How much does league matter?

Hello, I am an American who is getting into international football. I am wondering how much the league a player plays in dictates how good of a player they are. Let’s say a player finished a career with these something close to these stats

850 goals 300 assists 5 champions league wins (8 appearances) 1 WC win (4 appearances) 10 league titles

But, they played in the Belgian First Division A. Would they be considered one of goats along with Messi and Ronaldo or does the fact they played in Belgium play a big role in them not being up there?

  • Beneficial-Lemon-427@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    It would matter little for a player with that ridiculous medal haul!

    We also have to consider that the quality of the individual player and their ability to find their way into the public consciousness counts more than where they played or what they won.

    Paul Gascoigne’s most successful years were in Scotland. His trophy haul in England consists of one FA Cup and one League Cup. He went off injured after 17 minutes of the FA Cup final. His team won in spite of him. He is considered one of England’s greatest ever players.

    The complete globalisation of football’s talent pool is a fairly recent thing. Great players played their entire careers in the Eastern Bloc, or in the Scottish and Dutch leagues.

    Another way to look at it would be to consider if Johan Cruyff would be regarded so highly if he never went to Barcelona? And the answer is yes.

    If you want an example of an absolute goat tier player who did it all outside of the modern top 5 leagues, it’s Eusebio.

  • bakugou-kun@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    If you have 5 champions league for a club outside of the top 5 leagues, you’ll have shouts for best ever for sure

  • Hughlass@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    If a player plays well in the top 5 leagues he is better than most players not in the top 5 leagues, if a player scores 40 goals in a lower league but a player scores 20 in a better league I would personally say the player who scored 20 goals in the higher league is better. Obvs this doesn’t mean the other player couldn’t perform in the higher league.

  • ImDeKigga@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Winning league titles in a farmers league would not mean much, as it will be expected. Champions league on the other hand gathers all the strong teams from Europe, so winning that will put you in top tier.

    The lower tier leagues would be less demanding in technique and physicals, so champions in lower leagues would most likely wouldn’t win CL. If that player can stay in Belgium and win CL, he will definitely be a legend lol

  • asapamoney@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I don’t agree with the top 5 narrative. I think it’s more competitive than that at this point. If you’re in EPL or La Liga, at a team consistently competing for the title or with consistently good showings in Europe (so that leaves Man City, Liverpool, maybe Arsenal and Real, Barca, maybe atletico), or if you’re at the TOP Italian team competitive in Europe (kind of like Juventus 2015 - 2020), then you have a shout for being remembered as one of the best.

    It comes down to competitiveness in Europe, and you’re really only going to consistently get that at a few teams. Those teams drop in and out of form, but for the most part it’s going to be a handful of English teams, a handful of Spanish teams, and Bayern. Maybe 1 Italian team every few years but that’s about it