Competition in La Liga: A Look Back

We know that Real Madrid and Barça have convinced 18 Segunda and 10 Primera teams to buy into their "new " collective TV deal. The renegades led by Sevilla's president Jose Maria del Nido have their own more equitable deal and are threatening to take the G-30 to court for unfair uncompetitive practices. This is not saying much as those who know Spanish courts and how slow and lackadaisical the government works, will not be able to wait until hell freezes over. So, we continue to fight the fight and point out the inequities that we see in the hope that things will change, before it is too late.

Let's take a look at the top four in Spain from the late 90's until today. You can easily see that the point difference was minor, the competition was tight. Only recently in the mid Noughties, did the distance between the top two and third and fourth really grow. No coincidence that this also started to occur with the emergence of individual TV rights deals, whereby Real Madrid and Barçelona benefited.



Check out the top of the table in the late 90's to early Noughties:


Phase 1: A Competitive League at it's Zenith


99/00: 1. Deportivo 69, 2 Barcelona 64, 3 Valencia 64, 4 Zaragoza 63,
00/01: 1. Real Madrid 80, 2 Deportivo 73, 3. Real Mallorca 71 4. Barcelona 63
01/02: 1. Valencia 75, 2 Deportivo 68, 3 Real Madrid 66, 4. Barcelona 64,
02/03: 1. Real Madrid 78, 2 R.Sociedad 76, 3. Deportivo 72 4. Celta Vigo 61
03/04: 1. Valencia 77, 2 Barcelona 72, 3 Deportivo 71, 4. Real Madrid 70

La Liga was competitive, unpredictable and very tight. Real Madrid did not qualify for the Champions League in 99/00. Barça failed to qualify in 02/03. Shudder to think. But Spain had the best co-efficient in Europe. Valencia and Deportivo were big time competitors in the Champions League along with Real Madrid and Barçelona. Málaga, Villarreal, Celta Vigo, Rayo Vallecano, Alaves, and RCD Mallorca each went as far as the quarter finals in the UEFA cup.


Phase II: Individual deals and disparity begins


After 2004 the league started to tilt in favor of the big two. The clubs started to negogiate their own deals and disparity began. That said, LaLiga teams still were competitive in the Champions League and retained the number 1 UEFA co-efficient ranking. But the English Premiership was nipping at La Liga's ankles and continued to improve and solidify their position in Europe.

04/05: 1. Barça 84, 2 Real Madrid 80, 3 Villarreal 65, 4 R. Betis 62
05/06: 1. Barça 82, 2. Real Madrid 70, 3. Valencia 69, 4. Osasuna 68
06/07: 1. Real Madrid 76, 2 Barça 76, 3 Sevilla 71 4. Valencia 66

The number of competitive Spanish teams in the Champions League and UEFA cup started to lessen and decline. The silver lining, the emergence of Villarreal and Sevilla FC as European powers, was a wonderful thing to see. Real Madrid continued to spend big, but had nothing to show.


Phase III: The haves and the have nots


The record TV multi-million dollar deals commenced for Real Madrid and Barça with Mediapro and Sogecable. These agreements significantly exceeded all the other teams. The big two solidified their superiority and the league became lopsided.

07/08: 1. Real Madrid 85, 2 Villarreal 77, 3. Barcelona 67 4. Atlético Madrid 64
08/09: 1. Barcelona 87, 2 Real Madrid 78, 3 Sevilla 70, 4. Atlético Madrid 68
09/10: 1 Barcelona 99 , 2. Real Madrid 96, 3. Valencia 71, 4 Sevilla 63
10/11: 12 games in, 1 Real Madrid 32, 2 Barcelona 31, 3 Villareal 24, 4. Espanyol 22.

Spain loses the number one spot or UEFA co-efficient to England. Real Madrid and Barça occupy the top two spots in 7 of the last 8 occasions. The gap between the top two and the rest keeps growing. Real Madrid and Barça earn 140 million a year on TV revenues alone. 19 times more than the newly promoted teams.

The future of the league is worrisome and the questions remain: Will Spain lose their 2nd place UEFA co-efficient ranking to Germany? Why has Real Madrid spent so much, but done so little in Europe? Will the new "collective" deal proposed by the big two, be more of the same? Will the league become boring and start affecting viewership as well as the big two's performance in Europe? What now?

The Sorting Hat - UEFA Style

Well the UEFA draw for the Champions League Third Qualifying Round and the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round. Confused yet?

Participants in the CL 3rd Round in La Liga and Serie A are the 3rd and 4th place winners of our leagues. Participants in the UEFA Cup 2nd Round is the Intertoto winners in La Liga and Serie A.

The Cup winners or 5th and 6th place winners in our leagues will take part in the Group Stage, I believe.

Now that we got that squared away. Here's the draw:

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:

Pick of the draw: Atletico de Madrid vs Schalke 04. Good news: let's get to business right away! Bad news: Las Pupas? Or rather why us? This could possibly be an early exit for Atleti. Especially without Kun. But Atleti has the talent to seize the day and beat Schalke. This is going to be a mouth watering affair. Save the date! August 12th and 27th!

Other notable: Fiorentina vs Slavia Prague. Fiorentina has been waiting for this moment to play with the big boys. Put playing away against the Eastern European teams could be a banana skin. Fiorentina has reengineered their squad a lot. Will they be in sync and have their chemistry together in time? I certainly hope so.

Cakewalks: Why do the big teams get all the breaks? Luck or conspiracy? Barcelona failed to place first or second and have to qualify. They will face either Beitar Jerusalem or Wisla Krakow in Poland. I don't think missing Messi will make a difference with Eto'o, Henry, Bojan, and Gudjonsen. Nope they are loaded. Meanwhile, Juventus is back to vye for Champions League glory! They will face either Tampere United of Finland or Artmedia of Slovakia. No problem, ya think?

UEFA CUP

A Coruña draw a toughie! Deportivo La Coruña are back in Europe after hard times financially. Team Depor will face Hadjuk Split from Croatia. This could be a difficult tie, especially if Depor lose hard man Coloccini to Newcastle. Depor ended their summer early and are raring to go. They will need to be at their best.

Easy peasy for Maradona's old team. Napoli who have been long missing from Europe to face off against KS Vilaznia of Albania. This should be a shoo-in for the Southerners. Forza Napoli.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree? What are your predictions? Post your comments and let's discuss.