Colombia’s soccer league has been named among 10 best in the world in 2014 for the second consecutive year, proving once again just how successful last year was for Colombian soccer.
The Primera A soccer league was classified as the 9th best national league in the world in the latest ranking determined by the International Federation of Football and Statistics (IFFHS), a German soccer statistics firm.
The world ranking for the strongest national leagues has been prepared annually by the IFFHS since 1991 on the basis of all national (championship, cup) and (inter)continental (confederations & FIFA club competitions) results of the clubs. According to the organization “this principle has proved to be a very sensitive and an objective indicator.”
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The league managed to maintain last year’s fantastic result, clenching the first 10 ahead of such prominent national competitions as the Belgian, Russian, Mexican and even the Dutch leagues. Additionally, Colombia has the third best league in the region, edged out only by Argentina and Brazil.
The 9th spot is historical for Colombian soccer. In 2013, the national league laid on a remote 21st place.
The high position can be largely attributed to successful campaigns by Atletico Nacional from Medellin in the Copa Sudamericana and the Copa Libertadores.
Spain’s Primera Division retained the first place for the fifth time in the row thanks to the extraordinary performance of Spanish teams.
Italy’s Serie A came second in the pecking order improving last years record (4th) and somewhat surprisingly eclipsing the most popular soccer league in the world, the English Premier League, which settled on the third spot.
The high position of the Colombian league’s tops off one of the best years in the country’s soccer history. The national team led by coach Jose Pekerman climbed up to the third spot in the FIFA world ranking and left a positive impression with their forward-minded play and youthful enthusiasm during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Apart from two narrow defeats to Brazil, Colombia won nine and drew two games last year, scoring a total of 25 goals in 11 games.
Sources
- La Liga colombiana sigue como la novena del mundo (La Vanguardia)
- The world’s strongest national league 2014 (IFFHS)