Alphabet Soup of Continental Soccer Tourneys

CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, CAF, AFC, OFC, UEFA...these are the confederations of international soccer, organized on a continental level.

CONCACAF is the Confederation of North, Central American and  Caribbean Association Football.  It comprises what its protracted name suggests, as well as French Guinea, Guyana, and Suriname in South America.  But although CONCACAF has 41 member nations, for the purposes of focusing on the top teams in the various leagues, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the United States are easily the strongest countries.  Although the CONCACAF Gold Cup is held every two years to determine the overall national team champion, I am more interested in the CONCACAF Champions League, within which the top original league teams from the various nations compete annually.  These matches are interspersed throughout the regular season and create a sense of postseason excitement throughout the year.

The other confederation I'm starting to follow is the UEFA, or Union of European Football Associations, which naturally is the umbrella group for the various European leagues and which, like its North American counterpart, holds an annual Champions League with matches also interspersed throughout the regular season.  I just witnessed such a match on TV pitting Club Atletico de Madrid against Napoli (won by the former 3-1).  As a matter of fact, the overriding reason I am concentrating on the UEFA and CONCACAF is simply that they are the confederations whose teams I get to watch play on television. Univision has a Spanish language sports channel that shows many Mexican games and NBC Sports and ESPN have been showing MLS and European matches (especially of Barclay's Premier League in England).  There is a channel in Spanish showing Colombian soccer games, but that would cost more to watch and I have enough as it is...

I am gradually getting to know more how international soccer is run, according to the various leagues, tournaments, and the times that everyone seems to automatically transform into national teams and tourneys.  I like the league teams more, one of the reasons being that I don't care for the overwhelming sense of nationalism that permeates series like the World Cup.  Instead, I'm getting to know teams like Mexico's Cruz Azul, America, and Monterey...England's Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal...Spain's Club Atletico (Madrid), Real Madrid, and Barcelona...and of course the United States' Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City, LA Galaxy, and New York Red Bulls.  I do feel a bit disappointed, however, as I am missing out on a high level of soccer without access to Germany's Bundesliga...