[Spareribs]

I'm developing an interest in football. Some basic questions here:

Which teams are very popular in Europe?

Is there a name or names of the leagues?

Can I see the games on the tele in America?

 

[jayehs]

In the Premier League (English top tier league), Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal are the most popular.

In La Liga (Spanish top tier league), Real Madrid and Barcelona.

In Serie A (Italian top tier league) - AS Roma, Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan

I don't really keep up with other leagues but Bayern Munich in Germany, Celtics from Scotland, Benfica and FC Porto from Portugal are some other notable clubs.

Unfortunatelyl, only very few games are televised here. You can subscribe to specialty channels like Setanta to catch more games. I've seen few Premier League games on Saturdays on espn.

 

[craiglester]

Fox Soccer Channel has matches from the English Premier League, and I believe Spanish and Italian leagues also.

I watch out for games when my team (Portsmouth) is playing, but they're not so "popular" so they don't get as much coverage as the glamour clubs :/

 

[indigo]

You can watch free football games every week here:

http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/

Also, check Sky Sports/ Football and ESPN Soccernet websites to get news and info about the game.

 

[tim_the_gamer]

If you're just getting into it, a good place to start is the Champion's League. You'll get to see the best of the best play here as it's Europe's highest level club tournament.

Some UEFA Champion's League matches can be seen in the US on ESPN2. Tomorrow (Wed 11/7/07) at 2:30p est is Manchester United v. Dynamo Kiev followed by Barcelona v. Rangers at 5pm on ESPN Classic.

You can always look into streaming live games onto your pc. Checkout sopcast, ppstream... etc. A few places to get you started: football4less.com and live-footy.org
That will keep you busy

And if you feel like paying for the streams, ESPN offers the service and so does Setanta (as mentioned before), Fox Soccer (for English Premier League), and SerieA.tv (for the Serie A of Italy).

Spanish language channels like Telemundo, Telefutura, and Galavision sometimes carry European games on the weekends, but they mostly focus on Central and South America. RAI carries some Serie A matches on weekends, and RTP carries matches from Portugal league.

I have Fox Soccer Channel and Gol Tv on my cable package. That might be an option for you... plenty of soccer there. ESPN Deportes (Spanish language) covers pretty much every Champion's League match too.

As it is, between these 2 dedicated soccer channels, the 3 ESPN's, the Spanish language channels, and streams on the PC, I couldn't miss a game unless I tried

There are a lot of options for watching soccer in the US. Just have to look around a bit... Enjoy

 

[Chickenman]

Check out youtube to watch some highlights. Some are very well done and the names of the players might be shown in the video. This will help you get introduced to the beauty of soccer.

If you want to see some quality skills, search superstars like Ronaldinho, Messi, and so on..

Good luck with your less-expensive than headphones pastime!

 

[ENT]

I subscribe to Gol TV premium just to watch La Liga... the best decision you could ever make - for watching la liga, also bundesliga is on a lot

 

[ls20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENT /img/forum/go_quote.gif I subscribe to Gol TV premium just to watch La Liga... the best decision you could ever make - for watching la liga, also bundesliga is on a lot

Agreed here. Premiership is the prominent league, but I find La Liga matches much, much more exciting. There seems to be more parity, too, from a fan's perspective (not on the standings table).

Best thing about La Liga on Gol TV is announcer Ray Hudson is a hilarious man.

Fox Sports Soccer + Gol TV = lots of footy

 

[dbfreak]

Played a lot of soccer in South America. Came to the land of know it alls and they didn't even consider soccer a sport.

 

[Arjisme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbfreak /img/forum/go_quote.gif Played a lot of soccer in South America. Came to the land of know it alls and they didn't even consider soccer a sport.

^^^adding nothing to the discussion.

I watch mostly Premiership games on Fox Soccer Channel. Their games are often like track meets and it's generally top quality play. Chelsea have been the dominant team in recent years, but Manchester United is a traditional power and won the Premiership title last season. So now the question is whether they will repeat or will Chelsea reclaim the title? And both of them actually need to worry about Arsenal, who are playing great and currently are tied with Man U in the standings.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I used to be a big soccer fan and a Man United fan about 4-5 years back. Havent been following much since then, but the Champions League is always fun, check it out if you get a chance