magic theese cups
The thing is with football in England it’s not just a sport. It’s represents the town or city and is a bit like going to war without guns, tanks and bombs. It’s very serious stuff, almost like a religion and makes you feel happy or sad for long periods.
Not only in England....
If you go to southeurope ore balkan the passion is getting much more higher then in england🤷🏻♂️
The English tourist stereotype in my country is they're 40/50 year old fat rich but nice dudes who drink beer for breakfast and watch random football games at their hotel :D
We were all born age 50
It doesn't even always represent just the town. Many cities have multiple clubs: London has at least 3 clubs in the Premier League, Manchester famously has 2 clubs, Liverpool has 2 clubs, etc. Those clubs often represent class structures as they were mostly popular within their local neighbourhoods, which often were on average poorer or richer than other clubs in a city. A match between two clubs of the same city is almost always a derby, a match between two teams considered rivals by each fanbase, and is usually a promise for an exiting match as the 2 clubs are extra poised to make a difference for their fans.
Having the Champions’ League’s playoffs held in two legged matches (once on each other’s home turf) is so exciting. Scores carryover so you can see some really exciting matches when a team starts with a 2-0 disadvantage from the first game and they come out on offense and sometimes you get to see some crazy comebacks. Think of it as a World Series but it’s two games instead of four and scores carry over.
liverpool beating baraclona 4-0 after losing 3-0 in the first game
You don't pay attention to every team just the team that you support and the division that they are in, you also pay attention to the big clubs abroad i.e. Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG, Ajax, Bayern Munchen, AC Milan, Athletico Madrid, Juventus etc. Also it does happen that a dominating team can win the league well before the end of the season but that doesn't everything else gets cancelled as the drama is then about the top 4 teams who will qualify for the Champions League and who is getting relegated as thise bottom teams are usually the vest to watch towards the end of a season as they are fighting for every point to stay up.
Agreed 👍🏼
Oh is that how it works? As an American I see so many people who watch so much and it makes me feel like I have to know like the best players of every club in every league to be taken seriously as a fan, I support Everton and usually only pay attention to Premier League ongoings. I really am enjoying getting into this and I quite honestly I wish I could at least watch more leagues like here in America I don’t think there’s a way to watch Serie A (I’d like to watch a Milan derby).
The relegation in germany works differently. The last two teams have to leave and the best two teams of the second league go up to the first "division". The 3rd last of the first and 3rd from the second have two matches ("the relegation") in which will be decided if the team from the first divison has to go down or the team from the second division has to stay.
But there was a period of time where all 3 last teams had to left the first division. The current mode was reinstated some years ago.
As a European this is interesting to watch.
Because in the reverse I was surprised when learning, that major american sports leagues don't have relegation xD
But hey, its brought to you by Pfizer !
Sport without relegation is nothing!
And the whole u.s sports seems very communist. The teams aren’t born out of a local community, the clubs a moved around by a faceless corporation and if your the worst in the league you get first pick from a draft.
@@totallybored5526 It’s because our teams aren’t as old on the most part and all of are owners buy teams for financial gain. In the NHL for example, the Arizona Coyotes have lost $250,000,000 in the last 10 years so they are getting moved to Utah. No fans show up to Coyotes games and the community doesn’t seem to appreciate the team as much as their other sports. I wish we had pro/rel, at least in the MLS.
The national league is played until the last game, even if the winners are decided already because table positions are also important for European league qualification. The first few teams qualify for European leagues.
Usually the national cup competitions are regarded as far less important than the league, however, they carry some heritage value on their own. Additionally, In England, for example, there are two cup competitions. And often there is a super cup played between the winners of the league and the cup.
Also, there is not only the European Champions League in Europe, but also the Europa League and the new Europa Conference League. Both played by teams who were not successful enough to qualify for Champions League or did not qualify in the Champions League table. Then of course there is a European super cup and the FIFA club world cup.
The same players in the top teams usually also play during the year for their national teams, which is also different to US top team sports.
So, as you can guess, the schedule for players in top teams can be very busy. They can play the national league, national cups, Champions League and for the national team at the same time within a week or two. Although usually national and European competitions are paused during days appointed for national team games. Leagues are played mostly on weekends, but in some countries twice a week, European competitions usually midweek.
