Understanding European Soccer in Four Simple Steps | A Guide For Americans Reaction

[@bxkid7]

Class is in session for me today. Learning!!!

[@kevinmaltby]

Now you understand a bit about the way the leagues are made up, try watching this video which explains the rules of the game a bit more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5iYZ2mEYsp3jdE

[@andrewwatkins4852]

In the MLS our season starts from February to October and in the event of a tie we go into extra time and then penalty shootout to decide the winner. There was promotion and relegation back in the first season now just buy a franchise fee which is crazy expensive so teams have moved to a different town or go bankrupt. The MLS has a postseason tournament which puts the east coast and west coast conference to see who regains as the best team in the league and at the end of the season awards the MLS cup trophy and then concacaf champions league there are ways to qualify for this tournament the Canadian Cup Caribbean Cup Lamar hunt us open cup and the Central American Cup and the opening and closing cup of la liga mex and the last club standing gets to go to the fifa club World Cup

[@railcity]

Late to the game. Nevertheless here some bulletpoints to answer your questions: - How many levels? In England 20 levels (more than 7'000 teams). In San Marino 1 level (16 teams). It all depends on the size of the country / total number of teams. - The european competition actually has 3 levels with a total of more than 300 teams competing: the UEFA Champions League mentioned in the video is the top one of these 3 levels - The european competitions run from July to End of May with the main part starting in September. The national championships and cup competitions also rund from July / August 'til End of May. June is in Europe basically the only month without club competition football (in the US it's different). - Every 4 years the best national teams of the world meet to compete in the World Cup. These teams are formed based on the country of origin of the players - like in the Olympics. Also every four years alternating to that national teams compete for continental honours (Euro, Copa America, African Cup etc.) - The national teams play usually about 10 games per year on dedicated dates. These can be competition games to qualify for the next World Cup / Euros, or sometimes just Friendlies. The World Cup / Euro / Copa America itself takes usually place in one country and lasts one month. - Of course, not to forget the Women's and Youth compeitions on national, regional and international level which are organised in a similar way as the Men's competitions - just somewhat smaller

[@lauz-im3ov]

Now that you understand the jeopardy of relegation and promotion and the league structure, it'd be great to watch the story of Leicester City winning the Premier League against 5000/1 odds. It's one of sport's great fairytales.

[@mortivoe]

i dont understand why isnt a movie about it not documnetary a real movie best material ever the real life underdog story

[@Isleofskye]

You are right and I can not imagine any competitor having greater odds so I would say the greatest fairytale of all, my friend :)

[@MrTwister242]

In Belgium, we currently have a newly promoted side top of the league, with a team that cost around 1m euro. Still quite exceptional, in cups it happens more frequently because the low amount of games involved and how close a football game can be, but winning a league requires consistent performance over a longer period of time.

[@xeon2509]

@@MrTwister242 Union St.Gilloise ??

[@MrTwister242]

@@xeon2509 Yes, of course. ;-)

[@stuartjones4543]

Relegation is the bedrock of all football. You can’t have a closed shop

[@b5Bart]

Remember coming to the states at 12 years old and finding out their sport leagues dont do promotion/relegation has baffled me to this day 16 years later 😂

[@lewi8932]

4th division isn't the lowest division as such. Sometimes it's the lowest 'professional' or 'semi-pro' division, but there are tiers all the way down to the average person's level.

[@Aliquis.frigus]

One of the great features of football. Anyone can play, and you will even be playing in the same system as the stars, with a theoretical possibility of being promoted all the way to the top.

[@MrJorge3010]

I think for England there are up to 24 levels in the football pyramid (depends on the region)

[@L1am21]

They dont just let any clubs get promoted you have to have the right flood lights and big enough ground etc

[@PrimarchRoboleonFrenchyman]

Btw, the average salary of 4th division player in England is around £73000 per year (+ primes, ads,...), that's pretty good

[@Harry-rr9tk]

One of my favourite things about football is the FA Cup, despite the fact that its popularity and value among big clubs has been in decline in the last few years. I love seeing semi professional teams in stadiums only big enough for a few hundred people with staff who are mostly volunteers, with fans watching from their windows, going up against the biggest and best Premier League teams and sometimes even beating them. Also if you count semi-professional and amateur sunday leagues then there are over hundreds of them.

