After an absolutely sports-filled start of the summer, starting with EURO 2024 in Germany followed by the Summer Olympics in Paris, the spotlight is slowly but steadily shifting back to football. It is, after all, the biggest sport in Europe. With the qualifiers for the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League reaching the decisive playoff stage, the domestic leagues are getting into gear one by one as well.
In this overview, we’ll take a look at when the major international football competitions are kicking off and what is the most fun way to follow them, including fantasy leagues and betting options. In order to determine which are, at this moment, the biggest leagues in Europe, we have taken the UEFA’s coefficient ranking as guideline.
England – PREMIER LEAGUE
Season 2024-25 kick-off: Friday, August 16th
In its current format, the English Premier League is not the oldest league in this list, but it is considered the biggest. It was founded on the 20th February 1992, about 32 years ago, as the successor to the First Division, which was the highest level of English football since 1888. In the past decade especially, the Premier League has grown into the biggest league in Europe, mainly thanks to its enormous commercial appeal and its resulting ability to attract many of the best players in the world.
Fittingly, the Premier League is also the source for the biggest fantasy football game on the planet, the Fantasy Premier League (FPL). The free-to-play game was launched in 2002, when it attracted around 75,000 players, and is still going strong. In the past season (2023-24), more than 10 million players created an FPL account. On top of that, basically every major bookmaker in the world offers an extensive range of Premier League bets to make the action even more exciting.
Italy – SERIE A
Season 2024-25 kick-off: Saturday, August 17th
The Italian Serie A has always operated under the same name, unlike the previously mentioned Premier League, but the format did change throughout the years. The first matches were played all the way back in 1898, but it wasn’t until 1929 that the competition adopted the round-robin format it still uses today (as do all other international football leagues in Europe).
In the current UEFA club association ranking, the Serie A finds itself in second place, in big part thanks to a very successful last two seasons. In the 2022-23, for example, Inter Milan reached the Champions League final, city rivals AC Milan were eliminated in the semi-finals, AS Roma played the Europa League final, and Juventus were eliminated in the semi-finals, while Fiorentina made it to the final of the Conference League. Last season, the Italian sides kind of disappointed in the Champions League, but Atalanta Bergamo won the Europa League, AS Roma made it to the semi-finals, and Fiorentina lost the Conference League final to Olympiacos.
As far as fantasy football is concerned, Fantacalcio is recommended, as it’s the official Serie A fantasy football game, much in the style of the previously mentioned Fantasy Premier League. Fantamaster and Kickest are interesting alternatives. Like the Premier League, the Italian Serie A also features prominently amongst the betting offers at all the major bookmakers.
Spain – LA LIGA
Season 2024-25 kick-off: Thursday, August 15th
While both the Premier League and the Serie A are above La Liga in the official UEFA association coefficient ranking, there are more than a few people who actually feel that quality-wise, the best football is played in Spain. There is a lot to say for that point of view, especially when looking at the immense success of record Champions League winners Real Madrid, as well as their rivals FC Barcelona and to a lesser extent Atletico Madrid, and of course the Spanish national team. La Furia Roja won the recent EURO 2024, while the U23 side clinched the Olympic title a month later.
As can be expected from a country that lives and breathes football like Spain, there are a couple of big fantasy football games for those who want to follow the action in a bit more detail. The official La Liga-sponsored fantasy game is called LALIGA FANTASY Manager, but there are a couple of very popular alternatives as well, including LaLigaFantasy MARCA (by one of the country’s most popular news and sports outlets) and Comunio, which has probably the most active community.
Germany – BUNDESLIGA
Season 2024-25 kick-off: Friday, August 23rd
Out of all the international football competitions in this list, the German Bundesliga is relatively the youngest. It was founded in 1963 and while it ranks fourth in the UEFA coefficient ranking, it ranks first in terms of average attendance per game and it has done for some years now. On average, a game at the highest level in Germany last season attracted no less than 39,519 spectators.
It is therefore no surprise that there is also a large fantasy football community in Germany, as well as outside of it. After all, the league will be broadcast in more than 200 countries around the world this year. The official fantasy game is called Bundesliga Fantasy Manager, which is actively supported by the Bundesliga itself with all kinds of content. On top of getting more into the action with this game, fantasy managers also regularly compete for nice prizes like club merchandise. The punters amongst us won’t be disappointed either, as every self-respecting legal bookmaker in the world offers a wide array of Bundesliga betting options.