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T-Pain
07-24-2006, 10:48 PM
As the World Cup came closer and closer, I started to gain more and more interest in soccer and now i want to try to follow it as best as i can and keep up with all the international soccer stars and their respective clubs. Im primarily interested in the European leagues because thats supposedly where all the superstars play and where the competition is at. Id like to keep up with teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man. United, AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Leverkusen, etc. Anyone know when the season starts? How does the European system of football work? B/c i noticed each of these teams are in different leagues and Barcelona and Arsenal played in the UEFA Champions Final. Some one help out a new soccer fan!! thanks!

judaspriestess
07-24-2006, 11:24 PM
You should also try supporting the MLS. Its fun to watch on Saturdays

Albeit there is no comparison to the Euro soccer league but its still fun.

velik_m
07-25-2006, 01:46 AM
Each country has a domestic league (several levels of them), the top clubs of each domestic league play in Champions league (http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/UCL/index.html) (<- this is the one you will want to watch), slightly less top teams play in UEFA cup. The number of clubs from each domestic league depends on the strength of the league (for instance England gets 3 clubs in CL and one in qualifying, one the other hand Slovenia gets just 1 in the qualifying).

Of the domestic leagues the top are English, Spanish and Italian. Especially the Premiership (http://www.premierleague.com) (English) is pretty even and competitive, with good quality football. (and you can root for the Spurs :P).

The start of domestic leagues is different, Slovenian kicks off in Saturday, northern countries with harsh winters (Norway, Russia...) kick off in spring and play through summer, because they don't play through winter. On the other hand southern countries play through winter start in autumn and have a longer break in the summer. CL is (like slovenian) somewhere in between. Starts late summer, has a short break in winter and finnishes in the spring.

The CL qualifying has already started.

links for more read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champions_League
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FA_Premier_League
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Liga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serie_A

T-Pain
07-25-2006, 04:06 PM
hey thanks alot

resistanze
07-25-2006, 04:49 PM
I started following League play (Serie A, La Liga, Premier League) around 2001-02, you'll enjoy it. Hell, I even skipped lectures midweek after 2PM last year so I could go home and watch the Champions League.