One think that strikes me about football/soccer is the sheer number of competitions a team can compete in. US-based sports rarely have competitions outside their main leagues except for little noticed exhibitions, and outside the Olympics the same goes for international teams. Yet a high level English football team can compete in Premier Leauge, UEFA, Champions League, and FA Cup. (Correct or add on if need be.) Plus the individual players compete in World Cup and European tournaments. How do fans in England and other countries divide their attention? Do they root more for league play than national teams, or vice versa? How well followed are “friendlies”?
Well international and club-level matches are scheduled not to clash with each other, so there’s no club-vs-country competition for fans, you support one one week and the other the next.
International friendlies are taken a bit seriously, club friendlies are basically just warm-up matches for the season.
The Cups and European matches also take place on separate dates from League matches. The League is the most important (“The League is our bread-and-butter” – Bill shankly), as it is the most important factor in how much income a club has and is how a club qualifies for European competition, but the FA Cup and the Champions’ League are taken just as seriously. The League Cup and the Europa League less so, generally big teams play their reserve teams in those competitions to keep their main players fresh for more important matches.
This is my order of preference (C = club competition, N= national team competition) and I have watched games in all these competitions:
World Cup - N
European Championship - N
UEFA Champions League - C
English Premier League - C
England Friendly internationals - N
English Championship (2nd tier of English football) - C
Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) - C
FA Cup - C
African Nations Cup - N
Confederations Cup - N
La Liga (Spainish top tier) - C
English League Cup - C
Scottish Premier League - C
English League One (3rd tier of English football) - C
English League Two (4th ttier of English football) - C
Serie A (Italian Top tier) - C
Bundasliga (German top tier) - C
Ligue 1 (French top tier) - C
Eredivisie (Dutch top tier) - C
Premeira Liga (Portuguese top tier) - C
Supa Lig (Turkish top tier) - C
Friendly games/torunaments involving my team/top tier English teams - C
Copa America - N
Friendly internationals not involving England - N
Copa Del Rey (Spainish cup) - C
Scottish FA Cup - C
Scottish League Cup - C
Gold Cup (North America) - N
Asian Cup - N
MLS - (USA league) - C
I don’t follow a particular club. For me international tournaments, especially those for which England have qualified, are more important. My order of interest would be something like:
World Cup featuring England
European Championship featuring England
World Cup not featuring England
European Championship not featuring England
English Premier League
Champions League (games featuring English clubs or major European clubs)
English Championship (second tier below EPL)
FA Cup (semi-finals, final, and “David vs. Goliath” match-ups)
Europa League (final only)
League Cup (final only)
vaguely interested in Bundesliga/La Liga/Serie A
Club > Country
For matches outside “my” team, I just watch to enjoy the game, so I’ll say the order of importance for those involving my team.
- English Premier League (Man United)
- Champions League (MU)
- FA Cup (MU)
- World Cup (USA, though I pull for United players to do well)
- English League Cup (MU)
- MLS (Portland Timbers)
- other tournaments the US is involved with (such as the Gold Cup)
For matches not involving United or the USMNT, I’d prefer to watch a good Premier League match first, Champions League match second, World Cup match third, and then Serie A (Italy), La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), and Ligue 1 (France)
Well, I support Celtic, so I follow the SPL (Scottish league) primarily. Couldn’t recommend it to anyone else, though, especially not someone I like. While you get the odd good game, it’s not exactly a week-in week-out display of excellence by the sport’s top players.
In general I prefer club to country level, so it would be:
SPL
EPL (don’t support any particular team, really, though have a soft spot for Liverpool)
Champions League
UEFA League
World Cup involving Scotland (Ha, I crack myself up sometimes, I really do 
)
Other World Cup or Euros
Other European Leagues
Oh yeah, I should have included the SPL (primarily the Old Firm) somewhere towards the end of my list.
As I’m interested in the far off parts of the world and the international scope of football, the African Cup of Nations and the Copa Libertadores are very interesting. Toulon and the European under-21s, too.
Toulon? The rugby team or the football one?
Toulon, famous U-21 tournament.
Ha ok, the Espoirs thing. I was a bit lost to see someone mentioning they’d follow the Toulon football team 
.