Sometimes you know who wins long before, sometimes it’s decided by the last kick of the seasons. What I like about it is that it’s fair. It’s not mere entertainment, but a serious competition to determine who’s the best. If you are the best that season, you should win the trophy. Also, you still get the excitement! First because there are so many things to compete about (Champions League spots, avoiding relegation, beating rivals), and secondly, because we have the various cups and national team games which are playoff-based.
His question was a bit stupid. He asked it when he had the German league example on the screen with Bayern having 25 points more than the second placed team :)
Just gotta say that it is also pretty normal for an european to watch not only his country's league and cup but also other major european leagues. As a portuguese, I follow the english, german and italian leagues, watching some of the biggest games each weekend.
Do you guys in Europe get a lot of leagues on your TV channels? Here in America with ESPN and NBC we really only get the European Competitons, the premier league, the bundesliga, laliga and I think eredivise. I kinda wish we had more so I could watch some big games in countries like Italy, Portugal, Greece etc.
In Germany not the last 3 clubs go into relegation. P16 of the German Bundesliga has to play two games against P3 of the second German Bundesliga. So P16 still has the chance to play Bundesliga next season.
Just discovered your channel my guy, and I'm loving it. You seem entertaining and quite a funny chap, time to binge.
To give an idea of just how big football is in the UK the promotion/relegation issue stretches over nine primary levels. Levels 1 to 5 each consist of a single League, level 6 two leagues, level 7 four leagues, level 8 eight leagues and level 9 sixteen leagues. It's called the pyramid system and actually extends further downward. Beyond level 9 however, it gets a bit hazy with different branches coming up with different numbers of feeder levels, but you can get down as far as level 21. There are over 400 leagues feeding into the pyramid, each with an average of around 20 clubs. Whatever level you are at, finish top of your League and you get the opportunity to move a step up, bottom and it's a step down. Theoretically, a tiny workmen's club playing in a tiny local league at the lowest level could work it's way up to playing the very elite of the professional clubs in around 20 years (in reality, it's not quite that simple are there are off-field requirements to be met as well at certain levels, like minimum ground standard). Ditto, Man Utd could be playing Hesketh Casuals in the same time frame if the opposite was true. Now, I'd cross the pennines to go to that one - come on Hesketh!!!
In France we have :
Ligue 1
Ligue 2
National
National 2
National 3
Then we have Regional where clubs only play other clubs from their region ,then if they manage to promote to National 3 ,they can play now play clubs outside their region (Each region has it's league ,which allow members of the ligue to participate regionally and nationally ,and because Monaco participate in Ligue 1, they also have to be in a Regional League so they are in the Mediterranean one.)
Also some Spanish clubs of the Pyrenees play in the French Regional (for logistical reason) ,which mean it's possible for a Spanish clubs to raise up to Ligue 1 .
And between 1927 and 1929 ,the champion of each Regional would fight for the French cup.
Each Region has atleast 2 League and a maximum of 4 League ,then we have District (Coming from the Department ,2nde level of French subdivision) and they can be up to 18 league for a single District .
So 5 National league ,4 Regional league and 18 District league ,so a maximum of 27 level .
There are 18 Region and 101 Departments
The UK and England are not the same thing. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own leagues, but some Welah clubs enter the English leagues. Scotland has it's own league system with teams like Glasgow Celtic, Glasgow Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs amd Dundee United. The Scottosh league is top quality.
You are picking this up a lot faster than some other reactors.
In German relegation you also have an addition. The 16th of div 1 plays 2 games against the 3rd of div 2 to find out which team will play in div 1 for the next season. The same happens between div 2 and 3 and in lower divs it starts to change. For example the 3rd div has 20 teams in it (there are only 18 in div 1 and 2) and the teams which finish the season on position 16 to 20 will go down into the 4th div (five of them exist, the country is divided into different regions). The 5 winners of the different divisions fight out the 4 spots in the 3rd div. And so on.
Oh yeah we have that in France too .
Last 3 team of a superior league will play against the first 3 team of the inferior league
18th of superior league VS 3rd of inferior league
17th of superior league VS 2nd of inferior league
16th of superior league VS 1st of inferior league
@@plumebrise4801 In Germany it's a bit different 1st and 2nd advance in the first div and only the 3rd plays two play-off games against the 16th. 17h and 18th always go down in the 2nd division.
