Americans love football. Europeans love soccer. That’s two famous but different sports. But also the structure of the season, the competitions, the game days, the fan culture, and even how clubs sign new players is different.
If you don’t know a lot about either one of these sports systems this comparison is going to help you a lot in understanding the basics. After reading you will be ready to discuss everything about the next soccer season or this year’s Super Bowl.
The season
The soccer season in most European countries starts in mid-August. Every team plays against every opponent in your league twice. One game at home and one away game. You get three points for a win, one for a tie, and no points for a loss. Whoever has the most points at the end of the season, which is usually mid or end of May, wins the league. Pretty simple. The worst teams of a season get relegated to the next lower league while their best teams get promoted. Then between May and August, the clubs can use the time to practice and prepare for the next season. There are sometimes also national games but more on that later.
In football, the year consists of three parts. In the preseason every team plays three games. The teams are responsible for scheduling these games. The regular season consists of 17 games in 17 weeks. 32 Teams are playing in two conferences. They play against teams from their own but also teams from the other conference. But who exactly each team is playing against is very complicated. After these 18 weeks, the postseason starts. The best team of each conference qualified. The second to seventh place has to play in a Wild-Card-Round to get qualified. After that, it’s only knockout games, and then comes what every American is waiting for. The Super Bowl. This is the most important trophy in Football. It usually takes place in early February. The time until the next season starts is the off-season. During this time practice, draft players, or recover a little bit.
“So all the teams play 17 games to make the playoffs. And if they keep winning they go to the Super – Bowl. That’s the goal.” ~ Caleb Wagner, a big football fan at Jenison High School.
Other competitions
Besides the normal league, there are a few other competitions in soccer. Depending on if and on what place a club finished the last season they can play in the Champions League, Europa League, or European Conference League. These three all work the same. Teams from all over Europe are playing against each other in groups of four teams. Everyone plays against everyone twice like in the league. The first two teams of each group advance to the knockout stage on which end is the final. Winning the Champions League is one of the greatest accomplishments in Soccer.
Most leagues also have something like a League Cup. Every team from the country plays against each other in a knockout – stage with a final. It is nice to win it but the other competitions are way more important.
In American Football there are no such competitions, the only one is the NFL. And in Soccer, there is one more important thing. It is the national team. There are European Championships and World Championships every four years. These usually take place in June and July. Winning one of these titles is a big goal for many players.
“In Spain, we have something like a Spanish Supercup. All the teams from Spain play against each other in a playoff system until there is a winner.” ~ Luca Carmona Abascal, Spanish exchange student on the Jenison Soccer Junior Varsity Team.
Transfers and Drafts
In soccer, any club can sign any player. But the player and the club he is playing for have to agree. Then both clubs negotiate the transfer fee. After successful negotiations, the new club negotiates with the player about his contract. The player is bound to the contract so can’t leave if there is no other Club that wants to sign him. If the contract expires and the club does not renew it the player is a “free agent”. Then any other club can sign him without a transfer fee.
The biggest difference in football is that there are no transfer fees. Clubs can trade players only against other players or draft picks. The draft is during the off-season and consists of 7 rounds. In each round, each team gets to pick one young player who got out of college. The team with the worst record in the last season can pick first. For both drafts and trades players are bound to the club’s decisions in most cases. Besides that, there is also a salary cap to secure fairness and equal chances for all clubs.
In Soccer, there is also some kind of financial fair play. There are salary caps and a maximal amount clubs can spend in each transfer window. But it doesn’t secure as much fairness as there is in the NFL. So clubs that have rich sponsors are usually more successful than other ones.
“The worst teams from the last season get to pick first, so they have better chances to get good players and improve in the next season” ~ Christopher Hill, former high school football player.
Can those sports learn anything from each other?
This is a part where Soccer can learn a lot from football. Because of the draft system of the NFL, all Clubs have almost the same chances to be successful over a longer time. So the presidents of the soccer leagues should think about using some of these rules. In contrast, football could include another competition than the NFL. It could be a League Cup, international tournaments, or even national teams. Or even something completely new like a “state team”. In this team the best players from each state would play together. It doesn’t matter what but there is enough time during the long off-season.
“I think football could include something like ‘la Copa de España’” ~ Luca Carmona Abascal.
There are a lot more small things that are different in these sports. Football games have a lot of other entertainment and a lot of commercials. In contrast, in soccer games the biggest entertainment comes from the fans themselves. And the fan culture is a lot bigger than in the US.
But now you should know enough to be ready for all the discussions about the next season.
