Scotland's football environment is lightyears behind Croatia. The bottom end of Scottish football is still stuck in the 1980's. I listened to a lot of Scottish podcasts last year when Ange was in charge of Celtic and even the locals bemoaned the relative quality of Scottish football and were wishing for a change in approach. 

I used to think the same about Championship football in England, but so much has changed over there ever since Pep took charge of ManCity and essentially influenced a whole nation to think differently about football. Teams in The Championship are playing far more expansive and progressive football with success than they used to (see Kompany's Burnley as the most recent example). 

Yeah I noticed this after I posted the rankings from an article I was reading. 

I do feel though that in relative terms, the conversation around The Big 5 is changing (at least that 5th spot is). 

When speaking of stepping stones for A-league graduates, I feel as though Netherlands & Belgium provide the best top flight pathways along with The Championship/Buli.2 as a second tier (which both tend to be far more competitive than Scotland). 

The antithesis  of Scotland. 

Croatia is doing wonders in international football for its small size. Whilst Scotland isn't. We had a few Scottish residents on here saying international football isn't important!

I'm not surprised with this UEFA ranking, except Scotland at 9th?

Outside Celtic and Rangers,  few other Scottish teams would play outside Scotland much to appraise their relative strength?

Also, they are the only league in that top 10 where the national te Scottish team consistently fails to make Euro Champs or World Cup tournaments.

UEFA coefficients show it differently

If you're looking at it simply as what's the best league to go to as an aspiring soccerooo, you probably wouldn't have Serie A anywhere near the top 5. Seems it's now only a target for Italian Australians and when they get there they absorb a lot of energy moving them off the roos

Funnily enough, the HT came about following discussion about which were the best leagues for Australians to move to, to improve as footballers and ultimately improve the National Team, largely in response to recognition among forumites that having players in the English lower leagues didn’t improve Socceroos chances. 

Get an idea of either Italian or Spanish gets you by pretty good for those not with ethnic backgrounds.
Yer not hard today to get the fundamentals with the mobile in hand nowadays but you got to want to do it !
Mind you the best language is your football skill and attitude :) 

The surprising thing there is that Belgium is above Holland, considering the relative stature of the leagues directly compared to each other. Both countries are sound choices to play in.

You can pretty much break down "euro" languages into 3 big groups from the indo-european language family. That excludes some outliers like the absolute minefield of Hungarian which is not in that family. After that you get latin (romance), germanic and slavic languages. latin based languages are a walk in the park. Slavic as a second speaker, good luck with that but possible. It's not just how difficult (read: different in logic) that the languages are, but the preparedness of natives to speak it with you rather than responding in English. You'll get some resitance from romance speakers but the ease of learning them keeps you in the fight. German speakers (maybe not all of the languages though) are thrilled that you try and even correct you which I find sweet compared to slavs which are a mixture of racist or terrified. Spoken from experience :D

belgium being 5th is amazing

club elo still has france as 5th and belgium a fair bit lower

Probably not as many as previous years though. Well not fluently anyway.
It's definitely something young players should think about if they are pursuing a football career. Way easier to learn a language when you are young. Especially with these phone apps that only take 5-20 mins a day. A player with even basic conversational French, Spanish or German (or all three), is going to have a huge leg up over there.

PLUS, a significant number of players heading out to Euro leagues already speak more than one language... The benefits of a multicultural society :P

It is if you put in the time and make the effort. Languages are even easier to learn if you are living in the country and are surrounded by the language. The mobile apps around now also make it way easier than it would have been 10+ years ago. Obviously some languages are more challenging than others and speaking can be very different to reading/writing if there is a new alphabet to learn. However, for the most part, the main Euro languages are pretty easy to learn if you take the time to learn.

Also trying to learn a new language isnt easy as it is especially trying to fit into the current working environment quickly, which is why more Aussie players go to the UK providing they have a passport.

But thats been historically been like that too, however there is value in playing in the continent especially that might suit the players skill sets more.

It's not of the quality of those leagues but the SPL has been a good gateway to Europe for our players. It may not be where you want them to end their journey but it provides more football and the opportunity to be seen by more English and continental teams/leagues. It's an important entry and stepping stone. 