[@kian72olner]

My main “issue” with his video is the no play offs. He’s right that there are no play offs (American style play offs) in the top leagues. But in the lower leagues there are play offs. The play offs in lower divisions are the fight for the final promotion spot. So take England’s second tier, the championship, 1st and 2nd are automatically promoted. Then 3rd play 6th and 4th play 5th twice (scores combined to find an overall winner). The overall winners of both those fixtures go to the final and have one game to determine who gets that final promotion spot. Key fact is the amount of promoted teams is based off how many teams get relegated from the league above. So 3 are relegated from the premier league, 3 are promoted into the league from the championship (2 automatic 1 play off). 3 are relegated from the championship, 3 are promoted into the league from League 1 (2 automatic 1 play off). 4 are relegated out of league 1, 4 are promoted into the league from League 2 (3 automatic 1 play off). 2 are relegated out of league 2, 2 are promoted into the league from the National League (1 automatic 1 play off). And when you go below the national league it is very confusing to understand because they are all regional leagues. But unless you get really invested in the sport you won’t focus on anything below the premier league.

[@MrTwister242]

To keep it simple, I do understand they have to generalize a bit. There are also differences between countries, e.g. Belgium has playoffs in the top division.

[@drigerdranzer7514]

Yeah. And in Sweden only the 2 best and worst are automatically promoted and relegated. The third worst in the top league, Allsvenskan play the third best in the second league, Superettan twice to decide about promotion or regulation. And our season goes from April to November.

[@C1872-e3n]

This is a good introductory video, where it could have added information is by saying that the UEFA Champions League is only 1 of the (now) 3 european cup tournaments open to all teams across europe. The second tournament is called the UEFA Europa league and is made up of not the best teams around europe but the good teams that couldnt quite qualify for the champions league. The newest tournament to be added is the Europa Conference League which is for teams another level below the top 2 competitions. When he said that games last 90 mins (2 x 45 mins) and then the winner is awarded 3 pts and 1 for a draw etc, thats only the case in league matches or in group stage matches of cup tournaments. In knockout rounds one team has to win by the end of the tie and so if its still a draw after 90 mins, they'll play 30 mins of extra time and if its still a draw after that then they go to a penalty shootout to decide the winner. I think that's enough for now 😅. Wait until you get into the UEFA Coefficient points and your head will likely explode 😆

[@bxkid7]

this is valuable information for me thank you! digesting it slowly hahah

[@C1872-e3n]

@@bxkid7 Don't worry good sir you'll get there with it eventually, we all had to digest it all at some stage. If you're getting into football though you may wish to return to looking at Glasgow which has one of the biggest and most intense football rivalries in the world called the 'Old Firm' derby between Rangers and Celtic 👍

[@alistairwalker7947]

lowest division is not the 4th division (or tier) In England there are 13 tiers, 140 divisions and about 5,000 teams The top five tiers all have a single national division, Tier one is Premier League, Tier two is Championship etc etc below the 5th tier they are regional, so for example there are two fifth tier divisions (one for the north and one for the south), there are 4 sixth tier divisions (one for the north, two for the midlands and one for the south) etc etc Not all the teams enter the FA cup (the english cup competition) every year, for example this year (2021/2022 season) 729 teams entered the FA cup. This included teams from as low as tier 10. Those that do not enter usually do not do so because their ground (calling them a stadium is a bit of a stretch) do not meet the minimum requirements.

[@scottirvine121]

The cup in England for example has 736 teams enter this year. That's more than 4 divisons yes. That's what gives it its magic. The highest level to the lowest level and essentially but highly unlikely anyone has the opportunity to win it

[@Anson_AKB]

guess how big the personal win feels when your local village amateur team receives a top team, for the prestige to have played against them (the "olympic idea", winning is not important, but only "do your best") as well as the revenue from tickets for a poor amateur club, and this applies even if you lose the game "only" 10-0. i saw videos where someone did that single one goal in such a "lost 10-1" game, and became a legend for decades.

