While most people in the U.S. are patiently awaiting the start of both college football and the NFL season, there’s another type of "football" currently being played around the world.
And that, my friends, is futbol — also known as soccer in this country — so here’s some of the leagues you should be paying attention to, even with American football starting up soon.
1. Barclays Premier League
Widely considered the best league in the world, the BPL began its season on Aug. 8 and is heading into its fourth week on Saturday. If you’re not too familiar with the BPL, there are 20 teams in the league all trying to accumulate the most points by the end of the season to be crowned champions.
To keep things fresh each year, the three teams that end up with the least amount of points are relegated to the second tier in English soccer — "The Championship" — while three teams from the second tier are promoted to the BPL the following season.
Through three weeks of games, Manchester City is currently at the top of the table with nine points, while world-renowned power and inner-city rival Manchester United are two points behind and sit in third place.
Defending champions Chelsea have four points and are in ninth place while Southampton (two points), Sunderland (two points) and West Bromwich Albion (one point) all sit at the bottom of the table.
If teams have the same amount of points at the end of the season, goal differential is used as the tiebreaker.
There are still 35 games left in the season and the table now could look a lot different when the champion is crowned at the end.
City, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal are all teams that could be lifting the trophy in May.
2. The Bundesliga
The top-flight German league is two weeks in and there are familiar names at the top of the table. Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen pace the 18-team league through two games.
Unlike the Premier League, however, only 34 games are played during the season and the competition isn’t as fierce throughout all the teams.
Bayern Munich has won the last three titles and is the favorite to win its fourth consecutive title this year.
Depending on how the transfer window plays out, Dortmund, VfL Wolfsburg and Leverkusen could present a challenge to Bayern. The Bundesliga continues on Friday with each team playing its third game through the weekend.
3. La Liga
The top league in Spain, La Liga has the distinction of having the two best players in the world in Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Those two teams also are involved in one of the best soccer rivalries in the world as it’s commonly known as "El Clasico."
In the past, Barcelona and Real Madrid have been the two teams consistently competing to be champions at the end, but a third team has entered the fray the past couple of years in Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona won the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League — European football’s most coveted title — and are the favorite to win La Liga this season.
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will try to spoil Barcelona’s hopes of repeating as champions of the league.
La Liga finished its first match day last weekend and the second week of play begins on Friday.
4. The MLS
Unlikely the three previously mentioned leagues, America’s biggest soccer league is currently in the middle of its regular season.
The MLS began its season back in March and to generate more excitement for the fans of the league, teams are split up into two conferences — East and West — with the top six teams from each conference making the playoffs as they vie for the MLS Cup.
The winner of the MLS Cup is decided in elimination tournament style that is fairly similar to the NFL playoffs. Currently, D.C. United leads the Eastern Conference with 44 points with the New York Red Bulls five points behind.
Columbus Crew SC is six points behind with Toronto FC, the New England Revolution and Montreal Impact rounding out the East.
In the Western Conference, the LA Galaxy leads the entire league with 46 points with the Vancouver Whitecaps just one point behind them.
Sporting Kansas City and the Portland Timbers have 40 points apiece, while FC Dallas and the Seattle Sounders are in fifth and sixth place respectively.
The Galaxy have won the most MLS Cups, five, since the playoffs started back in 1995. LA, along with D.C. United, the Red Bulls and Vancouver are four of the teams with the best chance to hoist the cup in December.
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
Everton's Tom Cleverley, right, fights for the ball against Manchester City's David Silva during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park Stadium, Liverpool, England, Sunday Aug. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