The one thing they forgot to mention regarding the Champions League is there are more European competitions. So after the top teams in each country and thrown in the Champions League and its qualifiers, the next best get sent to Europes equivalent of the NIT, the Europa League. In England for example, the top 4 go to the UCL, then team 5 and the FA cup winner (if the FA cup winner is top 4, team placed 6 takes the spot) go to the UEL. The Europa league is for the clubs who are good but not at that top elite tier. Then there’s the new 3rd twin tournament called the Europa Conference League. This competition was made for UEFA to make more money, but also for smaller clubs in big countries, and big clubs in small countries to shine. This tournament is usually teams placed 6th or 7th in the big countries and teams 2 3 or 4 in small countries. Another small European event is the UEFA Super Cup, where the winner of the UCL plays the winner of the UEL for a trophy. Another thing that is changing is the format, like the video said 32 teams are organized into 8 groups of 4, this applied to every European competition, but next year the 3 competitions will each have 36 teams and be one giant table where you play 8 random teams. The top 8 in each qualify straight to the Round of 16 and teams placed 9-24 play in a knockout round to determine the next 8 teams in the Round of 16. Hope that helps
i remember being in the 3rd lowest league with my team. we played in the cub and we knocked out the team we played against. that team was not only in the league above us, but was first place in it at that time. it felt good.
Not all leagues in Europe run from august to may of the following year. In some countries, for example Iceland, Sweden and Norway, the leagues run from spring to fall or early winter during the same year. So the season in those leagues recently ended and a new season will start next year but the winter leagues are in the first half of their season.
But isn't that a climatic decision? I imagine it's pretty much "impossible" (at least unhealthy) to play a football game in Bergen in the middle of December
True, but no Americans gonna pay attention to those. I mean win America we get 4 domestic leagues in Europe on TV, the Premier League (and funny enough the Championship), the Bundesliga, LaLiga, and the Eredivise. Oh and of course the UCL, UEL and UECL
I have seen many Americans react to this video and you are the first to actually understand it without much issues.
Great video man :D !
There is also the America Libertadores Cup, where the winners from the American countries compete in a similar fashion, it's less exciting though, because it is usually won by Chile, Brazil, Argentina, or Uruguay. The winner of Libertadores then plays the winner of UEFA Champions League. It used to be in Japan, not sure where it is now.
Now there is a tournament every year with the champions of both South America and Europe, but are added champions of Africa, Asia, Central and North America, and Oceania similar tournaments. One for each confederation of football in the world. The places change every year. There is a plan to expand this tournament to be similar to World Cup, but to be played by clubs.
There is NO sport in the WORLD or in any LANGUAGE of the WORLD called "soccer"
There are some minor difference between the countries. For example, in Sweden we do not play August-May but April--November since, well, we up here in the north have winters. Real winters, with snow and well below freezing in most parts. The other Nordic/Scandinavian countries might do the same but I'm not sure.
Used to be like that in Denmark too. Now we play like the other European contries. Danish winters are not what they used to be when I was a kid. Climate change, they call it.
Denmark doesn't, but our winters are more wet than anything else.
There's a winter break from around end November to February in Denmark though.
Brazil also plays (roughly) April through November, because here in the South we have summers. Real summers, the scorching sun making you feverish and dizzy while the warm beaches beckon you. But hey, football is football everywhere ;)
*ONE important thing to add about that summer break...*
That "healthy break" is actually an exciting time for soccer fans, because it's the TRANSFER WINDOW!!! It's one of two times during the year when teams are allowed to transfer players to or from other teams. (The other is in the winter, at around the halfway point of the season, when most leagues take a Christmas vacation.) Unlike in American sports, where player trades are common, in European soccer it's much more common for teams to sell or buy players in exchange for money (though trades for other players can happen.)
For a fan of a European soccer team, it can be an exciting time for finding out which stars your team can manage to acquire for the next season (or at least half-season). For an American fan like me, who has no geographic loyalty to any one place in Europe and just roots for the US internationals and their teams, it can be fun to find out which teams I'll be rooting for in the next season! (Hardcore fans may judge my lack of loyalty here, but I'd say that my experience more closely mirrors the experience of the transferred players in this way.)
League titles are more prestigious than winning the cup
Maybe not the champions league cup they’re on par surely
@@definitelynotatroll246 im referring to the League and cup within a single country. technically the Champions LEAGUE is as its named, but thats neither here nor there in the context of what im saying
Although, the national leagues in the Nordic countries are from late March/April to October/early November due to colder winters. For example, the northern half of Finland will get snow this week. But, international games are played during the "off-season" in the winter months so many Nordic teams aren't at their peak performance like teams playing and training regularly. But, we Finns have played football in all weather in our youth on school grounds using a non-white ball. In the 1980s the ball for snow was bright red. ;)
Yes. In the UK the winter ball used to be bright orange against the snow - when the UK had snow almost every year, before global warming.
