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We all know the top five European football leagues ever since UEFA standardised the coefficients of European associations that determine the number of teams from each association that can take part in UEFA competitions in a season.
However, before such standardised pointers, the English, French, Italian, Spanish and German top flights - not necessarily in that order - were the prestige football leagues of the continent.
These leagues had the teams with the best structure, the most money and the biggest draw. In a way, the gulf between the top five European leagues and the rest signified the intensely capitalistic structure of contemporary football.
The top five football leagues in Europe have the wealthiest teams, and top teams from these leagues regularly find investment from mega-corporations and organisations that only increase the gulf in quality and pedigree between them and the rest across the continent.
Not surprisingly, the wealthiest leagues also tend to have the best players. Or they ensure that they have the best if and when teams from other leagues produce or procure these players. (Ajax is a notable case in point.)
But what about the difference in quality in the quintet itself? The easy way would have been to go with their UEFA coefficients to rank them.
However, ranking a league should entail an element of subjectivity that should include a consideration of the league's history, its engendering of excitement, the competitiveness and skill on show in the league and other associated tangibles as well as intangibles. On that note, let's get started.
Ranking the top five leagues in Europe:
#5 Ligue 1
Often derided as the farmer's league by its detractors, the French league possesses one uber team that romps to the title almost every year.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), resplendent with the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Angel Di Maria and Edinson Cavani (till last season) among a bevvy of other superstars, do find it too easy in Ligue 1. Not surprisingly, PSG's wealth far surpasses that of any of their other competitors in the league.
However, PSG's failure to win the Champions League - they did reach the final last season - despite setting up a team for exactly that in the last few seasons doesn't help the ranking of the French league. French clubs, which have only won the European Cup/Champions League once (Marseille, 1993), lag far behind their counterparts from the other top leagues across the continent in this regard.
The record of French clubs in the UEFA Cup/Europa League is also nothing to write home about, with Marseille coming the closest to winning it by reaching the final twice.
The contemporary French league also suffers from player poaching. The high-flying Monaco side that reached the Champions League semi-final in 2016-17 while winning the Ligue 1 title that season was quickly decimated as bigger clubs from around the country and beyond came calling for their best.
#4 Bundesliga
The Bundesliga is different from their competitors in many ways. The 50+1 rule, for example, prevents external takeovers that are so rife in England and was the case in PSG's case in France.
However, despite the best attendances and some of the most vociferous fans in the continent, the quality of play in the league, especially in some of the lower-ranked clubs, does not match up with that of their counterparts in England or even Spain.
But Bayern Munich are bereft of such worries. Clubs like Wolfsburg and RB Leipzig have risen in the German scene in recent history, but the Bavarians have always stayed at the top.
Last season, despite their early struggles, Bayern Munich managed to win their eighth straight league title en route to landing a continental treble. The likes of Robert Lewandowski has dominated Germany as well as Europe. With players like Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller and Alphonso Davies in their squad, Bayern have one of the best teams in Europe.
Their main league challengers remain Borussia Dortmund, which says a lot about the rather static nature of the competition in Germany.
#3 Serie A
Juventus, Juventus, Juventus. Their dominance in the Italian league has been particularly staggering in recent seasons.
In the mid-90s, the Serie A was an extremely competitive league, even more so than that of the Premier League in England. AC Milan, Internazionale, Juventus, Roma, Lazio and even Fiorentina competed for the Scudetto, and most of the best players in the world like Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario played in the vibrant competition.
Since that high, the Italian league has suffered from scandals and lost its glamour as many of its top stars moved to Spain, with England also beginning to attract the global superstars of the game.
Then Juventus' reign started, and the Turin side has now won an astounding nine straight Serie A titles, a factor that has contributed to the league's diminishing stature.
However, in the last season, Juventus' absolute dominance of the Italian scene seemed to fade a bit despite the Bianconeri winning another league title.
The Italian league is finally seeing the emergence of more claimants to the throne, with Antonio Conte's Inter and Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta becoming potent threats to Juve's hegemony. Lazio also had a great season while Napoli have emerged as a strong force in recent years. Roma are in the mix too while fallen giants AC Milan are aiming a resurrection.
Juventus have done well in the UEFA Champions League in recent times without winning the title. The history of Italian clubs in the competition is rich, with both AC Milan and Internazionale having won multiple titles along with Juventus.
The stock of the Italian league has also risen with the arrival in Turin of Cristiano Ronaldo, possibly the best player in the world right now.
#2 La Liga
While La Liga continues to attract the best in the game, it is majorly due to two of the best and wealthiest clubs in the world: Real Madrid and Barcelona. Their scintillating rivalry also makes this league one of the best in the world. However, apart from Diego Simeone's pugnacious Atletico Madrid, no other team has managed to seriously challenge this duopoly in recent seasons.
One has to go back to 2011-12 to find a team (Valencia) other than these three finishing in the top three of the Spanish league. But one cannot take away anything from Real Madrid's Galacticos coached by the brilliant Zinedine Zidane who have dominated Europe in recent years and have won 13 European Cups/Champions Leagues, which is the most by any other club.
Ronaldo and Bale might have moved on, but Real Madrid still have Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and co.
Barcelona, once the best team in the world in the Pep Guardiola heydays, are undergoing a rebuild but still has Lionel Messi in their ranks along with a few other stars.
#1 Premier League
The sheer competitiveness and breathtaking pace of the English league make it top this list. The only league that has a competitive top-6 and has thrown up surprise champions like Leicester City, an anomaly in the modern game.
The hegemony of Manchester United, once the top dogs in England, has ended in recent years. Chelsea, Manchester City and more recently Liverpool, have all won the English league in the last few years, and Tottenham Hotspur have also been in the mix. Spurs also made it to the Champions League final where they went down to fellow English club Liverpool.
While the dominating league wins by City and Liverpool mean that those two might be playing at a higher level than the others in the competition, this season both have looked fallible, and there might yet be more surprises in store in the English top flight.
Even below the top six, the English league is ultra-competitive, with newly-promoted Leeds United setting pulses racing this year. Relegation battles in England are also mouth-watering. English teams have found success in Europe as well.
England have also increasingly attracted the best talents in the game. Manchester City have the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero among a host of other stars. Liverpool possesses the famed attacking triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino along with possibly the best central defender in the world in Virgil van Dijk.
Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal have also traditionally drawn the best players and continue to do so. Recently, Thiago Alcantara switched from European champions Bayern Munich to Liverpool
