The Headbutt coming to MLS

According to mediotiemp.com the Brititsh News Paper "The Sun" has reported that the LA Galaxy have made an offer of $50 million to Zinedine Zidane for one season. Dont know how this will fit with the MLS salary cap rules, but if Zidane does accept the offer the MLS will add another international superstar. England and Mexico now have a reason to watch MLS, with this signing the MLS will add France to that list increasing its visibility. We just have to wait and see.

Mexican League, top 5 in the World, MLS 84th.

According to IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics)
Mexico has the 5th best league in the world.

IFFHS League Rankings

The top 10 Leagues According to IFFHS:
Ranking 1st Division of: Points
1 Spain 602
2 Brazil 568
3 England 550
4 Argentina 548
5 Mexico 486.5
6 Italy 479.0
7 France 386.5
8 Colombia 364.5
9 Germany 361
10 Chile 342.5


IFHHS didn't base their ranking on average player salary or how much each club in the league is worth or how much the league generates. They based it strictly on participation on continental tournaments such as Champions League, Libertadores, UEFA Cup and Copa Sudamericana. Also the ranking was favorable to leagues which featured a broad range of teams participating in these continental type tournaments. So a League with 1 Good team, even if that team is the best in the world, is going to be ranked lower than a League with 2 or more good teams.

Mexican Leagues high ranking can be attributed to good participation in Libertadores.
Mexican teams have participated in Libertadores 21 different times, failing to get into knockout round only 3 times. This year all 3 Mexican teams reached the knockout round.

In Sudamericana Cup Mexican teams first started participating in 2005. So far the worst showing has been 1 Quarter finals exit. The rest are Semis, or finals, including last year’s Pachuca championship.

Mexico is ranked high for the similar reasons that Brazil is ranked 2nd. In the last 2 years The Brazilian Champion goes on to become the Libertadores Champion and then goes on to become World Champion at FIFA Club World Cup. This would mean that at least for now the Libertadores is above Champions League. Add to this the fact that in the last 2 Libertadores 6 different Mexicans teams participated and you can begin to see why Mexico is considered a strong AND balanced league.

Interesting Note: MLS was ranked 84th, probably due to lack of continental participation. MLS only has a participation in Copa Sudamericana, in 2005, and no participation in Libertadores. MLS along with U.S. Soccer need to change their view on South American tournaments if they really expect MLS to grow.

MLS, doing a couple things right this week.

I for one like the two additions MLS made this week. I like that the MLS is trying to set the foundation to have other countries interested in MLS. By signing Cuauhtemoc Blanco, all of Mexico will now be interested in what happens in MLS and how Blanco does in MLS. The same can be said for England with Beckham. The next step is to try to get both England and Mexico to purchase International TV rights. In Mexico this has already started with FOX Sports Español purchasing MLS rights to certain Chicago Fire games.

MLS needs to continue this trend. Don’t just bring in good players into the league, but also bring in players that already have an established fan following. This will only help the league by increasing the demand for MLS television rights in foreign countries.

Futbol (Football) makes it's living from TV Rights and the selling of these rights. This is why English Premier League is so successful. They take the best players from France, Korea, Portugal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, China, Netherlands and many other countries and let them shine in Premier. These countries then have to buy the International Rights so local fans can watch their stars.

When Osorio and Pardo signed with Stuttgart, Telemundo jumped on and purchased the rights to Stuttgart games so Mexican soccer fans in the U.S.A could follow the two Mexican internationals. Telemundo purchased the tape-delay rights. When Salcido went to PSV, Telemundo jumped on PSV rights. I totally expect Telemundo to jump on the Deportivo Coruña TV Rights for Andres Guardado games, even if it continues to be on tape-delay.

This year in anticipation to the Blanco and Beckham signing, and to counter Telemundo, Univision purchased MLS rights and will show MLS games on Telefutura Network. (Univision owns both Telefutura and Galavision). That means that this year you'll probably be able to find a lot more MLS games on free-to-air TV, even if you have to learn a little Spanish.