@@Derry_Aire 5 mm of snow is not a snow, but it's enough to stop traffic in entire London 😀
Some of them, not Denmark.
Calling attackers or attacking players, offenders, really made my day lol
Adding some stuff over the video:
1- even if you know the winner a few weeks in advance, the other teams still fight for Champions league spots or relegation so it never gets boring
2- champions league isn’t the only tournament, there are also Europa and Conference leagues where the team who didn’t quite make it in champions league fight against each other
3- the winner of every regional cup is given a guaranteed spot in Europa league qualifications, unless they already earned one in champions league
4- to have an idea of how many teams go to the european competitions, the bigger countries like spain England Germany and Italy get 4 spots in champions, 2 in Europa and 1 in conference, while the smallest ones usually get one in champions and three in conference. Usually in conference league qualification the number of teams can get around 150 fighting for just 22 spots
In England normally around Christmas time you can guess which teams will end up around top of the table, unless they start having really bad results for the rest of the season.
Check out Hereford v Newcastle in the fa cup many years ago, it was a real David and Goliath pairing and featured possibly the most famous fa cup goal ever. The scorer sadly died this week. RIP Ronnie Radford.
How he died?
Normally you only value your own team in football, although there are also friendships between teams within your country and also friendships between teams in different European countries that support each other. My club is VfL Bochum 1848 e.V. and I have been supporting the club for over 35 years. We take the whole football story very, very seriously here in Germany and everywhere else in Europe. Greetings and lots of love from Bochum/Germany ..... keep up the great work. Stay safe and stay football. Nur der VfL !!!! 💙🤍
S1 derby, S1 derby
hey, hey
S1 derby, S1 derby
hey, hey
Also, there is a cup played by the european nations every 4 years (Euro cup) and a smaller version of the Champions League named Europa League (mostly teams finishing 8th-to 3rd place in the national league and teams placed on the 3rd position in the Champions League group phase). Another fact is that every nation has several cup competition held each year, enough to satisfy plenty of fans ($$$).
Yes, the league champions could be decided before the last game because some team is so many points ahead. It does happen, but not so much that it is decided waaay ahead of the end. Sometimes, however, it comes down to the last game, and the two or more teams that could still be champions depending on the results of the last game may not even be playing each other. In such cases those games are scheduled simultaneously, so that no team has the advantage of going into their last game already knowing how the others played and being able to adjust the strategy accordingly.
Cup games are exciting, especially when a lower tier team beats a higher tier one. Generally, though, that happens because the top level teams see the cup as the tournament where they line up those players who are usually substitutes in the league. For those players it is a chance to gain match practice, but also to show the coach through a good performance that he should be letting them play more. Remember that substitutions are very limited in professional football (you can substitute 5 players of your 11 player team once, and that's it, and that is quite a new rule, until recently it was only 3 per game), so you are largely stuck with your starting lineup, and if you lined up the unusuals and they are not performing, then you might actually get kicked out of the cup by a nominally lower team, but that is fighting with more spirit with their top players against your substitutes.
Teams do not "compete just to qualify" for the UEFA champions league. You compete in your national league of your country, and the top teams in this years national league qualify for next years champions league ... meaning that they will have three simultaneous championships they will be playing in: their league, their cup, and the champions league. Teams that don't have the roster for that suffer a lot under that strain.
The UEFA Champions League final game is the equivalent of your Super Bowl.
The off-season in May / June / July is not really always an off-season, as very often there are national team championships during that period, like the FIFA world cup (this year is an exception as that will be played in November/December for the first time, but usually it is played in June/July), or the Eurocup, or the Copa America, etc. In those competitions national teams are put together, consisting of the best team from players of that nationality (as selected by the coach) - each countrys "Dream Team" so to speak - who will play to determine which country is the continental champion, or world champion, depending on the tournament.
The biggest game/sport in the Planet "Football" ❤️
You don’t have to pay attention to all the teams in all the leagues. Pick a team and start off by paying attention to that team and league then the more you understand the sport, the more you can start paying attention to other leagues.
