SOCCER CITY: Where the big teams pile up! Inventory of the world's top 10 football cities!
Football clubs can't be separated from their cities and neighbourhoods, so today we're counting down the top 10 football cities(soccer city) in the world! The cities are not ranked by population or economic level, but by football heritage (championships) and influence!
No. 10 Istanbul
As the largest city in Turkey and the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Istanbul's football atmosphere is equally strong and has spawned a large number of influential football clubs. The three biggest teams in the Turkish Super League, Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahce, are all based here. Together they have won more than 50 league titles, including more than 80 per cent of the Turkish Super League titles. The highest honour for a Turkish team in Europe, the European Cup, also goes to Galatasaray FC in Istanbul.
In addition to the big three, other teams such as Istanbul are also in the city. Of course, Istanbul really became known to the fans all over the world because of the "Istanbul" miracle in the Champions League final in 2005, when Liverpool fought back from 0:3 in the first half of the match!
Tied for 10th place Moscow
Moscow is Russia's largest city and the biggest football city in Russia, although in recent years Zenit from St Petersburg have swept the Russian Premier League. However, Moscow's heritage is still intact. Among the teams currently mixing in the Russian Premier League that belong to the Moscow region are CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow and Torpedo Moscow. Since Russia's independence in 1991, these clubs have won 19 league titles, which is more than half of the Russian Premier League, with the Moscow teams winning all of them from '96 to '06! If you add the Soviet Union to this list, it's the absolute number one football city in Russia.
In addition, Russian football has won two European Cups, one in Moscow in 2005 and one in St. Petersburg in 2008, with the Moscow team winning the European Cup first.
9th Glasgow
As Scotland's largest city, Glasgow is undoubtedly the Holy City of Scottish football. The two giants Celtic and Rangers are not only the absolute dominant teams in the Scottish Premier League, but also one of the most awarded teams in the world. The two giants' domination of Scottish football is such that since the 84/85 season, all league titles have been split between the two giants, and they have even won 9 consecutive titles!
The two Glasgow giants are slightly better than the many teams from Istanbul and Moscow on the European stage, with Celtic being the first team in English football (including England) to win the Champions League, and the first treble-winning team in the history of European football! Rangers have failed to match their arch-rivals on the Champions League stage, but have also won the European Cup of Nations, which is a similar story!
No. 8 Lisbon
Portugal is a powerhouse in European football, and Lisbon, as the capital and largest city of Portugal, has given birth to many footballing giants. Benfica and Sporting Portugal (Sporting Lisbon) are among the top three teams in the Portuguese Super League. Benfica is Portugal's first historical giants, winning the league title 38 times in the team's history and defending the Champions League title. The city's little brother, Sporting Lisbon, has won the league 19 times and the Cup of Nations once. Both teams have won the league more than 50 times, accounting for more than 60 per cent of the history of the Portuguese Super League. Football City deserves it!
No. 7 London
London is the largest city in England and the largest city in Europe. As the hometown of football, it has naturally spawned a large number of football clubs, with the North London duo Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, the West London duo Chelsea and Fulham, in addition to teams such as Crystal Palace and West Ham United, currently active in the English Premier League.
City of London, although many teams, but in the overall competitiveness of the lack of conviction, the entire City of London football clubs have won a total of 2 Champions League (Chelsea), Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur's best Champions League record is a runner-up! Of course, in the other competitions of the three cups, Chelsea is still the best performance, has won two UEFA Cup, two European Cup Winners' Cup, the three cups double circle Grand Slam, is also currently the only European football! Arsenal have won the Cup just once, and arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur have won the League Cup twice and the Cup once. In addition, West Ham United have managed to contribute one winners' cup! And after the formation of the Premier League, the City of London's clubs have won just eight league titles by Arsenal and Chelsea, not enough to add up to Manchester United alone! It's fair to say that the City of London is a bit of an outlier as a football city!