[@barriehull7076]

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFYING THIRD ROUND 3rd August Malmö FF 18:00 Rangers Sparta Prague 18:00 Monaco CFR Cluj 19:00 Young Boys KRC Genk 19:00 Shakhtar Donetsk PSV Eindhoven 19:00 FC Midtjylland Red Star Belgrade 19:30 Sheriff Tiraspol Olympiakos 20:00 Ludogorets Razgrad

[@CamcorderSteve]

The cup games in the UK are not played at night, but at the weekends, replays are generally played at night.

[@Derry_Aire]

That's only the FA Cup. League Cup/Carabao Cup and EFL trophy games are always played mid-week at night except for the finals.

[@CamcorderSteve]

@@Derry_Aire That's true Derry, thanks for pointing that out. In my defense I suppose I was thinking "THE" cup games, meaning the most important one, which is THE FA cup.😀

[@Derry_Aire]

@@CamcorderSteve I'll forgive you as your spelling of "defense" tells me you're probably American, so, if that is the case, fair play to you for even knowing about the FA cup never mind the other 2!

[@CamcorderSteve]

@@Derry_Aire My spelling of "defense" should have told you that I was either from the States or my English spelling grammar is not too good, unfortunately it is the latter!!

[@JavierHinojosa1980]

it missed one part, usually at the end of the season (or the first game of the new season in England) the winner of the League, plays against the winner of the Cup, for the "Supercup title", that one is a great game. I love to see that in NHL: The Stanley Cup winner (NHL) versus the Caulder Cup Winner (AHL).

[@Londronable]

You missed the dots after 4th division. I think in football manager you can mod the game till you have up to level 14. Everything until 11th division is official, but the counties still create their own systems again internally. It's not official but more certain sport centra coming together to create something and such. Remember also, it's not "14 leagues". It's 14 entire levels. From the 6th(premier league, Championship, league 1, league 2, national league, being the first 5) on it splits into 2. Vanorama North and Vanorama South. Then those split of again. And again, and again. There are about 7.000 teams in this system. This is excluding everything past the 11 level of play. The FA cup last time had 736 teams participating for it. This is why when you play for a small club you never have to go far. I did this in Belgium and our competition was all within a 15 minute drive.

[@martinbynion1589]

There are a number of levels below 4th Division in England (and the other larger countries in Europe); over 700 teams are invited to play in the FA Cup each year.

[@barriehull7076]

Norwich City were relegated to the Championship in 2020 but have come back to the Premiership in England for the new season starting on August 13th (A Friday btw) with the other 18 teams playing on Saturday 14th/Sunday 15th.

[@The.Conqueeftador]

And back down to the championship again next year

[@jakeclough8090]

@@The.Conqueeftador lol probably

[@yannicklaisne5436]

In France, all teams on all divisions are invited to play the French Cup. The 6 first rounds are played by amateur teams only. Teams of 4th and 3rd division enters the tournament on the 7th round as well as the teams who win the overseas championships. On the 8th round, teams of 2nd division enters. On the 9th, it's the round of 32 when the first division teams enters the tournament. All games are played on a single match on the field of the first team draw. Except when a team plays at least two divisions under the other, then it's that team who plays the game at home. All winners play on first division except two who played then on second division. But some teams on 4th division could manage to play the final.

[@jamesbraxton6085]

That is very simplified but kind of gets the jist of it. In England, below the top division, there are playoffs to establish the third team that goes up. So 1st and 2nd place go up automatically. In the play off 3rd plats 6th and 4th plays 5th (home and away) the winners play each other in a one off final. The winner of that game goes up a division along with the two automatically promoted teams. As for the champions league, there is also the Europa League (think B league to the champions league) and next year starts the Europa conference league (which would be like a C league with not as good teams in). Promotion and relegation are the cornerstones of the domestic leagues. Without them there is no competition, no risk and no reward.

