La Liga was first formed back in 1927 by Jose Maria Acha, and it was agreed that ten teams would be included in Spain’s ‘Primera División’. Barcelona won the very first Liga in 1929, but the league was brought to a halt by the Spanish Civil War.
The Premier League may have only been in existence since 1992, when English football entered a new era of previously unimaginable affluence, but the English top division is the oldest in world football. It has been won 18 times by both Liverpool and Manchester United, who head a list of 23 champions that includes such names as Huddersfield, Portsmouth and the two Sheffield clubs.
The Serie A Championship title is referred to as the Scudetto (small shield) because the winning team will wear a small coat of arms with the Italian flag on their jersey in the following season. The most successful league club is Juventus F.C. with 28 championships, followed by A.C. Milan with 18. For every ten titles won, a club is allowed to wear a golden star above their club badge; so Juventus has two stars, while Milan and Internazionale have one star each.
It was 1963 that the Bundesliga was formed. Before the top divisions were divided into regional groups, and many regional leagues were not strong enough to challenge the giants. The establishment of the Bundesliga is said to have brought a lift in competitiveness for German football on the international level.
Prior to 1930, professionalism in French football was non-existent. In July 1930, the National Council of the French Football Federation voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. Professionalism was officially implemented in 1932, and the league was limited to twenty clubs.