Why The Premier League Is Considered The Best League In The World

The English Premier League is often vaunted as ‘the greatest league in the world’, much to the chagrin of others. There is, though, ample proof to back up such claims.

By Sportypoll Staff I June 4, 2025

As fans of clubs from across Europe – and the world – have learned, the English Premier League is lauded as the best league in the world. Many see it as the best football league, thanks to a mixture of reasons. Critics will point to the league’s financial generosity compared to the rest of world football. Others point to the fact that, with so much spending power, the 20-team EPL is a ‘Super League’ in all but name. Many fans are frustrated at the constant claims of superiority.

When a league contains so many teams with the largest turnovers in the sport, though, it is easy to see why the Premier League has gained this reputation. Since it was first formed in 1992, the topflight of English football has slowly but surely left the rest of European and world football behind in terms of finance and income. And while money alone does not make a league the best in the world, it does help.

Money matters in a sport without salary caps and the ability to buy players instead of trading. And while English football has not always been the dominant force it is today, for much of the ‘European Era’ of football – the introduction of continental competition that became so prominent in the 1950s – it has been the best league in the world. From the heyday of Liverpool and Nottingham Forest dominating Europe to the modern era, English football has slowly but surely proven its superiority through years of investment.

Is the Premier League the best in the world? It is a subjective topic. Let’s though, look at the details that might back up this claim.

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Money Talks – England Leads the Way

The starkest figures paint the clearest picture. In the 2021-22 season, English Premier League clubs brought in around €6.4bn in revenue. This was more than the German Bundesliga and La Liga combined. On purely financial terms, the Premier League eats the other leagues in the ‘big five’ – Spain, Italy, Germany, and France – for breakfast. Spain brought in around €3.27bn, while Germany brought in around €3.14bn. Italy had around €2.35 billion in revenue for the 2021-22 season.

Lastly, the French Ligue 1 brought in around €2bn in revenue in the 2021-22 season. This meant that, on average, clubs in England had an income of €322m annually. Spain (€164m), Germany (€175m), Italy (€117m) and France (€101m), they all lag well behind the Premier League outfits.

One of the main reasons Premier League teams are moving away from clubs in other leagues, though, is that income is so balanced. Yes, the biggest clubs in England – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham – all have revenues that blow away even the likes of Saudi Arabia-backed Newcastle United. However, even the smallest clubs in England’s topflight can outperform the average revenue of the French Ligue 1. Since the Premier League began, England has used a fairer method of spreading income and revenue to the clubs in the topflight. Spain is arguably the most unfair, with FC Barcelona and Real Madrid eating up the lion’s share of broadcast revenue, creating an uneven league.

This means that, in the top ten clubs in world football in terms of revenue, the only non-English clubs include Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and FC Bayern Munich. Clubs like Juventus, AC Milan, and Internazionale are nowhere to be seen.

The Importance of Competition

While Manchester City dominate the English league in the current era, it is plausible for the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and United to keep up with them. It is now dubbed a miracle in Spain if a club the size of Atlético Madrid can keep pace with the big two. The same goes for Germany and France – who can make up the ground on FC Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain, respectively?

Italy is more balanced, but the problem in Italy is that all clubs are worse off than they once were. Thanks to short-term decision-making made in the 1980s and 1990s when Italian football was rich, most teams did not bring in enough commercial or match-day income due to issues like not owning their stadium.

This further blights the Italian landscape, leading to the awful mixture of eroding stadiums, half-full capacities due to exorbitant ticket prices, and clubs relying upon methods like the now-defunct ‘Growth Decree’ to fund big-name signings and wages.

The fact that nearly every club in the Premier League can throw money around like it is going out of fashion – relative to the rest of football – means the league remains competitive. While it is common to see the likes of Madrid, Barca, PSG, or Bayern beat the teams towards the relegation zone into submission, the best team in the Premier League can still lose to the worst team unless they turn up with 100% focus. Can this be regularly said about the other major leagues?

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The Future for Growth

The other major issue for the rest of European football is that, while other leagues contract financially, England looks set to continue to grow. Broadcast revenues are growing constantly, with more and more partners for the EPL looking to broadcast the league – and pay plenty for the privilege.

The image of full stadiums, pristine conditions, immaculate pitches, and top-quality players on each side appeals to an international audience. Trying to convince these same companies and fans to invest billions of Euros into less competitive leagues like Italy and Germany is hard: fans want to see competition and new winners. With Juventus and FC Bayern coming off either ten-in-a-row or near ten-in-a-row seasons in recent times – the consistent league dominance often reserved for smaller leagues such as Scotland – there is a lack of interest advertising in these leagues.

As England sees increasingly hungrier bidders for TV and broadcast rights with every round, other leagues struggle to get anything like the same interest. This leads to cheaper TV deals with poorer quality coverage, and teams relying upon foreign investors with near-limitless wealth to compete.

Conclusion

Is the Premier League the best in the world? It is certainly the most competitive, most well-funded, and most well-viewed. The other top leagues in Europe cannot hold a candle to the kind of growth England has seen for the last thirty-plus years. Changing the cycle now will require something drastic to change within the football structure of all the above leagues – is that even possible at this point?

As upsetting as it might be to fans who grew up watching the leagues on the continent dominate, England is where the money, fame, and global interest are. There will always be an appeal in, say, wearing the colours of Milan or Madrid – but for many, the Premier League is the place to be.

It dwarfs the other leagues in every feasible metric, showing no signs of changing unless the sport is changed radically from top to bottom.