The City of London clubs have won the English top flight 21 times! 11 Championship honours in Europe!
Tied for 7th place Liverpool
Liverpool FC have won the most titles in English football, while city rivals Everton have won the 4th most league titles in English football. Both teams were arguably the most dominant in the whole of England before the Premier League, when Liverpool plus Everton won 27 league titles! The City of London teams combined did not exceed 20 titles! The City of London teams combined won no more than 20 titles!
But if you look at the achievements of the Premier League era, the two Liverpool teams are hard brothers and sisters, together won 1 Premier League title! The good thing is that Liverpool's performance in Europe is still eye-catching, after entering the Premier League era, won the Champions League twice, won 1 League Cup, a team lifted the sky of Liverpool, but also the city of Liverpool in the number of Champions League champions continue to be far ahead of the defence of the glory of the football city!
With Liverpool plus Everton, the two teams have won a total of 28 English top-flight titles, a number that surpasses that of London City and is slightly behind that of Manchester (29), and 10 Champions League honours (including 6 Champions Leagues) in European competition!
6th Manchester
It's all Manchester at the moment in English football. Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west. Before the Premier League Liverpool people are the absolute master of English football, but after the Premier League era, Manchester United and Manchester City have opened the domination of the English football world, the Manchester brothers have now joined forces to take the English top flight title 29 times, especially Manchester City, the last six seasons, took five league titles, this season there is a big trend to copy the big brother Manchester United Triple Crown, the sky of English football has completely become the Blue.
At present, Manchester's honour in the European arena is still a little inferior, only by Manchester United to get 3 Champions League, in addition to a Cup Winners' Cup and a UEFA Cup Champion, the little brother Manchester City due to a long period of time at the low end of the food chain of the English football, only got a Cup Winners' Cup Champion, but the rich and powerful Manchester City plus Manchester United, the future of the Manchester City in the English football will continue to notify the next, and the tripod of the European will also be The future of English football is just around the corner, Manchester will be the future of English football!
No.5 Turin
Turin is a famous car city in Italy, and two great teams were born in Turin, one is the Red Bulls Turin team, and the other is the Old Lady Juventus. Although the current Torino team has long been reduced to a weak team, but in the 1940s Torino was the first dominant Italian football, and its four consecutive league championships record was held for more than half a century before being broken by Inter Milan. But soon Juventus brought the honour back to the city of Turin, with nine consecutive titles in the Serie A. The two teams won the league in total!
The two Turin teams have won 43 Serie A titles (36 for Juve), which is 40% of Serie A history. Juventus, on the other hand, is a Champions League Grand Slam winner with six European titles, and Turin has also won the Central European Cup once. The Italian football city lives up to its name.
No.4 Munich
When you think of the Bundesliga, you think of Bayern, and when you think of Bayern, you know the city of Munich. This city is not only world famous for its beer, but also for its football that rocks the globe. Bayern Munich, as the boss of Munich, has won 33 Bundesliga titles, accounting for more than 60% of the Bundesliga's history, and in recent years has won 11 consecutive Bundesliga championships, leaving no hope for any of its competitors. In European football it is no less impressive, with six Champions League titles and one each of the League Cup and the Cup of Honour, making it one of the few European Grand Slam winners of the three major cups. , and
And as a city rival, Munich 1860 is also a footballing temple in the hearts of Chinese fans, with Chinese player Shao Jiayi having played there. Before the rise of Bayern, 1860 was the absolute leader of Munich and was a founding member of the Bundesliga, three years before Bayern! They won the Bundesliga once and were runners-up in the Cup once! Unfortunately a slap in the face once sent Beckenbauer, the number one man in German football, to arch-rivals Bayern to help them take off!
Tied for 4th place Barcelona
Barcelona is one of the largest cities in Europe and a major player in European football. History has seen the likes of Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and José Cruyff leave their mark here. As the bearer of the city of Barcelona, FC Barcelona has won 27 league titles, 5 Champions League titles, and 4 Cup Winners' Cup titles, so it can be said that the honour room is full of achievements. Especially in the new century, Pep Guardiola led the dream three dynasty, had achieved the annual 6 crowns (Grand Slam) achievements, shocked the ancient and modern!