[@FM-uk8kn]

The 2 teams have 11 players each, including a goalkeeper who stays in the goal area and tries to stop the ball going in the net. The team will also have a captain who orders the team around. Only the goalkeeper can use their hands however players can use their heads or chest to also control the ball.

[@davidforman6191]

Some countries have 2 Cup competitions. One for the professional league clubs only and one open to pro and the semi pro and amateur teams.

[@FishCornflakes]

Yeah the Coppa Italia is like that, because clubs in Serie C play the Serie C Coppa Italia and not the Coppa Italia. Also there is the league cup in some countries (like England) and a lot of countries have abandoned that format (like italy)

[@Stevenc1984]

You should check... 'Tifo Football - The FA Cup's greatest ever mismatch'... Which see's the 2019 Champions League finalists Tottenham take on a team from the 8th tier of English football Marine FC

[@MusicUniverseGermany]

4th divison is often referred to as the start of semi-professional leagues - down to like the 6th league in Germany and below that it starts to become amateur leagues - down to like the 11th or 12th league of whatever is the bottom end of the league system. usually for the cup games teams from the Bundesliga down to the 5th league managed to qualify, maybe through lower league cups one or two 6th league teams managed to qualify for the big cup, too - but that is really rare.

[@GdzieJestNemo]

Polish league for example has 9 divisions, first 3 of which are country wide, while lower ones are separated into regions

[@bennyhana3556]

In Sweden every region has 6 divisions and some even have div 6a-b and c. the 2 highest leagues above these 6+ are called allsvenskan and superettan, so its top2 leagues for all of Sweden then regional leagues under (1-6).

[@carlybishop6160]

Relegation does make everything more interesting. It is also why while there 20 teams in the Premier League, there have been 48 teams which have played in the league at some point since 1995. Nearly the whole of second the division in England have been up there at some point. You want to see the drama it causes. This is from the last day of the season 2010. Probably the most dramatic year for it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3ulXqeDeKp1rsU

[@Isleofskye]

As always,I enjoyed your reaction, my friend. Some points about this though. In England, the difference is £200,000,000 or $240,000,000 NOT $40,000,000 between being in either the Top Division (The Premiership) or THe Second Ter ( The Championship ). Those first 4 Divisions feature the 92 Teams (Clubs) in The Football League but there are many Semi-Professional and Anateur leagues below and initially 700 Teams enter The English F A Cup (the Worlds oldest and best domestic Cup ). There is ALSO a League Cup in England just for the 92 teams so the best teams play,at least , twice a week in The Premiership,The FA A Cup,The League Cup or Champions League :)

[@PaulEcosse]

All four divisions (or 5 if there are 5) play in the cup games, as well as part-time teams and possibly teams from a top regional league, for example in Scotland the top 4 divisions play cup games, but before the top league take part you get teams from the Highland (regional) league playing the teams from division 4 and 3, and sometimes the part-time teams beat the professional teams to progress through the cup and get to play the top teams, if they win this is called giant-killing.

[@thomasferguson5478]

Champions league group playoffs started last week, my team is already out 🙄 The league proper starts September on Tuesday & Wednesday nights. Relegation & the player signings are the big difference with USA sports, there is no drafts, no college picks etc

[@dcoughla681]

It’s a meritocratic game & the points system is crucial. A win is a win for the 3 points. The cream rises to the top and relegation is brutal for those who don’t perform. No one is entitled to stay in the league. Money is important but not the whole story and small clubs can win through improving performance. Some of them employ Moneyball techniques and improve fitness.

[@iainnoble8982]

The first international match was between Scotland and England ended 0-0 In world war 1. A Scottish regiment was entrenched opposite a German regiment. The Scottish regiment exited the trenches with a white flag on Christmas Day. And challenged the Germans to a football match and a beer and returned to their trenches afterwards. Scots 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 are like that. We try not to hate everyone. But some force our hand 😂

[@roosterb78]

yea in scotland, the premier is the top league, followed by Scottish championship, then league one and league 2... (4 leagues all in) so yea at the end of each year the bottom 2/3 or whatever battle it out... so the bottom 2 or whatever of the premier league gets demoted to the championship, while the winners of the next down gets promoted to the premiership as a reward. There has been a few teams worked their way up the ladder starting of in lower leagues ( league 2) and made it to the premier league.

