Hello football fans, wherever you might come from! I’m excited to introduce the latest project that I am working on. As someone who loves maps and geography (as well as football, obviously), I’ve always wanted something specific that wasn’t out there: a map showing the locations of football clubs in every country, in every league. Why, you ask?

Seeing the geographical distributions of football clubs in a country can often explain a lot about the power balance in the league. You might wonder why a certain team has won a league year after year, only to find they call the country’s largest economy hub and population center home. An interesting example is Germany, where every Bundesliga winner comes from western Germany, or more specifically, from what was formerly West Germany. Two separate countries existed simultaneously before the fall of the Berlin Wall, with two independent economies and governments. The impacts of that period are still evident in modern German football: a team from the former East Germany has never won the Bundesliga. This is no curse, but rather simple finances and population differences. The top 5 German states by Gross Regional Product, to represent the size of economy, all hail from former Western Germany and together made up 71% of the total GRP of Germany in 2022.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_states_by_GRP)

In terms of population, the six largest regions are all from western Germany, with over 60 million inhabitants. Comparatively, the six regions that make up eastern Germany have just over 16 million inhabitants. This imbalance has translated through to football for as long as the Bundesliga has existed, and is just one example of the interesting connections you could make by looking at the game of football from a map. I encourage you to go down a rabbit-hole and see what you might find!

Eventually, my goal is to create one map for the entire world. Due to current software limitations, I am restricted to only putting a certain amount of layers on per map, so I’m separating the map into continents. Finally, I’ve finished all UEFA member nations and their domestic leagues, even San Marino and Gibraltar! This means I can happily share my map with you for the first time, embedded below.

The Football Map of Europe:

To read this map properly, there are a few things to know:

The different icons used represent the level of league within that particular country. Using Denmark as an example, the green icon of the football player represents top-division clubs. The football player icon will represent top division clubs in every country, with the color changing to provide better contrast between neighboring countries. In Denmark, the 2nd division clubs are marked with the yellow football icon. This ball icon will represent 2nd division clubs in every country. Third division clubs are represented by the “stadium” icon, shown in Denmark in navy blue.

Most countries will not have more than the top 3 divisions on the map, with England being one exception, having the 4th and 5th divisions on the map. Just remember, two of the same icon with different colors near one another means the two clubs are in different countries. For example, I’ll show you the border between France, Spain, and Andorra.

Notice the identical icon for 1st division clubs, the footballer. In France, this icon is a navy blue. In Andorra, this icon is black, and in Spain, the icon is a teal/turquoise color.

Clicking on any icon on the map will bring up the description, which includes the full club name, the league they compete in currently, and a link to their Wikipedia page if it was available. Below, I’ve listed all countries and domestic leagues included on this map. I hope you enjoy this resource, and please feel free to leave any comments on corrections if I’ve made any errors! Feel free to bookmark the map link for future reference and share with any friends who might appreciate it!

Contents of Map:

Country:	Leagues Included on Map:
Albania	(1): Kategoria Superiore
Andorra	(1): Primera Divisió
Armenia	(1): Premier League
Azerbaijan	(1): Premier League
Belarus	(2): Premier League, First League
Belgium	(2): Jupiler Pro League, Challenger Pro League
Bosnia and Herzegovina	(1): Premier League
Bulgaria	(2): First Professional League, Second League
Croatia	(2): First League, Second League
Cyprus	(1): First Division
Czechia	(2): Fortuna Liga, National League
Denmark	(3): Superliga, 1st Division, 2nd Division
England	(5): Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, National League
Estonia	(2): Meistriliiga, Esiliiga
Faroe Islands	(2): Premier League, 1.deild
Finland	(2): Veikkausliiga, Ykkonen
France	(3): Ligue 1, Ligue 2, Championnat National
Georgia	(1): Erovnuli Liga
Germany	(3): Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga, III.Liga
Gibraltar	(1): Premier League
Greece	(2): Super League, Super League 2
Hungary	(2): NB1, NB2
Iceland	(2): Besta Deild Karla, Lenjudeildin
Israel	(1): Premier League
Italy	(3): Serie A, Serie B, Serie C
Kazakhstan	(1): Premier League
Kosovo	(1): Superleague
Latvia	(2): Higher League, First League
Lithuania	(2): A Lyga, I Lyga
Luxembourg	(1): National Division
Malta	(1): Premier League
Moldova	(1): Super League
Montenegro	(1): First League
Netherlands	(2): Eredivisie, Eerste Divisie
North Macedonia	(1): First League
Northern Ireland	(1): Premiership
Norway	(2): Eliteserien, First Division
Poland	(2): Ekstralasa, 1.Liga
Portugal	(2): Liga Portugal, Liga Portugal 2
Ireland	(2): Premier Division, First Division
Romania	(2): Liga I, Liga II
San Marino	(1): Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio
Scotland	(2): Premiership, Championship
Serbia	(1): Superliga
Slovakia	(2): First Division, 2.Liga
Slovenia	(1): Prva Liga
Spain	(3): La Liga, La Liga 2, Primera Federacion
Sweden	(2): Allsvenskan, Superettan
Switzerland	(2): Super League, Challenge League
Turkey	(2): Super Lig, First League
Ukraine	(2): Premier League, First League

Thanks for checking out the map! If you find any interesting observations through your time exploring the map, please let me know!