As the city's arch-rival, Espanyol also has a strong presence, with Chinese star Wu Lei playing here and breaking through Barcelona's goal. Compared to Barcelona's success in European football, the Spaniards have only won the Copa del Rey 4 times in their history, which is pretty shabby!
No.3 Milan
The city of Milan is Italy's number one football city, where the birth of two luxury clubs - AC Milan and Inter Milan, two teams of the same origin, the Barresi brothers, the Mazzola brothers have played for the two teams to carry out the competition. AC Milan is the card of Italy's European competition, seven times the Champions League champion, in addition to winning AC Milan is the name of the game in Italy, with seven Champions League titles to its name, as well as two Cup Winners' Cups and a Central European Cup!
Crosstown rivals Inter Milan were the first team in Italian football to win the treble and the first to defend the Champions League, winning it three times (reaching the final this season) and the League Cup three times in their history.
In addition, the two teams have won 19 Serie A titles each, a total of 38 Serie A titles, second only to the city of Turin, taking into account the UEFA Champions League bonus, the city of Milan is ranked No. 1 in Italy, there is not much controversy!
Tied for 3rd place Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is the former capital of Brazil, and has a number of powerful teams camped here, including Flamengo, Vasco da Gama, Fluminense and Botafogo. The Brazilian football world, relatively speaking, there is no absolute hegemony, and the number of championships won by the big clubs does not differ much. The four teams from Rio de Janeiro have won 18 Brazilian league championships in total, of which Flamengo has won 8 times!
Also in South America, the teams from Rio have won the Copa Libertadores five times! Not a bad record!
No.2 São Paulo
The city of São Paulo is one of the largest cities in Brazil and one of the largest cities in the world, where four powerful clubs that have influenced the world have been birthed: São Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians and Santos. The likes of Ballon d'Or winner Pele and Pele Blanc Zico left their careers in the city.
The four teams have won a total of 31 Brazilian league titles, 10 Copa Libertadores titles, and even more remarkable is that all four teams have won the Copa Libertadores title, which can be said to be blossoming and running neck and neck! In terms of number of titles, the city of São Paulo is the jewel of the football kingdom!
1st Madrid
The number one football city in Europe undoubtedly goes to Madrid. The city has given birth to many clubs, including Getafe, Leganes, Rayo Vallecano and others, the most representative of which are Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Real Madrid as the first European giants, team history won 35 times the league title, the European game is invincible lonely, 14 times the Champions League title, cliff leading! In addition, also won 2 times the League Cup.
As the city's little brother, Atletico Madrid in the Real Madrid and Barcelona in the cracks of survival, but also got 11 times the league title, three times the UEFA Cup champion and 1 time the Cup of Champions champion, is also considered to be a strong team in European football.
Madrid's cumulative total of all club honours (no major tournament honours for any other team) is 46 league titles and 20 European wins, making them truly the best in Europe!
Tied for 1st place, Buenos Aires.
So is there another city in world football that challenges Madrid's position? The answer is Buenos Aires! As the capital of Argentina, there are more than 10 clubs, the most famous of which are the 6 biggest giants, namely Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo, Argentine Independiente, Sarsfield, and Atletico Argentina! These teams have almost got more than 90% of the championship honours in Argentine football, with the two giants of Boca plus River Plate together having won more than 50 championships!
Compared to their absolute dominance in the domestic scene, the teams from Buenos Aires are even more breathtaking in South America, with Boca winning the Copa Libertadores 6 times, River Plate 4 times, San Lorenzo once, Atletico Argentina once, Independiente 7 times, and Sarsfield once, for a total of more than 20 wins! The number one football city in South America is well deserved!
Guys, which cities do you think still qualify for the Football City shortlist?