[@bxkid7]

def sounds like plenty of options and games to watch!

[@roosterb78]

@@bxkid7 least it gives smaller teams a chance to progress and be bigger! instead of being inclusive with no room for other teams and just sticking with same teams in the one league. mostly its the same teams with a change here and there,

[@gobbidimerda1]

4th divison is not the lowest, in Italy we have 9 divisions and the more you go down the more teams there are, so in the lower divisions play thousands of teams in local games. Only the first and second division are national, the third is already made by 3 tournaments (north, center and south), the fourth is divided in 9 tournaments played by 180 teams, the fifth in 29 played by 500 teams, the sixth in 59 with 900 teams, the seventh in 107 played by 1600 teams, the eights in 249 played by 2120 teams, the nineth in 140 played by 1793 teams. So in total there are more than 7k teams playing.

[@Naylte]

The divisions used in England can get complicated when you descend below the 2nd Division, which is actually the fourth division. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system

[@Tilion462]

Football is a tad complex, Kid! As others have mentioned, there are over 700 league (pro/semi-pro) clubs and 7000+ including non-league (mostly amateur, a few semi-pro) teams. It gets confusing as the non-league teams compete in competitions/groups still known as 'leagues' (as well as the various cups). For more info on the depth & complexity, maybe take a look at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system for a prime example!

[@afunnyusername5599]

with the cup comps it varies, but the FA Cup featured 736 different clubs this year, and thats just England(and a very small number of welsh teams)

[@brownsupahero]

Well technically all club sports in the world, except North America, work this way. In North America, it’s a franchise model, where teams own the league.

[@animalian01]

Relegation doesn't really mean they get kicked out of the league they only get put down into a lower division, in England the Top is the Premier,then Championship,first division and second division. After that hat you go in to the National league

[@Liamnesque]

NBA Basketball is having a cup now….with the winner gets a playoff spot

[@JorgeRodriguez-qx9kj]

Get ready for the 2022/2023 Champions league final on Saturday June 10th.

[@davidechersini9965]

First soccer lesson: play right-footed, play left-footed / put on wax, take off wax, The karate Kid. Soccer coach since 1982, Ciao

[@rorysmith2415]

Aberdeen FC in Scotland have never been relegated. The Old Firm, Glasgow Celtic v Glasgow Rangers is the most intense soccer game. I support Aberdeen FC in Scotland.

[@frazb214]

I am absolutely begging you to watch both series of come fly with me. Funniest show going

[@Lost_scotsman]

Interesting video. Didn't seem to go much into the game it self. More the tournaments. All in all the top teams are usually participating in 2 to 3 tournaments all at once. Hectic schedule!! :D Recently there was an idea to make a "super league" which would have been similar to perhaps NFL where its just the same teams each year, no chance of relegations etc it didn't go down well at all and in fact the idea was dropped swiftly. The FA cup can be the most interesting tournament as the guy said all teams get a go and then you get small teams getting TV rights etc and really helps them out.

[@Stevenc1984]

That was a great video. I'll add that drafts don't exist in European Soccer/Football, most teams develop local youngsters at their football academies. These are often kids as young as 6 years old usually come from local kids teams in the same town or city area, although bigger clubs poach players from the smaller clubs. A report found that only 180 of the 1.5m boys playing organised youth football in England will ever play a single minute in the Premier League which is a 0.012% chance.

[@Je1imanek]

I will miss "away goals matter" rule in Champions league :( bcs home field advantage means A LOT....A LOT in European sports

[@kacperrydecki2036]

Champions league runs all season group stage september to december knockouts feburary-may

[@DHW3008]

4th division is far from the lowest. England for example has about 15 tiers, with tier 6 and below splitting into regional leagues. Tier 1-4 are fully professional, 5 is largely professional/semi-pro with 6 and below being ALMOST entirely semi pro/amateur.

