Why La Liga is Europe's Top League

La Liga is a competitive league

Alex Johnson seems convinced that La Liga is the best league in Europe. Is she right?

Gareth Bale was recently quoted as saying that La Liga was "the most exciting league in the world".

His reasoning behind this was that the league has the "the world's top players" and that his club Real Madrid and Barcelona are either winning the Champions League or coming very close.

Bale has a real point, the Premier League or Football League as it was then, had a real halcyon period in the late seventies and early eighties, a representative club winning the competition six years on the trot and despite Premier League clubs enjoying getting to the finals and winning in the mid to late 2000's, it's Real Madrid who have won it the most.

Barcelona and Real are making a real attempt to win back the La Liga title following their duopoly being broken last year by Atletico de Madrid. Not since Valencia won the league in 2004 has any other club won other than the clasico pairing.

The league has been boosted by Atletico being a real force in the title race. Los Rojiblancos have won everything bar the Champions League in recent seasons, a competition they were runners-up in last season. Defeated 4-1 by city neighbours Real, it was probably down to exhaustion from a relatively small squad in the end that they lost so heavily, albeit after extra time.

Already this season, they have shown that it won't be just a two horse race between Real and Barca by winning the Spanish Super Copa. Ok, this isn't the major factor in who is going to win the league, but it's a useful, if not so accurate barometer.

The Primera Division is in first place in the UEFA rankings ahead of the Premier League in second and the Bundesliga in third, this is based on the performance of clubs in European competition over a five-year period. This means that Spain, plus England and Germany are allowed four clubs in the Champions League, which in turn should boost their country's co-efficiency points.

The up and coming La Liga season will be given more exposure this season, thanks to Sky Sports new channel meaning that virtually every La Liga fixture will be shown on television this season. OK so it will be subscription television, but that means more clubs will be watched in homes and pubs and sports bars. In England and in Germany, they have specific kick-off times and not all games are shown live, this gives Spain the edge.

Atletico's trophy-laden seasons have not exactly helped them in the TV deal that was dished out recently, but it means that they can start to catch up with Barca and Real. The two top clubs in Spain still earn around 140 million euro, which is around 6.5 million times more than the rest.

According to the latest Deloittes listings of richest football clubs, Atletico are in third place with around 120 million euro revenue. This is leagues behind the other two, but it gives hope to the rest of the league that they can at least cause ripples if not challenge totally for the title.

The comparison of revenue to competition is in favour of the Premier League, but does it have the best players? It used to when the Premier League was formed in 1992 it attracted the top players in Europe and paid the highest wages. These days it pays the wages alright, but doesn't necessarily have the top players.

Bale's move to Real Madrid denied the Premier League a top class player, a transfer fee even the top clubs in England could not afford, nor the wages to boot, while the World Cup's star player, James Rodriguez, has also chosen a Spanish move.