Big Five (association Football)

The Big Five refers to the association football markets of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. , they are the five European leaders in size and popularity of the main domestic football leagues – the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 respectively in men's football, and the Women's Super League, Frauen-Bundesliga, Liga F, Serie A, and Première Ligue respectively in women's football.

In Europe, the 32 most prominent football clubs have been ranked by their Enterprise Value (EV) since 2016 through the Football Benchmark data and analytics platform, a service of Ace Advisory, which specializes in data-driven sports and leisure business consultancy. In the 2023 rankings, clubs from the Big Five leagues reached a record presence, with 29 representatives accounting for 97% of the total aggregate EV, underscoring their continued financial dominance. The Premier League, often considered the most competitive and financially lucrative league, generates billions in revenue annually and boasts a worldwide audience. Similarly, Germany's Bundesliga is celebrated for its high attendance rates and fan engagement. La Liga in Spain is the home to global giants like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, the most valuable and successful club worldwide, including domestic, European and international club competitions. Italy's Serie A, known for its tactical sophistication, has a rich history of European and world champions. France's Ligue 1, while often seen as the underdog comparing to the other Big Five leagues, regarding enterprise value and winning European and international titles, continues to produce world-class talent and is home to Paris Saint-Germain, a club with significant international influence.

In women's football, these leagues have been pivotal in increasing the sport's visibility and professional standards. The Women's Super League in England and Frauen-Bundesliga in Germany are among the top destinations for elite female footballers, contributing significantly to the growth of the sport. Spain's Liga F, Italy's Serie A, and France's Division 1 Feminine have made substantial strides in professionalizing women's football and drawing in larger audiences and sponsorships.

Summary

Men's competitions

Women's competitions

Market

Driven by the boost from the 2022 FIFA World Cup, revenue in the European football market grew by 16% in the 2022–23 season, reaching €35.3billion. The 'big five' domestic leagues continued to dominate, generating €19.6billion—or 56%—of the total market. According to Deloitte, their combined revenue is projected to rise to €20.8billion in the 2024–25 season, accounting for 53% of the market, underscoring their central role in shaping global men's football. In the ‘big five’ leagues, broadcast revenue has traditionally been the primary source of income for clubs. However, its sluggish growth in recent years has led many clubs to pursue greater control over both their earnings and how they expand them. The 2022–23 season saw record-breaking matchday (€2.8bn) and commercial (€7.6bn) revenues, indicating that efforts to diversify income streams are beginning to pay off. Building strong and varied revenue sources not only enhances financial resilience amid ongoing change but also supports compliance with financial regulations, enables investment in player retention and recruitment, and boosts appeal to external investors. Within the Big Five, England's Premier League is considerably larger than the other four in terms of both popularity and wealth, with both factors influencing the other; league wealth is mostly derived from selling broadcasting rights to global markets based on the league's popularity worldwide, with competing bids. The German Bundesliga enjoys the highest average match attendance, while brand value is strongest in the main teams of Spain's La Liga, namely Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations have significantly enhanced the financial performance of European football. These regulations eradicated overdue payables and converted an aggregate net loss of EUR 1.7 billion in 2010–11 into a net profit of EUR 579 million in 2016–17. Additionally, net equity positions, reflecting the balance sheet solvency or financial health of European first division clubs, have markedly improved over the past decade, as in the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of net equity for the Big Five leagues, which has ranged from 7.5% in England to 17.9% in France.

''Bleacher Report'' noted that the Big Five all benefit from having "developed their own 'brand' of how football should be played." The website suggested that the Netherlands' top league Eredivisie was considered similarly to the Big Five in footballing terms, but did not reach the same popularity or funding levels because it is overlooked by international fans in favour of the Five.

Quality

The Big Five are seen as the collective leagues where the best players in the world go to develop and shine, and it is accepted that the Big Five "represent the pinnacle of European football". However, football fans, particularly in different regions, often debate the quality of each league compared to the others. , the Big Five lead the UEFA coefficient for both men's and women's domestic leagues in Europe. The coefficient ranks on performance of domestic teams in European competitions; football analytics website ''Breaking the Lines'' suggested that the continued dominance of the Big Five in the coefficient for men's football relies on teams from other nations – which may be as good or better than Big Five teams when fielding their best XI – thinking there is more security in aiming for domestic titles rather than European ones, and Big Five teams having the resources available to perform in both. The dominance of recent times is particularly evident in the most prestigious club competition in European football in the UEFA Champions League, in which only teams from the Big Five have participated in the finals since the 2004 final, where Porto has been the last club outside the Big Five competing in a final. In terms of national teams, they are also the only five European nations that have won the FIFA World Cup.

Women's football has been less consistently centralised and, in Europe, has also been strong in Scandinavia; as it became more popular, the largest (men's) football markets invested more, leading to a shift towards teams from the Big Five. Sweden held a spot in the UEFA coefficient instead of Italy through 2022.

In 2021, several men's teams from the Big Five leagues in England, Italy, and Spain attempted to create a European Super League, but received pushback. Teams from Germany and France were reportedly invited to join the project, but declined.

Top performing football players (with high playing potential) outside the Big Five leagues, are usually signed by clubs within the Big Five leagues, as the clubs in the Big Five leagues are the most competitive in terms of performance, earn more (due to larger fan bases, higher ticket sales, television broadcast rights revenue and merchandise sales) and furthermore are able to provide attractive salaries. However, due to the higher salaries offered by Saudi Pro League clubs (in association with the Public Investment Fund), numerous high-profile players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Sadio Mané had moved away from the Big Five leagues, heading to Saudi Arabia.

Records and statistics

Clubs

Performance in current UEFA top-tier competitions

Performance in defunct UEFA top-tier competitions

In contrast to the current UEFA competitions, the Cup Winners Cup also showed a dominance of the Big Five, but this was significantly lower in terms of title success (over 69%) and final participation (over 62%). This should be explained by the fact that only one participant from the respective leagues could take part in this tournament as a national cup winner or national cup finalist, if the cup winner qualified for the European Cup / UEFA Champions League. Therefore only one participant from the respective leagues (unless the defending champions did not qualify for any other UEFA competition, then it were two) took part in this competition.

excluding clubs from East Germany

List of Champions in the Big Five

The table below shows the winning teams in all men's Big Five leagues by season.

* Single-year seasons (mostly referring to the championship tournaments in early years) have been converted into currently-used season format.

Sources: English football champions, German football champions, Spanish football champions, Italian football champions, French football champions

Record champions in the Big Five

Sources:

Players

* Bold indicates player is still active at in the Big Five Leagues. Players in ''italics'' are still active outside the Big Five Leagues.

List of top scorers in the Big Five Leagues

* Does not include goals scored in the lower divisions.
* ''As of 25 May 2025''

List of players with the most 'League Top Scorer' awards

Sources: English football first tier top scorers by season, Bundesliga top scorers by season, La Liga top scorers by season, Serie A top scorers by season, Ligue 1 top scorers by season

List of players with the most league titles

* Does not include titles that the player transferred from the winning club at the beginning or middle of the season.
* The player must played at least one league game for a title to be listed.

List of players to have played the Big Five Leagues

The table below show the players who have played in all Big Five Leagues.

Managers

List of managers to have coached the Big Five Leagues

The table below show the managers who have coached in all Big Five Leagues.

Carlo Ancelotti is the first and only manager to have won league titles in all Big Five leagues.

See also

* Big Five (Eurovision) – the same (UK/England) five European nations as financial powers in another context
* Atlantic League (football) – a proposed competitor for the Big Five

Notes

References

{{Authority control
Association football in Europe
Association football culture
Nicknames in association football