[@obi-wankenobi917]

There’s a lot it doesn’t explain, some leagues have 10 teams some have 12 some have 20 and some leagues only 1 team gets relegated, also there’s the Europa league and this season the new conference league

[@ianleishman6774]

(3:50)Can anyone work out what team is down as 3rd in the Scottish League?

[@Matt19matt19]

Champions League was most recently won by the premier league's very own Chelsea. They beat the premier league's very own Manchester city.

[@Sara_Kane]

When I saw the title of the video, I thought it was going to be explaining things like the offside rule. lol :p I became a fan of the NFL and the NBA due to Channel 4 over here showing those sports way back when. I hope you get to see the Champions League Kid, it can be exciting stuff indeed. :)

[@bxkid7]

if there is one with rules that could be cool to see do you think? i would love to see games but it seems like I have to have certain channel or subscriptions to certain places to see games. been struggling to see some!

[@Sara_Kane]

@@bxkid7 Yes, that would be fun to see. :) I didn't understand offside for quite a while after I got into football, it was like double dutch to me. lol It really annoyed me when so much of football got moved to things like cable/satellite. Luckily things like the Euros and the World Cup have always been left alone.

[@valmoer]

@@bxkid7 I would recommand kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5iYZ2mEYsp3jdE, Ninh Ly's *The Rules of Football (Soccer or Association Football) - EXPLAINED!*. It's short, but it covers all the basics of the rules.

[@SHlV]

There are literally hundreds of leagues in England😂

[@michielvdvlies3315]

away goals doesnt count as double goals anymore

[@michael_177]

nice Warcraft banners. Was almost always alliance, myself

[@bxkid7]

I started off alliance cuz of friends but my heart was horde at the end.

[@wesleyrodgers886]

I think it's ten divisions. Sure some folk will correct me if I'm wrong. But there are a LOT of leagues.

[@danielgardecki1046]

11 tiers, 100's of leagues, and 1000's of teams.

[@cornelius8617]

Champions league? Great choice. Very exciting. Club competitions are almost always more exciting than international competitions. That's why I think world cup is a bit boring compared to champions league or the PL

[@terrymacdad8742]

Support Liverpool FC man we've Won the ECL 6 times, and we are 1 hella club aswell 🎉

[@footballforlife2643]

U need to watch soccer explained to americans

[@biancawichard4057]

but not listening, he said champions league starts in september

[@damianleah6744]

You will cheat, love it 🤣🤣👍🏻

[@One_Punch_Man.]

Its not soccer, its football. The greatest sports on earth. Only the Americans call it that clueless name

[@bxkid7]

That was the actual title of the video. Lol . I am glad your enjoying the sport tho.

[@bxkid7]

It's honestly not that serious the point of the video is me trying to learn because I'm interesting in learning. I get it the title from the original video is upsetting you. I didnt create it.

[@ryanbaldrick4311]

16+division could happen pyramid league

[@prizefightergamer0018]

No Is Oberliga

[@johnowen7302]

Understand it's football not soccer

[@obi-wankenobi917]

Watch some champions league goals

[@luke06-c4k]

React to Gavin and Stacey

[@michielvdvlies3315]

european soccer??

[@klauskruger6187]

What boring bullshit is this? Just buy a football, get 10 other mates together (11 is a team), say your team is better than the one in the neighbourhood and go for it.

[@bxkid7]

Not boring at all to be honest. I would love to have 10 friends that i could play sports with but when you have friends with kids lol not easily obtainable. I love watching this to learn more. Thanks Klaus for the input.

[@klauskruger6187]

@@bxkid7 Well I didn't want to be that harsh. After all, football is just a simple game. Most important is supporting a club. And when they always loose like my club, Hamburg SV it's a lifelong suffering. Maybe you watch this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d17VaqagbN97gJY

[@bxkid7]

@@klauskruger6187 will check it out thank you Klaus:)

[@danielgardecki1046]

I've seen this video on another reaction channel before, so I'm commenting before watching, but this guy misses a load of stuff. He only focuses on the top league in each country ignoring the other professional leagues and non-leagues, plus he also ignores the other cup competitions domestically and internationally. Also it's annoying with him calling it soccer, it's called football!