When David Beckham went from the English Premier League’s
Manchester United to Spain’s Real Madrid in 2003, it set off such a furor that
Beckham’s first workout with Real Madrid was televised on pay-per-view.
Put it this way, had the Pope been caught that day making out with Britney
Spears in a New York synagogue where Osama Bin Laden was openly tithing, it
would have been lost on page three of most European newspapers.
Such is magnitude of Beckham in Europe. Combine Brad Pitt’s
looks with a brilliant right leg and wrap it up with a marriage to Posh Spice,
and all of Europe and Asia becomes screaming teen-agers.
“When I was 7, I wanted to be a footballer, but when I was
14, I wanted to be a model. Look where it's put me now,” Beckham has famously
said.
That Beckham likely doesn’t rank in the Top-50 of the top
players in the world is a testament to the ongoing popularity of soccer in
Europe. If anything, the game is continuing to grow with the insurgence of mass
media and the Internet. A web search for Real Madrid will bring nearly
3,000,000 results.
Leagues
Around the Globe
Of course, one look at the Spanish team’s roster will show
why it has become the most popular, if not the most successful, team in Europe.
Fielding a soccer fantasy team has become Real Madrid’s goal it appears.
Brazil’s Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, France’s Zinedine Zidane, Spain’s Raul,
Italy’s Luis Figo and England’s Beckham and Michael Owen provide the offense,
while no one in particular supplies the defense. This make’s 4-3 scores the
norm for Real Madrid, and only adds to the excitement.
Barcelona, led by Brazilian Ronaldinho Gaucho (who was named
as the No.-1 player in Europe by FIFA) won the Spanish League title in 2005.
The English Premier League continues to enjoy unprecedented
success, even with the recent lackluster play of Manchester United. Arsenal and
Chelsea have become the teams to watch, with Arsenal’s Thierry Henry taking
his spot as the EPL’s top player.
The German Bundesliga has kept alive its reputation as the
roughest league in the world. A red card or ejection can normally only be
earned in a normal Bundesliga game only if a decapitation is somehow involved.
Top leagues in Holland, Italy and Scotland are continuing to thrive as well.
In the Americas, Mexico’s national league consistently draws
jaw-dropping numbers of fans, while in South America, there’s no way to
accurately describe the importance of soccer on society. Perhaps former Spanish
soccer star Luis Suarez put it best: “In Latin America the border between
soccer and politics is vague. There is a long list of governments that
have fallen or been overthrown after the defeat of the national team.”
Leagues in Brazil and Argentina keep the fans happy, though
many of the best players in South America end up playing in the more wealthy
European leagues.