The goal of this article is to clearly explain the general scheme of how international soccer competitions are organized and played throughout the world. It is important to understand how the organization and structure of international soccer, club league soccer, and club cup soccer to gain a full understanding of how the whole system works.With few exceptions, most notably the USA, this structure applies to all countries with a national soccer league. By the end of this article, readers should understand what types of competitions there are, how they are structured, and how they are different. With this basic understanding, any future research into how soccer competitions work should be easy to understand in context. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that every competition is completely unique, and almost all of them are completely unrelated to each other. That, and that the rest of the world calls soccer "football."
International Soccer (Nations v Clubs)
International soccer is used to describe competitions between countries, as opposed to club soccer, where professional teams play each other (like when the Bengals play the Steelers in the NFL). For example, when USA plays Mexico or when England plays Spain, it is international soccer. The World Cup is an international soccer competition because the teams are all countries. Players play for their country of birth or residence (think Olympics). International soccer competitions are usually simply called international competitions.
To illustrate the difference between international and club soccer, let's use two players from the L.A. Lakers: Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Both players play for the Lakers on a club level. However, on an international level, Kobe Bryant plays for the USA because he is an American, and Pau Gasol plays for Spain because he is from Spain. It is important to remember that teams in international soccer (called national teams) never play competitively against teams in club soccer (called clubs, teams, or sides). So, the Lakers will never play in the World Basketball Championships or the Olympics, because those are international competitions, and Team USA will never play as a team in the NBA. The same applies to soccer. You will not see Manchester United in the World Cup, or England in the Premiership (the name of England's national soccer league: see below).
Timing
As a general rule, in most of the world, club league seasons and Cups are played from August-May/June. And for the most part, international tournaments happen during the summer months (based on Northern Hemisphere seasons). However, this rule has several exceptions. For example, in the USA, the MLS clubs play their season from spring to fall because that is the only way it can compete with the major US sports for viewership (however, a schedule change may be on the way, and would be a big help for increasing the USA's chances of winning a World Cup. Russia also plays its league and Cups from spring to fall due to weather concerns. On the international level, Africa plays its regional competition (discussed below) in January, when the weather is cooler in the hot African nations, and in the summer for the cooler ones in the southern hemisphere.
The only rule here is, there is no rule. Generally, major international competitions are played in the northern hemisphere summer and club competitions from August to May. However, besides the several exceptions, FIFA sets aside certain weeks throughout the year, regardless of the season or month, for exclusively international play, both friendlies (exhibition matches) and qualifying matches for international tournaments.
The World Cup
The World Cup is an international competition, held every fours year, with international teams competing in it. There are 202 countries with national soccer teams, and every four years only 32 compete in the World Cup. Choosing these 32 teams is a long process, which is complicated but can easily be understood. First, the entire world is broken up into six regions, each with a governing body chosen from countries in the region. These regions are Africa (abbreviated CAF for Confederation of African Football), North America, Central American, and the Carribean (CONCACAF: Confederation Of North, Central America and the Carribean Association of Football), South America (CONMEBOL: CONfederación sudaMEricano de futBOL), Oceania, countries in the pacific in the estern hemisphere that are not in Asia (OFC: Oceania Football Confederation), Asia (AFC: Asian Football Confederation), and Europe (UEFA: Union of European Football Associations). FIFA (Federation International de Football Association), the governing body of world soccer, allots each region a certain number of spots for each tournament. Each region has its own rules for determining which countries will represent the region at the world cup.
The regions each also have their own internal competitions between the member nations. These tournaments generally take place every two or four years, depending on the region. The European version, known as the Euro, is held every four years, falling on the even years in between each World Cup, so that every even-numbered year has either a Euro or a World Cup. The CONCACAF version, in which the United States plays, is played every two years, in odd-numbered years. The CONCACAF version is called the Gold Cup, and will be played this year (2011) in June.
In close association with the World Cup is the Confederations Cup. The Confederations Cup is an eight-team tournament held in the summer before each World Cup, in the same country and stadiums as the upcoming World Cup, as a bit of a practice run for the host country and organizing officials. The next one will be in 2013, before the World Cup Brazil 2014. The tournament field consists of the reigning World Cup Champion (Spain), the current host country (Brazil), and the six regional champion national teams that win the last version of their respective regional competitions before the Confederations Cup is held. If a regional champion is already qualified as a host or reigning World Cup winner, then the second-place team from that federation will qualify for the Confederations Cup. This tournament is not terribly prestigious, but it has produced some very exciting moments such as the United States' 2009 edition semifinal win over then world number one Spain, and the thrilling final which saw Brazil defeat the USA 3-2 after being down 0-2 at halftime.
Sources
- www.CONCACAF.com
- www.FIFA.com
- www.realmadrid.com
- www.theFA.com
- www.UEFA.com
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