Also during off-seasons the national teams are playing big tournaments, be it world cup or their respective continental cup like euro cup or copa america, while in the rest of the year they play a few games to qualify or just friendly matches during some breaks in the schedule
To clarify some things
Yes you can know the champion before the season is over but doesnt mean that theres nothing to play for
Some leagues like the italian the premier league and the portuguese league it can go down the the last game but for example in the premier league the top 4 go to the champions league so teams are still fighting for the top 4 spot5/6 go to the europa league 2nd tier of the champions league so theres also that the bottom teams are in the relagation scrap to stay in the league, so you always have a lot to play for other even if i dont win the league which makes every game count
The promotion and relegation system not only makes the season more exciting and every team may have a reason to perform well until the end. The system also means that, at least in theory, the largest clubs in the world are in competition with small hobby and village clubs. It always takes at least a year to get promoted or relegated, but theoretically an amateur team could gradually move up from the lowest league. In practice, however, this is unrealistic because these small clubs simply do not have the money to do so. Although there were definitely small clubs where an investor threw money in to get it up. These clubs are very disliked by the fans but it is possible
One thing he didn’t mention is you’ll see the same teams winning there countries league over and over, it’s not really a fair system the big teams have all the money and just buy the best players from the smaller teams, the smaller teams usually need the cash. The setup in the nba for example is way cooler how the worst teams get the first picks of the best players. As soon as a new star comes along he’s usually snapped up by one of the big teams straight away
That’s not true for all countries
While i dont disagree 100% it depends on how you see fainess. The football league system is dedigned so all teams has a chance to be in the league. You can say in its basic form the league system is quite socialistic because it includes all teams and not just 30 in a closed circuit.
@@adrianpallis4568 true, the league setup isn’t that bad I meant more how the big clubs monopolise everyone else isn’t really fair
@@adrianpallis4568 It’s more about the fact the financial regulations really help the bigger clubs because the spending is a % of revenue as opposed to a league wide cap set at a hard value. In America, each league sets a yearly limit teams are allowed to spend on team salaries so usually at some point in time every team will have a window to win a title, whereas in England most teams will probably never sniff a prem title, another Leicester is probably not happening
Yes, the league championship can be decided way before the end of the league BUT:
Besides the already mentioned relegation It is also important who comes in 2nd, 3rd and so on, because that is already part of the qualification of next seasons international competitions like the champions league and the Euro league (which is a kind of 2nd division to the champions league).
For instance: in the German Bundesliga the first 3 teams qualify for next seasons champions league, the 4th team has a chance to qualify thru a series of qualification games. No. 5 and 6 qualify for Euro league directly and No. 7 is again gets the chance to qualify thru additional games.
And at the bottom there are usually more than 3 teams in danger of being kicked out. One or two may already be decided before the last game day but it's rare that all of them are.
So the race is not just for the top spot. It's for the top 7 and away from the bottom 3. Which means in a 18 team league there are still a lot of important matches going on right to the end.
And it leads to the craziest situations like when a team fighting against relegation plays a team fighting for champions league qualification and they win.
The league is usually a tight race between at least two team sometimes more, occasionally you’ll have a team runaway with it and you will know well in advance who is going to win the league. A lot of times it will go down to the last 2 or 3 games before the end of the season before you know who will the league and occasionally if your lucky it will go down to the last game of the season to decide who wins the league.
Football was born in England so even though I love American football, I'd never call it soccer. The World Cup is about football. I do like your videos and all the respect you show to the British culture particularly. The football cup in Europe is a great tournament. The best of the best play there. (I'm form Mexico) I prefer to watch the Premier League, The Spanish League, etc. Great video!
Funny enough, the term "soccer" also comes from England. It was a nickname for association football.
Greetings to Mexico from Germany. I like your national team in the World Cup. Pure football, no drama (at least from what German media reports).
@@MrOpacor yeah but than association volleyball would also be called soccer, association baseball soccer etc. the name didn’t quite make sense (and probably not American’s fault either… solely). I wish they had different naming but well they didn’t. I’ll just stick to American football when referring to the one that barely kicks a ball at all. Both great sports just terrible job from whoever came up with “soccer”
@@SuperLol it was supposed to distinguish association football from rugby football but became pointless when people just started saying rugby
Football is the correct name for people who use their feet to play a sport. FOOTBALL not Soccer.
USA "Football" should be renamed as Handball because 95% of the game is played with their hands.
Entitled North Americans!
