The concept of modern football (soccer) has existed since 1863, and over the 162 years, there has been a natural formation of “big” teams and “small” teams. Due to the significant passage of time, the perceived size of the team is determined by success over a set number of years. This is, of course, not an exact science because of the subjective nature of fan judgment so the following break-down is an attempt to make it more objective.
The long history of football dictates that the set number of years is over twenty seasons of near-consistent success. When thinking about footballing giants such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or Barcelona, the mind immediately goes to legendary players, big trophies, and sustained eras of triumph.
What happens to a “big” team, however, when success dips over many years and the quality of the club’s players decreases even if the club’s badge still has a cache? Again, the number of years is critical to fans’ perception. Take AC Milan, for example. The Italian club has a decadent history of trophies alongside players like Maldini, Van Basten, and Kaka.
Since 2009, when Kaka left, AC Milan has seen a downturn in performance and results, which has lessened its ability to attract top talent. It had early exits when it entered the Champions League, then missed out on the competition for over five years. Even with the sustained downturn, AC Milan is still a “big” club if you ask a football fan over the age of twenty.
Conversely, two major names have skyrocketed in football in the last twenty years, with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Manchester City. These clubs have seen unprecedented success, with PSG winning 11 out of 13 Ligue 1 titles since 2011 and Man City winning 8 Premier League titles with a four-peat.
Despite their success, their lack of history keeps them out of that Barcelona-Madrid echelon. Both teams were bought in the mid to late 2000s, so fan perception insists they won’t reach those heights. Therefore, they’re considered “big” with an asterisk. For the truly “big” football clubs, success is DNA, but for those asterisked teams, trophies are PNL (Profits and Loss).
Some teams saw success years ago and have not returned to those heights. Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa saw fantastic international and English domestic success in the 1970s and 1980s, aligning with the “big” club status. Deportivo La Coruña, in Spain, won the title in the 90s and finished runners-up multiple times, but they now sit 11th in La Liga’s Segundo Division.
The teams above are not considered “big” teams in the modern game despite previous success because of years of relegation scraps and financial difficulties. All these teams have been relegated, though Villa and Forest are now resurging.
Finding a “small” team that achieved enough success to be considered “big” is much more of a challenge. Nottingham Forest is considered to have achieved this, but Athletico Madrid serves well in the modern context. Athletico Madrid is now thought of as the third-best team in La Liga and one of the dominant teams in Europe. This follows more than a decade of success under Diego Simeone. To be accurate, it has always been an important club in Spain, but its international success has led to its modern rise.
There is a key issue, however, that reflects the broader nature of criticism within the sport: observing the negative while ignoring the positive. It is much easier to tear down the title of a “big” team than it is to build it up within a “small” one.
Yet, every club has its lore and history that connect it to its fans, and usually, the “small” clubs feel truer to the game than the behemoths. With the ever-shifting financial priorities of the game, growth is a constant focus, but that’s only really for the boardroom. The beauty of football is that fans stick with their teams through failure and success and often don’t care about the size of their team but the joy they bring.
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