Most of you probably know very little of the Eredivisie and the Jupiler Pro League, the highest football leagues of respectively the Netherlands and Belgium. The Netherlands and Belgium are both small countries and there football leagues aren’t very big either, but football is really popular in both countries. Maybe you know some of the bigger clubs from the European tournaments, but beside some very rare achievements in the Champions League or Europa League, you probably can’t name a lot of clubs from either country.
However, there is a lot of potential in football of the Netherlands and Belgium. There leagues attract many viewers from their respective country and football is really popular. The biggest problem is that the countries just aren’t that big, the Netherlands have 17 million residents and Belgium almost 12 million. This is nothing compared to the top 5 biggest football leagues: Germany (83 million) United Kingdom (67 million, France (67 million), Italy (59 million) and Spain (47 million). This gap is so huge that is impossible to cover up. So how is it ever possible for the Netherlands and Belgium to compare, or even come close, to these big countries?
The only option for the Netherlands and Belgium to even try and get close is to merge the two leagues together. Together, the two countries represent 29 million people, which could give a huge boost to their football leagues. You can think of multiple benefits, for example: more big games (super Sundays), more viewers per game, a higher level of football in general, a more attractive competition, more revenue etc.. So with these benefits in mind, you would say the BeNeliga (the name for the league of Belgium and the Netherlands) is a logical step for both countries.
But why isn’t the BeNeLiga not set up yet? If you look at the examples above you would say it’s a no-brainer. However, there are many opinions from both sides and there are also some cons. In the upcoming articles we’re going through both the Dutch and the Belgium view on this topic and we’re also going to dig deeper into the pros and cons on this topic.
Now that you know a little bit of the BeNeLiga, what would you decide? Go or no-go?
I would really like to keep reading on this topic. I find it very interesting, because it's something I would've never thought of doing. I think it could be a very benefitial thing for both leagues in the future. It is something which I know has been done before, US & Canada for the MLS. It has been a huge success and both leagues benefited a lot. I think changes like these can give more exposure to small leagues, and a bigger chance for the teams in these leagues to become more competitive.
ReplyDeleteHi Sebastian, Thank you for your reply!
DeleteI have to agree that there were a lot of advantages for both Canada and the United States, but I do think there is a difference with Belgium and the Netherlands. I think there was already a long travel time in the North American countries, which is not in Belgium and the Netherlands. Besides that, football is a far more influential and important sport in Europe than North America, which means big changes like making a joint league are far more drastic.
I am not saying no to the BeNeliga, but can you agree that it would be different than what the MLS is now?
This was very interesting to read and learn something new. I know that Belgium and Netherlands are big football forces, but I have never read about BeNeLiga and I did not know that they want to merge to became even bigger, which does not seem as a bad idea and could be very beneficial for both of them, but for sure it is much more tricker and harder than it seems.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of any of those leagues and I think merging both countries would allow them bigger opportunities to coming closer to bigger leagues like the ones that are mentioned. I would like to know not only what these two countries think of this merge, but also what other countries from other leagues have said about that. Maybe they would think it is unfair for two leagues to merge, has any country showed negative comments on this?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know these leagues before and even less knew that there was an option to merge them, but I think it could be a good solution for the Netherlands and Belgium leagues. I believe that this merger could generate considerable economic gains, gradually catching up with other major leagues in Europe.
ReplyDeleteI sit in a position totally against this concept con “BeNe Liga”. I do not want to be biased by my South-American roots but I can not believe how is it possible to stand in favor of this idea using arguments such as the amount of residents both countries have when we can go and take a look at how successful Uruguayan soccer has been over the years regarding the fact that their population is around 3 million of people?
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I think this idea of mixing the different cultures, only makes both countries lose their cultural value as nations. As it does giving the 2026 world cup organization to three different countries (Mexico, U.S, and Canada), I wish we could back on time and stay with tournaments like the 2010 world cup in South Africa, where there were no mixes of countries.
This is a very interesting proposal to merge both leagues, however, I believe that there many factors other than increasing viewership by merging both populations. There are still very powerful leagues out there, with very high viewership. All star players play in Europe's top 5 leagues, and whoever isn't, aspires to play there one day. If it was a no brainer to merge both leagues, I don't think they would've taken that long to do it. It's difficult and risky in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYoussef Saleh