@@melis6294 but then the argument would go over to handball fans who would complain about the name. Handegg is its actual name
The UEFA has also introduced the UEFA Europe League and the Europe Conference League (qualification rules are really complicated, look up at wikipedia 😁).
There's been a cup and later league for the none champions for ages though, and earlier the Cup Winners Cup.
Actually I wouldn't mind if the Cup Winners Cup was still there as a pure knock out tournament :)
Offside: When the ball is played forward towards a player on the offensive half there always have to be at least 2 defenders (usually 1 of them is the goalkeeper) in front of the receiving player at the moment the ball is played.
Easiest way to explain honestly.
great video, love ur beatles shirt hahahah
You should watch the Disney+ documentary about Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney buying Wrexham AFC, a Welsh team which plays in the fifth tier of the English football league system, it's the perfect show to watch to get a more in-depth insight into UK football.
I loved it. I now find myself checking the Wrexham score on the weekend 🤣 hope they go up 🤞🏻
@@mdx7460 lol same with me. Suddenly I'm a wrexham fan :D
I was actually born in Wrexham, and remember their great days in the 70s and 80s….
@@arwelp I was born near Colwyn Bay in the village where Mickey Thomas grew up and went to college in Wrexham for 2 years so have fond memories too, amazing to think they used to be the best team in Wales, and maybe again, who knows!!!
Yes, you should definitely watch Welcome to Wrexham. It has a great insight of how football is managed,played, and just generally how much our club means to us as fans.
Being a french woman, I finally understand soccer's competition with this vidéo in English! 😉😁
In a 20 team league, finishing 17th can feel the same as winning the title, especially if it came down to the wire. Another great thing, all 10 games on the final week of the season are played simultaneously to avoid any shenanigans.
Some extensions:
In the league there are not 3 teams relegated, there are 2 teams and the third is playing against the third of the second division.
In each country there are spots for championsleague, european league, and conference league: for example in Germany first 4 go into Championsleague, 5th goes into European league and 6th into Conference League. You also get a spot in European League if you win the country internal cup. So overall there are 7 teams going into 3 diffrent cups in Europe.
Não é só europeus que amam futebol é o mundo
There was a few things missed out.
In England there are 2 Cup competitions, the fa Cup and the league Cup. He said these were midweek games but they are mostly played at the weekend.
There are playoffs, when 3 teams get relegated the 2 top teams get promoted then the next 4 go into a playoff for the last spot.
It might sound like a long break between seasons but that's when international Cup competitions are usually played the world Cup and Euros are every 4 years, although the world Cup is starting on the 20th November due to bribes giving it to quatar.
gotta listen better, he used Germany an example.... some other countries have a might have different setups.
Well, most countries only have one cup, so as a quick explanation of European football the video is pretty good. Otherwise you would also have to mention every other thing that certain countries do differently. And there are some bigger differences than just a second cup and more midweek matches.
Btw. when there are midweek matches, we call it "Englische Woche" in German, which means english week.
Yeah, it's the European games that are usually played midweek.
He didn't miss that at all. He specifically took Germany as an example where there's only 1 cup. And so it is in every other country. In fact, England's the only country that has 2. Not worth changing a very concise and brief video meant to inform people who know nothing about the sport.
@@V0r4xiz Well Germany still has 3 trophies up for grabs each year despite them stopping the League cup competition. You have the League, the Pokal and the supercup.
1:52 correct, it’s referred to as “clinching the title” like how we say in the nfl we “clinched our division” or “clinched a bye” since they were like 12-1 and there’s only a few games left
In here a club is already about 10 points above the second place club, and so far in history we haven't seen a club make a comeback from such a difference, so yeah, we can pretty much already know who wins with like a dozen of games left, but it's very very rare. The most common thing is to celebrate a win before the final game because the second place club lost their final game, thus losing the ability to dethrone the first place club even if they lose the game. This also means that sometimes you lose the final game but are still the champion.
Using the fact someone just liked this to update it: They are now like 1 point above the second club :')
It's important to add that below the second division there is the third, the fourth, the fith and so on (here in Italy there are 9 divisions and starting from the third the division are regional so we are talking about thousands of teams) with the relegation/promotion system. Technically a team from a small village playing in the 9th division could make it to the first division. In the last years we had a team from Chievo that is a small village of 4.500 people playing in the first division. The biggest difference between usa and european sport is that in usa thay are fan of a franchise, in europe we are fan of our local team, regardless the division.
