Running the numbers

I meant to put this up yesterday until I woke up as sick as a dog. Now semi-conscious, I present NSC pal Chrös McDougall with the kickoff of yet another recurring post theme...

As Everton was knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Belgian "giants" Standard Liège last week, we can all go back to that old question: what is the strongest league?

In recent years, the Premier League has established itself, in some eyes, as easily the best league in the world. There's some warrant to that when the semifinals of the past two Champions Leagues have been 75% English.

Like any good science experiment though, you have to discount the outliers. The true test of a league's top-to-bottom dominance is the next step down, the UEFA Cup. When it comes to that, Spain's La Liga is hands down the top league in the world.

Consider: since 2001, the EPL has had six teams reach the UEFA Cup quarterfinals. Of note, Liverpool won the tournament in 2001 and Middlesbrough was the runner up in 2006.

Now consider: since 2001, La Liga has had 14 teams reach the UEFA Cup quarterfinals, with Sevilla winning the tournament in 2006 and 2007, and Valencia winning in 2004. Also, Espanyol was runner up in 2007, while Deportivo Alaves took that honor on 2001.

It's not only that La Liga has a lot of teams in the final eight; it's the diversity of those teams, too. Of the 14 Spanish clubs to reach the quarterfinals, only Sevilla, Valencia and Villareal have gotten there twice. That is 11 different Spanish teams reaching the UEFA Cup quarterfinals throughout the last eight years.

From the EPL? Four have made six trips - Liverpool, Middlesboro, Newcastle and Tottenham. I should also note that Spurs only had to win one game to reach the quarterfinals in 2007 when Feyenoord had to forfeit in the first knockout round.

Either the English teams aren't trying in the UEFA Cup - which of course is a possibility - or else the Premier League becomes uncannily on par with the rest of Europe once the heavy head is cut off.

For comparisons sake, during that time the Bundesliga has had seven teams reach the quarterfinals, while six from Italy and seven from Holland have done the same (including Feyenoord winning it all in 2002).

While the EPL, Bundesliga and Serie A are about equal, those three leagues also have the most entries into the tournament. If any league outside of La Liga was significantly dominant without its big-time teams, they all should have fared better. In the past eight years, EPL teams made the last eight only six of 64 times.

Is it possibly true that the top teams from Belgium and the second-tier teams from the Holland are as good as the second-tier teams from England, Italy and Germany?

Of course things could be different this year. The EPL has three teams still alive: Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Tottenham... then again, La Liga still has Deportivo la Caruna, Racing Santander, Sevilla and Valencia.

The Roll Call

EPL

2007: Spurs (Quarterfinals)
2006: Boro (Runners Up)
2005: Newcastle (Quarterfinals)
2004: Newcastle (Semifinals)
2003: Liverpool (Quarterfinals)
2001: Liverpool (Champions)

La Liga

2008: Getafe (Quarterfinals)
2007: Sevilla (Champions)
2007: Espanyol (Runners Up)
2007: Osasuna (Semifinals)
2006: Sevilla (Champions)
2005: Villarreal (Quarterfinals)
2004: Valencia (Champions)
2004: Villarreal (Semifinals)
2003: Malaga (Quarterfinals)
2002: Valencia (Quarterfinals)
2001: Deportivo Alaves (Runners Up)
2001: Barcelona (Semifinals)
2001: Rayo Vallecano (Quarterfinals)
2001: Celta Vigo (Quarterfinals)

Bundesliga

2008: Bayern Munich (Semifinals)
2008: Bayer Leverkusen (Quarterfinals)
2007: Werder Bremen (Semifinals)
2007: Bayer Leverkusen (Quarterfinals)
2006: Schalke (Semifinals)
2002: Borussia Dortmund (Runners Up)
2001: FC Kaiserslautern (Semifinals)

Serie A

2008: Fiorentina (Semifinals)
2005: Parma (Semifinals)
2004: Inter (Quarterfinals)
2003: Lazio (Semifinals)
2002: Inter (Semifinals)
2002: Milan (Semifinals)

Holland

2008: PSV (Quarterfinals)
2007: AZ (Quarterfinals)
2005: AZ (Semifinals)
2004: PSV (Quarterfinals)
2002: Feyenoord (Champions)
2002: PSV (Quarterfinals)
2001: PSV (Quarterfinals)

- Chrös McDougall

[Photo: Getty]

Chrös McDougall is a freelance soccer writer who has covered the English Premier League and Major League Soccer for various news outlets. You can reach him at kingchros@gmail.com.