Day 5 – The structure of World Football (Club team)

Topic Point: Professional soccer leagues around the world, including the United States, utilize a tier or pyramid structure that resembles minor league baseball. The major difference in most of the world is that the system also includes promotion and relegation. The bottom 2-3 teams are relegated or demoted to the league below while the top 2-3 teams are promoted up. The United States professional soccer pyramid, like all other American professional sports leagues, does not utilize promotion or relegation. Appendix 2 shows the tier system in England and the United States for soccer, and by comparison baseball and American football.

In the United States, soccer player salaries range from $20-30,000 for Tier 3; $30-40,000 for Tier 2; and $100-500,000 for Tier 1. The $100,000-500,000 range in Tier 1 (Major League Soccer) includes most players, however the league minimum is $70,000 and star players will earn millions. This can be compared to soccer in England and minor league baseball in the U.S.

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Ted Lasso: The topic of relegation is a recurring theme in Season 1. Rebecca Welton, the new owner of AFC Richmond, hires Ted because he knows nothing about soccer and the team should continue a downward trajectory leading to relegation (She says in S1, E1 that she wants to destroy the club which, metaphorically, is what relegation does). In S1, E2, Roy Kent expresses his concern for relegation to Ted, and it is also a big part of Episodes 9 and 10 as Richmond ultimately is relegated. Relegation is briefly mentioned in season 2 as Richmond is in a slump, but then the major theme of Season 2 is promotion. Season 3 includes a different honor. The best teams in the top tier of soccer leagues cannot be “promoted” but they earn a spot in a continental cup (to be discussed another day).

The topic of player salary comes up in S2E3 as Rebecca’s niece, Nora, takes an interest in management of the club. Leslie Higgins is discussing the club’s financial strain based on their players’ salaries (contracts made when they were in the Premier League) versus their current status and revenue as a club in Tier 2, the Championship.

Soccer-related note: The first professional world football league (Soccer) was formed in 1888 in England. In 1892, a Second Division league was created. English football added a third tier in 1920 and fourth tier in 1958. Promotion and relegation were implemented in 1898 when the second-tier league was created. In 2025, The United Soccer Leagues (the tiered system below Major League Soccer in the United States) voted to implement promotion and relegation between tiers 2-4. At this time, there is no plan to have Major League Soccer, the U.S. top tier, included in promotion/relegation.

American Sports comparison: There really isn’t one! But imagine if Triple A baseball teams such as the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and the Tacoma Rainiers (the top two winning percentages in AAA baseball for 2025) were promoted to MLB, and the Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies (the bottom two winning percentages in MLB for 2025) were relegated to AAA. Or what if, instead of earning the first-round draft pick, the worst team in the NFL is relegated to the United Football League (the 2024 spawn of the XFL and USFL merger and competes in the spring/summer)? The champion of the UFL would in turn be promoted to the NFL. A significant amount of intrigue and drama could be generated with this system.

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