"That's a lot of games"
::laughs in Major League Baseball::
The NFL has surprisingly few games though
@@harrylexx - It's far too physically demanding for any team to play more than once per week.
Step 1. Its football and NOT "Soccer".
Actually the most important game as far as revenue is concerned is the EFL Championship playoff final. In the English league system the 2nd level, called the Championship, has the top 2 teams automatically promoted but the 3rd through 6th team play a tournament leading to 2 teams playing one game at Wembley Stadium for the last promotion spot. This game has created some of the most legendary moments in the sport. Earning that promotion to the Premier League is so important
It’s the most financially lucrative single game in sports too. With the winner getting something along the lines off £100 million.
And my own personal (and my cities) legendary moment is when Dean Windass scored the winning goal to get Hull city promoted to the top league for the first time in their 104 year (at the time) history. And what makes it even better is that bothferry park was on Boothferry road/north road, and on North Road is where Dean Windass lived and went to school, and he had to go past the stadium every day for school and could see it from his bedroom window.
About relegation system. Sometimes a team coming from second division is so good that it may win the championship in their first year. It happens sometimes and its great. Also there is the Notingham Forest example that won the English Premier League in their first year and they also won 2 times in a row the Champions league (with other format and name) back in 1980's. Or a small club named A.E. Larissa in my country Greece that shocked us all by winning the title against all odds in 1988. And faced relegation only two seasons after. Footbal can give you such a great moments and thats the reason that people worship it (literally). Nice video man!
Offside is easy to understand, it exists in Ice Hockey/NHL as well. In the NHL, there is a clear line for offside. In Soccer, the line is dynamic to where the last field defender is.
There are many cases where the league champion is known in advance many weeks ago. Usually the champ performs the cup ceremony at the last game and not after the season ended
Relegation in Germany is the 3rd last of Bundesliga vs. the 3rd best of 2. Bundesliga twice. One at home one one the road. The rest is the same as mentioned.
you can’t know who’s going to get the championship until the very end or maybe three or four games prior to that. sometimes it happens when there’s one team that beats everybody and dominates the season. last year the winner of the premiere league in the UK MAN CITY wasn’t determined until the last second of the last game.
Yes you can know who won the league early, example, Liverpool were champions in late February - early March. That was a rare occurrence that year, the last 5 seasons between Liverpool and city excluding the March win, it’s been between 1 and 3 points difference at the end of the season.
For England there is 4 different formats we play in, well no 3 formats 4 tournaments, league, fa cup, league cup, European football.
Busted out laughing when you called forwards/strikers "offenders" while explaining offsides 😂
@1:40 yes, a runaway champion can be crowned champion already around March /April if the difference is big enough, although luckily that doesn't happen often especially in the big leagues...
Yes, you can know who is going to win the league or who is already the champions some time before the last game. That usually happens when theres a huge difference (in terms of how good a team is) between one team and the rest or the teams. For example, Ligue 1 in France. PSG its just way above the rest of the teams so they win the league almost every single year. The same thing happens in Germany, in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munchen winning every single year but its just not as unfair as in France. Those kind of teams usually win the league 4-5 games before the league is over. And of course theres other leagues where the title is not decided until the very last game, which makes the league way more exciting.
The teams from the top league in England enter into the FA Cup in the Third Round (there are earlier rounds to cut down the number of possible opponents for them). This is always played on the first weekend after the New Year in January (there are always league games on New Year's Day, but the weekend after that is the FA Cup Third Round). That weekend is like the first round of March Madness; 64 teams, 32 games. Except it's a random draw, no seedings at all, so there are always a mix of attempted giant-killings with matches involving two top teams and matches involving two lower teams with one guaranteed to reach the Fourth Round.
It's not the best possible football. But it's the most fun possible football. Small-town amateur or semi-pro teams playing on their tiny home ground against the biggest teams in the country and some of the most famous players in the world. It's also a pure knock-out tournament on a single game - which ground the game is played on is also a random draw until the semi-finals, so if you get unlucky you can play every cup game away from home, four on your opponents' grounds and then the last two on neutral grounds for the semi-final and final.
If you can find a TV network that can switch between the 32 games depending on what interesting things are happening (like the equivalent of the Red Zone channel for the NFL or something), then watch it; you'll have more fun watching that than any other introduction to European soccer.
In most european leagues, there’s also a Super Cup, where plays winners of league and cup against each other.
One team can enter four or five competition in a single season.
