Premier League vs La Liga: Which is the best football league and why?

Premier League vs La Liga: Which is the best football league and why?

Samuel Lisubila
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:15 PM

The Premier League is the top English football league and is arguably the hardest and the most prestigious league in the world. On the other hand, La Liga is the top professional Spanish league with a proven track record of success. The rivalry between Premier League and La Liga has stood the test of time. We compare the two leagues to answer the question in the minds of many fanatics of both leagues; which is the best football league and why?

Premier League vs La Liga
Manchester City (top left), Barcelona (top right), EPL logo (bottom left) and La Liga logo (bottom right). Photos: Michael Regan, David Ramos, Visionhaus and Joaquin Corchero. Photo modified by author
Source: Getty Images

EPL is the toughest football competition in the world, with 20 teams battling for the title. It is regarded as the most competitive, with the game moving rapidly. La Liga, on the other hand, allows players to display individual skill and hosts the best players on the planet; having had both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at their prime simultaneously, is something to behold.

Premier League vs La Liga

Premier League

It is the English men's football competition's highest level, contested by 20 teams. It was founded on 20th February 1922 in England and uses a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). It was preceded by the First Division of the Football League, founded in 1888, which was behind Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendance and revenues.

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In the 1980s, the biggest clubs in the EFL thought of launching a new independent competition for commercial purposes and increasing their power and revenue. This forced the organization to increase the teams' voting power and gain a beneficial financial agreement to a 50% share of all television and sponsorship income in 1986. The teams reached a financial agreement with the competition after revenue from television views grew in importance, with the leading clubs taking 75% of the cash.

Premier League vs La Liga head to head
Arsenal fans show their support during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Leicester City at Emirates Stadium on 13th August 2022, in London, England. Photo: Julian Finney
Source: Getty Images

At the end of the 1990-91 season, issues were raised on establishing a new contest aiming for more revenue for the game. This move would, most importantly, licence the competition to negotiate its broadcast and sponsorship agreements, and the extra income would allow English teams to compete with other teams across Europe.

In 1992, the Premier League was founded. It comprised of 22 teams, later reduced to 20, to promote excellence and development at the club level and internationally. As of 2022, the EPL is 30 years of age.

La Liga

The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, also known as Primera División in Spain and La Liga in English countries, is Spanish's top-flight men's football competition. At the end of each season, the bottom three teams are relegated to the Segunda division, replaced by the top two teams and a play-off winner in the lower league.

Premier League vs La Liga: Which is the best football league and why?
Enthusiastic La Liga fan holds a Spanish flag. Photo: AJR images
Source: Getty Images

La Liga was founded in 1929, with only one Primera Division with ten teams. Only nine teams of the 62 that have competed in the competition since its inception have been crowned champions, Barcelona winning the inaugural season and Real Madrid winning a record of 35 times.

After José María Acha, a director at Getxo came up with the idea of a Spanish national league in April 1928, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol made it happen. Ten teams were later brought from other competitions to form the official Primera Division, with the number of clubs expanding on various occasions to the 20 present today. La Liga is 93 years old as of 2022.

Premier League vs La Liga head to head

The EPL and La Liga are two of the world's top men's football competitions, and there is a rivalry over which is bigger and better, especially among their respective fans. Below is a head-to-head comparison that would help answer the question.

Premier League vs La Liga viewership

Premier League vs La Liga viewership
Fans watching a football match on TV while having snacks and drinks. Photo: Morsa Images
Source: Getty Images

La Liga receives an amazing global viewership, with over 180 countries receiving a global audience of over 650 million viewers. However, the EPL dominates every European rival and football contest. It attracted 3.2 billion viewers globally and contributed 7.6 billion to the UK economy despite the Covid-19 virus in 2020.

Premier League vs La Liga tv rights

The Premier League is the most lucrative league worldwide, with its TV revenue beating Bundesliga and La Liga combined. On 13th May 2021, the EPL signed a three-year, $9.3 billion live and non-live broadcasting deal with Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime Video and BBC Sport for the next broadcasting cycle from seasons 2022-23 to 2024-25.

As of the 2016-17 season, La Liga agreed to a new revenue generation model involving the TV rights being sold collectively. This increased the competition's revenue during the implementation in the 2016 season by enabling an incredible 70.2% growth.

Which receives more revenue between the Premier League and La Liga?

The EPL is greater and widens the gap as it triumphs over La Liga financially. This is evident as the relegated clubs in the Premier League receive more money than some teams in the top half of La Liga. In the 2021-22 season, the EPL generated $3.5 billion in broadcasting revenue, more than La Liga's $2.04 billion and Bundesliga's $1.46 billion combined.

Premier League vs La Liga stars

Premier League vs La Liga stars
Sergio Ramos (left), Cristiano Ronaldo (centre), and Lionel Messi (right). Photos: Pressinphoto, Oli Scarff and Cristina Quicler. (Photos modified by author).
Source: Getty Images

The EPL and La Liga have amazing players and have produced the best players in the world since their establishment. Some of the incredible players whom the EPL has produced include Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Thierry Henry. La Liga stars include Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Dani Alves, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.

Premier League vs La Liga style

Both leagues are unique in their way, which makes their players suitable for each competition. Primera División is more technical and tactical, allowing players to exhibit their football skills and techniques, and focuses mainly on the players' talents and an attacking style of play. The EPL focuses on defence, emphasizing on the players' physicality, pace, and adaptability.

Premier League vs La Liga: which is better?

Both competitions are exciting to watch. However, the Premier League is hard to predict, as any team can win as the league is highly competitive. In contrast, in the Primera División, only two top teams, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, dominate the league; Atletico comes in close to the two teams but not quite.

The outstanding popularity of EPL comes down to its marketing and management.

Premier League vs La Liga stars
Erling Haaland (left) and Robert Lewandowski (right). Photos: James Gill and Alex Caparros. (Photo modified by author).
Source: Getty Images

The EPL and La Liga are top football leagues, drawing attention from worldwide supporters. Since their establishment, they have brought financial, cultural and, most importantly, social benefits to the community that have made the world a better place, bringing together people who are nations apart. However, the debate about the Premier League vs La Liga may continue for a while as both sides come out incredibly strong.

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Authors
Samuel Lisubila photo
Samuel Lisubila