Primer: English Premier League (Nuts & Bolts Part 2)

[This is part 2 of the third part of a 4-part series]

Well, the season's just under way, so it's time me to finish up this guide (see parts 1 and 2 here and here).

I've told you about the basic structure of the Premier League; now I need to fill in some of the blank spaces.

In part 1 I told you (in an aside I made during a self-aggrandizing digression) that a team gets 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. There are no points for losing. For the most part this determines in which places teams finish. Should two (or more) teams finish with the same amount of points, the tie is broken by looking at the teams' goal differential: # of goals scored minus # of goals allowed.

Another important piece of information that shapes the campaigns of the teams among the League's elite is the UEFA Champions League. UEFA is the Union of European Football Associations. They oversee a hybrid league/tournament that runs from August through May, just like domestic leagues in each of the major countries across Europe.

The Champions League consists of the best teams across Europe, who qualify based on the domestic position the previous season. This is where the big money is. The television revenue earned by teams that are consistently in the Champions League--and consistently advance from the starting group of 32 teams to the final 16--separates the giants from everyone else, e.g. the teams you've likely heard of: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan. More money and more glory means you're more likely to attract the best players (which means you'll sell the most jersey in Asia...and the rich get richer.

Playing in the Champions League shapes the domestic campaigns of the teams involved because it means playing they'll be playing lots more games, which means:
more fatigue by simply playing more
more fatigue by playing games closer together after traveling around Europe
more injuries
focus pulled away from less glamorous domestic games
more games means rotating more players through the line-up which can make "chemistry" tricky

Taken together, this means that a team still involved in chasing the Premier League title, the Champions League and the FA Cup will really have their hands full. Depending on the relative strength of some teams, their fans (and coaches and players) may consider that being knocked out or dropping out of contention may be a blessing in disguise for pursuing more likely trophies.

How does a team qualify for the Champions League? An arcane calculation determines the strength of the leagues; the top 4 teams from the top 3 leagues (Spain, Italy, England) qualify, the top 3 from leagues 4 through 6, and so on. There are a few more wrinkles here that I'm going to skip. If you do catch the bug, you'll eventually pick this stuff up on your own.

Is the Champions League the only European tournament? Of course not! That would be too simple. There is a second, lesser hybrid league/tournament, called (after a name change last year) the Europa League. In England, generally clubs 5 through 7 qualify for this tournament.

[NOTE: In the olden days--which pretty much means before the 1990s when we're talking about European football--the Champions League was called the European Cup and only consisted of the champions from each league; the Europa League was called the Cup Winners' Cup and consisted of teams that won their league's domestic cup competition.]

Let's put this all in the context of what's so entertaining about following the Premier League in comparison and contrast with the Big 3 American sports: with regard to the structure of the League (or leagues, as we've seen), the answer is, in a word, depth.

There are multiple goals at stake at multiple places throughout the league table against different kinds of competition in different formats.

Stated differently, there's a lot of shit going on. I've found that appeals to me. Perhaps it will to you as well.

Ok, that's the Nuts & Bolts.

On to the other cool stuff that makes the Premier League interesting, in part 4 of this 3-part series.