Domestic league

Domestic league is formed by teams scattered throughout the country who compete against each other and who are all vying to be national champions.

With the exception of the small Alpine nation of Liechtenstein, all UEFA members run their own domestic league system. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘pyramid’, with a nationwide first division at the top. Below that, as the pyramid widens, is where things differ. Depending on population size and the number of clubs, divisions will either remain nationwide or eventually split to become regional. That creates the pyramid shape in a diagram.

Focusing on the top tier, the most common format consists of each team playing the other twice – once at home and once away – from fall to spring. Others in colder climates will perhaps run within a single calendar year or have an extended winter break to avoid playing in freezing conditions. In any case, it’s three points for a win, one for a draw, and the team with the most points after all the games is the champion.

When it comes to teams tied for points, leagues define criteria to determine who is ahead. The first of those is often who has the higher goal difference (goals scored minus goals conceded) over the course of the season, followed by goals scored and so on. Some leagues, however, use the head-to-head record between rival teams as the first criteria after points, including away goals, before continuing with other season-spanning statistics. This has been known to go as far as the team with the fewest yellow cards. If needed, teams can also be separated by an additional one-off match, the drawing of lots, or a coin toss.

What may be considered the ‘regular season’ in the USA is in fact just ‘the season’ in most European leagues. For them, any reference to the ‘play-offs’ is usually to do with promotion and relegation (more on that later).

In the Bundesliga, 18 teams play a total of 34 matches each – two against each team, once at home and once away – in a random order set out by the fixture list. The English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1 – the other leagues considered Europe’s “big five” – all consist of 20 teams, resulting in 38 rounds of fixtures.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach, though. Scotland, for example, has three parts to its ‘regular season’. Since the Scottish Premiership consists of only 12 teams, the first 22 rounds of fixtures see them play the customary home and away match against each other. They then play each other a third time, either home or away depending on how the fixtures are drawn.

Once 33 games have been played, the league ‘splits’ into two halves of six teams. Each club will then play five more matches against the other teams in their half. The champion is again the team that finishes with the most points, but teams cannot leave their half of the table. This can result in an odd situation where seventh place may have more points than sixth come the end of 38 games.

Things are even more complex in Belgium. After 30 rounds of fixtures in the 16-team league, the top six then enter the championship play-offs. Their regular season points are halved as they begin a new mini league, playing home and away against each other to determine the champion and also European qualifiers.

As for the remaining 10, the bottom side is relegated but will still compete in the Europa League play-offs with the nine sides above them – as well as the top six teams from the second division. Those teams compete in four groups of four, the winners of which will play a semi-final and then a final for the right to face one of the teams from the championship play-offs for the chance to play in the Europa League. As long as everyone understands the rules, of course, in what is a particularly unusual system.