Regards this re bundled new Top 5.
Putting aside Bundas/LLiga are either 1 or 2 horse races.
Liga has provided 6 CL winners since 2013.
EPL more recent 3.
Bundas 1.
SerieA been MIA CL winner as far back as 09/10. Inter ruuners up recently.
So strength wise the top 4 reads to script barring Belguim clubs overall not amongst or near trophys.
SerieA has been coming back the last few seasons incl better results in Europa, hope they keep being on the up.

Whereas the LaLiga in Europa are the Kings having won it 9times since 09/10.
Seville 5time winners.
Bundas Club 1.
Portugese 1.
EPL 3.

I maybe all over the shop looking at it this way compared to others.

yer good topic r_laces, your name is too damn lonnnnng :)

Interesting when thinking about the WC form of Croatia the last 3/4 - their domestic league ranks 18th ?

The Championship, its amazing its pull......
The Championship is the wealthiest non-top-flight football division in the world, the ninth-richest division in Europe,^[2] and the tenth best-attended division in world football (with the highest per-match attendance of any secondary league)
The ranking I see its 11th here, maybe your site is more up to date for it differs to this
https://www.globalfootballrankings.com/

Another league that rates ok is the Russian re development.
They are hot and cold in the WC but have developed some good players over the years.

Going the Johnny Warren old passion imagine some up and comers getting a gig in the Brasileiro or Liga MX.
Or the Argies Primera comp.

Trouble for our guys is language and aussie - unless your a stand out its just harder and harder work being given a chance over a local or known euro/latino etc with connections.

Thanks a bunch for posting this, R's L.

I had no  idea that France had dropped out of  the Big 5?

There is an excellent Youtube site - I've forgotten the name of the guy who has done it? It compares the  UEFA   Big Five leagues a year or so ago. There is less money in France, but impressively it had easily the highest number of domestic players.

When I used to have TV access  the Big Five, it was  the quality of the lower ranked team that impressed me in France. One of  the other members  of this  forum lives in France and basically said players usually needed to be fluent in French before they recruited them. 

The same YT guy, set up another YT post, where he compared the global Big Seven leagues ( adding Brazil and Argentina too), using data  and how they compared in international football. Over the last 5-6 World Cups, France has been the most consistent performer. So there may be an argument that what they do overall in the French football  scenario, provides quality international footballers - who perform well outside Europe too.

Conversely, a team like Belgium, despite being high quality in Europe, has done little outside UEFA countries.

Also looking at your list, Switzerland ranked at 10th have been improving as an international football team.  Conversely,Turkey's league, ranked 9th, have struggled.

Having visited Switzerland, in an article  they paid homage to Roy Hodgson, for assisting their national framework/paradigm. I imagine they would be very efficient at  organising  models of recruitment and talent spotting  from youth to big clubs.

Turkey is a  paradox . I've never seen so much street football played anywhere. I think it  is the most football mad country I've visited  - exceeding Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, England and Scotland. Whereas football, in relative terms, doesn't appear to be prominent in Switzerland  at all.

In discussions on this forum, there has been much praise for what was often referred to as the "holy trinity" for Australian youth development—comprising the Belgium Pro League, Dutch Eredivisie, and Germany's Buli.2. These leagues were considered excellent pathways for young Australian players to advance their skills and careers. With France now dropping out of the Big 5 league rankings, the emphasis on Belgium as a top destination for Australian players to develop their game has been reinforced.

Recently, Buli.2 has proven to be a favorable environment for Australian players, and The Championship in England can also be seen as a similar destination offering valuable opportunities for growth. On the other hand, countries like Italy, Spain, and France are known to present cultural challenges for players to settle into, and their leagues tend to prioritize players with national heritage ties. Portugal falls into this category as well, with many Australian players struggling to make an impact there. Interestingly, Turkey has shown more promise as a destination for European player development compared to Portugal.

Given the current rankings, it seems that the "holy trinity" concept resonates with many on the forum, as the Belgium Pro League, Dutch Eredivisie, and Buli.2 remain among the best destinations for Australian footballers to consider once they graduate from the A-league. The European League rankings, as of June 30, 2023, are as follows:

1. England (Premier League)
2. Italy (Serie A)
3. Germany (Bundesliga)
4. Spain (LaLiga)
5. Belgium (Belgian Pro League)
--------------------------------------------
6. Netherlands (Eredivisie)
7. France (Ligue 1)
8. Portugal (Liga Portugal)
9. Turkey (Süper Lig)
10. Switzerland (Swiss Super League)

These rankings provide valuable insights for aspiring Australian players looking to make informed decisions about their career paths and opportunities in European football.