European Super League 2022-23

UPDATED June 12: Final Standings.

In previous years, some of the the richest clubs of European football announced (and then stepped back) a closed European Super League. They have previously made noise about permanent spots in the UEFA Champions League, as well. If there were a Super League, I would prefer it to be open, with promotion and relegation with the domestic leagues.

Since there are too many "big" clubs for one twenty-team league, I created a twenty-team Super League and a second division with forty teams, split into East and West Leagues. To pick which teams are placed in which leagues, I used the UEFA Club Coefficients from the end of the 2014-15 season. Since then, each season, teams were relegated from the Super League to Division 2, replaced by the East and West champions. Beginning with the 2021-22 season, the two second-place teams of Division 2 will also be promoted to the Super League. Four teams from each Division 2 league will be relegated, replaced by the eight teams that progress the furthest in the Champions League and Europa League. (Ideally, this would just be the final Champions League teams, with the relegated teams automatically qualified for the next season's Champions League so they have the potential for promotion as soon as possible.)

After the previous season, Valencia and Celtic were relegated from the Super League to Division 2 West. Slavia Praha and Olympiacos were relegated from the Super League to Division 2 East. Brugge, Ajax, Zenit and AC Milan were promoted from Division 2 to the Super League. Molde, Granada, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Genk, Spartak Moskva, Dynamo Kyiv, Berner Young Boys and Beşiktaş were relegated to their respective domestic leagues. Sporting Portugal, Real Betis, Real Sociadad, West Ham United, Feyenoord, Leicester City and PSV Eindhoven were promoted to Division 2 West. Sheriff Tiraspol were promoted to Division 2 East. Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and Monaco were moved from West to East.

Here is a map of the sixty teams in the international leagues. Click the rectangle tab thing in the upper left to get to the list where you can deselect the separate divisions.

Here are the final standings.

The standings include only games against teams in a team's division (Super League or Division 2). The first tiebreaker is the number of games played. The second tiebreaker is the UEFA club coefficient rankings.

The teams that will be promoted from the domestic leagues for the 2023-24 season are the eight teams (that aren't in these international leagues) who progress the furthest in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League. These are Fenerbahçe, Ferencváros, Freiburg, Midtjylland, Nantes, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, Union Berlin, and Basel.

US Combined Soccer Leagues 2022

UPDATED March 13, 2023: Final Standings below, updated based on teams in 2023.

Just suppose that many years ago, the US Soccer Federation required all professional teams to play in the same league system. Just suppose that they decided to divide teams vertically into Division 1, Division 2, etc. Just suppose that, each year, they promoted the best teams from Division 2 and relegated the worst teams from Division 1.

And here's the big leap. Just suppose that we didn't have any more teams playing than what we actually have.

In 2022, the USSF has 97 professional men's teams. After the 2021 season, Austin Bold, New Amsterdam, and OKC Energy folded. New teams added to Division 4 are Charlotte FC, Monterey Bay, Central Valley Fuego, Northern Colorado Hailstorm, Bay Cities, Flower City Union, Syracuse Pulse, Valley United, Rochester New York, St. Louis City, and the B teams for Chicago Fire, Cincinnati, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, Houston Dynamo, Minnesota United, New York City, Orlando City, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, and Vancouver Whitecaps.

Here is a map of the teams. Click the rectangle tab thing in the upper left to get to the list where you can deselect the separate divisions.

Here are the final standings:

Since a wonderful home-and-away round robin didn't actually happen in each league above, I substituted that with ranking the teams by points-per-game, including each team's league and cup games played in 2022, only counting games against teams in its division (Division 1, 2, 3 or 4).

Three teams will be relegated from Division 1 and three teams promoted from Division 2. Four teams will be relegated from Division 2, while the best two of each Division 3 league will be promoted. The number of teams moving between Divisions 3 and 4 will be determined by the total number of teams in 2023. At least one team will be relegated from each Division 3 league.

B teams must be in a division below their A teams (unless both are in Division 4), so if an A team is relegated from Division 1 to Division 2, then the B team will be relegated from Division 2 to Division 3, no matter its place in the table.