- the league
- the cups (can be one or two cups in a season)
- if they're eligible, also the UCL (champions league) for top 4 teams; or the Europa league.
So the scheduling can be very tricky. For the cups, tho, big teams usually play their academy players or the reserves - hence can be defeated by smaller teams.
But that way, they can rest their important players, focus on the league, and at the same time give game time to other players.
Apart from the Champions League there are two other European club competitions, the Europa League and the Conference League, for clubs that end lower on the league tables of their respective countries.
Offside is meant to forbidd players to camp on the offensive side waiting for a hail marry to make it simple for u, and it's usually tight between the first 2 or 3 teams at the near ending of the season.
Note that the best players from the best teams are playing 4 different tournaments per year, mostly at the same time: The championship, the cup, Champions League (or other European league) and international with their national team to qualify for international tournaments that are usually played off season. The not-so-good players/teams are usually defeated quickly in the cup, don't play in the European Leagues, and these players are usually not selected for their national teams. They basically only have the championship to play. It's a huge difference.
In the 1991-1992 season of Bundesliga there were 3 teams that each had 50 points before the final matchday (Dortmund, Frankfurt and Stuttgart). In only was decided six minutes before the end of the matches when Guido Buchwald scored for 2:1 for Stuttgart
Sometimes in national championship, we see team from divison 4 or less hit quarter final or more, this is really cool to see underdogs beat pros smtimes :)
Offside is when there are less than two opposing players between you and the goal line, when the ball is passed.
Most teams gaining promotion to the top league of the country often fail to stay there more than one season, this is mainly due to revenue of the other teams of the league they join being higher over often may seasons, hence they are able to get better players and afford to pay their salaries the better players demand.
True. In Germany my city was such a case, SC Freiburg. They were dominating their league for quite some time, then they stepped up and everyone had high expectations. And were disappointed. For many years Freiburg was in and out of the top league and finally managed to stay there in the lowest position possible. But once they established themselves there, they started to slowly but steadily climb up the ranks and without anyone really noticing they became one of the top clubs in Germany, without being, well let's call it 'financially backed up' by questionable means, like certain other clubs.
The cup games are amazing, my village team played munich once xD
We do have playoffs in England, but not quite in the same way. I’ll use the division below the Premier League as an example, the Football League Championship. The top two teams at the end of the season are automatically promoted to the Premier League. The teams that finish 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th go into the playoffs at the end of the season. 3rd play 6th home and away, 4th play 5th home and away. The winners on aggregate go through to the final (so say the 3rd placed team draws the first game 2-2 and wins the second game 1-0 then they will win 3-2 overall). The final takes place at Wembley Stadium, and is a one off game. The winner gets the third and final promotion place and Premier League football the following season. The other two professional leagues below The Championship, as well as some of the non-league divisions, also have this system.
You are right, you can predict who will become champion this season if 2nd place has more points comparing 1st place than games left (cause 1 game = at most 3 points).
But.. this is even more trickier, if some team won both matches against all or most best teams so very likely it will finish on the 1st place at the end. This happens because it is easier to win against weaker teams (in most cases).
yo ryan most leagues have a title race. although there are some, sometimes in the major leagues where a team will win the league a few matches before the last game of the season
Most importantly, when we crown a 'world champion', we actually compete against the entire world. We don't deluded ourselves by referring to national champions as 'world champions'... nor do we create games only we play and call ourselves world champions when the rest of the world doesn't compete.
Many fans may be die hard fans of one team, but will also support other teams. They may support (and play in) a local lower league club as well as supporting a team in their countrys top tier and also a team in one of Europes strongest leagues - and buy a jersey from each. That also means you will be paying attention to several leagues + most likely also your countrys national team playing qualifiers for the european and world cup.
You point out the excitement of soccer or football. Even, if one team is ahead, they are nuances, like the team, which was almost last, but was able to defeat or par with the champions. You also have league transitions, this means, if you end up on the last 2 or 3 ranks you get downvoted to the second league, and the first 2 or 3 from the second league get promoted to the first one. It's a complex system, with teams diving in and out, some performing suddenly better, and of course there is the champions league with the champions of those european leagues competing against each other.
yes, you can definitely know fairly in advance, depending on how close the top teams are
Some leagues in Europe have plays-offs though. In Belgium the first 4 team play a “champions play off”, and points are divided in half before they start
It depends how competitive the league is but it is often the case that the winner is known a few games before the end of the season