10 reasons why Premier League is better than La Liga

Both the La Liga and EPL give us football fans a lot of entertainment, week in, week out. But the inherent need to rank everything means there are constant debates about which league is better.While the La Liga is dominated by the duo of Barcelona and Real Madrid, barring Atletico Madrid in the 2013-14 season, the Premier League is much more open and competitive, with the last three seasons seeing three different champions crowned.Both leagues have their own special qualities, but here are a few reasons why, on the whole, the EPL trumps La Liga.

#1 EPL has tougher competition

if you compare the games last season, or for that matter the last decade, you will find that the EPL has a much closer competition among all its 20 teams. Sure, the top 10 and the bottom 10 are divided by a good margin, but it is an accepted view that there are no easy games in the EPL.

In the La Liga, the top 3 teams almost always manage to beat the lower teams, sometimes by a huge margin. There are matches in which the less-fancied teams beat the big wigs, but that is a rare occurence, and is almost always much talked about. The battle for the title and the relegation scrap are almost always entertaining in the EPL, and usually goes to the very end.

#2 EPL is a lot more entertaining

Building on the previous point, the 20 teams in the EPL bring in different styles of play, making EPL a much more entertaining league to watch. La Liga may have notched some high scorelines, but thats because a Real Madrid or a Barcelona found a very weak team to swat. When you watch a La Liga game, you know that the game will be open, which makes it easy for the teams with all the superstars to beat the lower placed teams.

But in the EPL, you have different styles to watch out for, so throughout the season, managers have to keep changing their tactics based on the team they play. If a team plays only one way no matter the opposition, theyll soon get found out, as Arsenal have experienced for so many seasons now. Some teams attack, some teams defend, some teams try to bring a mix. But for the fans, and especially the neutrals,its a fantastic viewing experience.

#3 EPL has fairer distribution of TV money

More than ticket sales, clubs now depend on tv money, as broadcasters pay quite a hefty amount to be able to show the games to fans from all over the world. In the case of La Liga, the teams get to make their own deals with the TV companies, and so the bigger teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona end up getting a bigger slice of the money.

For example, a couple of season ago, Real Madrid earned a massive 140 million Euros from its TV deal while Granada earned only 12 million Euros. At the same time, Manchester City made 60 million pounds whereas relegated Blackburn made 40 million pounds. The disparity between the top and bottom teams is a lot lesser making it a much fairer fight between the two.

#4 Transfer Activity

This, in itself, may not be the best thing for the national team, but clubs in the EPL tend to have a lot more transfer activity. La Liga clubs depend more on their academies to find the next gem rather than spending large amounts of money on new players. Of course, this works well for their national team, fruits which can be seen from the recent spate of trophies they won.

But the really big signings are only made by Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the other clubs tend to have lesser buying and more selling. But in the EPL, almost every transfer window has players moving from one club to the other, especially in the summer. And this is throughout the 20 clubs, and so makes for an interesting league even during the off season. There is never a dull moment when it comes to the EPL!

#5 Talent Distribution

This may be a contentious point, but top talent in the La Liga is skewed towards the top 2 teams, with the occasional star in one of the other 2 or 3 clubs. Therefore, it is no wonder that it is always Real Madrid or Barcelona in line for the title, with Atletico Madrid of the 2013-14 season being an exception that proves the rule. But in the EPL, the top players are all scattered among the top 6 to 8 teams, making it a more even competition.

It is one of the reasons why EPL has not been able to provide European Champions on a more consistent basis, as its top clubs always have piece or two missing from the puzzle, said piece playing for a competing club. Also, top Premier League players have almost always done well in the La Liga, whereas its not been the same for players for La Liga players.

#6 Stadium Attendance

Once again, this is another contentious issue, but the number of people that attend the games, even for the lowest clubs, is far higher on average in the EPL when compared to the La Liga. This could be tempered by the fact that stadiums in the La Liga have a much lesser capacity, but that just proves the point that there are more people that go to watch matches in the EPL than there are in the La Liga.

According to figures from ESPN, 11 EPL sides had an average of more than 30,000 people attending the games while it was only 7 sides that could do that. Even more telling, there was no EPL side that averaged less than 20,000 while as many as 9 La Liga sides fell below that figure.

#7 Global Coverage

EPL has a much wider audience on the global scale, with fans following the top teams from as far away as Asia and Africa. Even teams like Fulham, that is presently in alower division, go to pre-season tours to the United States of America and attract a decent crowd.

That cannot be said of La Liga, barring of course, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Every season, there are new markets opening up for the EPL, which is partly due to the marketing done by the management of the league. Fans from all over the world take time out once a year to come to England and watch their favourite teams play.

#8 UEFA Coefficients

Spanish Clubs may have won more Champions League and Europa League competitions than the EPL sides, but a look at the coefficients show that there is a lot more consistency from the English sides over a longer duration.

Arsenal, who have never won the UEFA Champions League, continues to be in Pot 1 season after season because of its consistency in reaching the knockout stages every year. Teams from La Liga have not been able to show that consistency, a factor which Atletico Madrid have now begun to change in the last couple of years.

#9 Standards of Referees

Ok, this is really not much to discuss because refereeing standards in the game are dipping all over the world, and FIFAs confusing rules and rigidity dont make it any easier.

However, the referees are a lot more lenient in the EPL, and let go ofsome fouls rather than stopping the play. By doing so, they dont disturb the flow of the game, make the game more physical, and give a better chance for defenders to have a say in the game.

In the La Liga, referees are a lot stricter, and almost every foul is called, making it a very stop-start game. True, rules need to be applied and players need to be protected, but sometimes La Liga referees tend to go overboard with enforcing them.

#10 Hooliganism

Not so long ago, England had a major problem with hooligans and racism. But the EPL has done a lot of work to remove this spectre by cleaning up the game. Strict sanctions are given to spectators that are racist or are causing problems to fans around them or the players on the field.

But La Liga is still battling with the problemthough steps are being taken. The episode of a banana being thrown at Dani Alves in the 2013-14 season is a case in pointwhile the fan violence between Deportivo and Atletico fans was unsavoury too.

Of course, nobody is saying that EPL is whiter than white. There are many vile chants during games in England, but when compared with the seriousness of the problem in La Liga, it will look like nothing.