This is a repost of a story that appeared in the January 1996 edition of Soccer New York.

By Michael Lewis

There is no other city like it in the world.

Imagine having not one, not two, not even three professional soccer teams in your city. imagine having more than a dozen franchise.

London, with a population of nine million, has 13 teams playing in the Premier League or Football League.

“The proximity of the teams in London, it’s astonishing,” said American goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who plays for Millwall in south London. “Charlton is only two miles away. Palace is only six miles away. West Ham is only five miles away. There are so many local derbies that they beat the crap out of each other … It’s all that local London pride.”

Arsenal, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Wimbledon are in the Premier League.

Millwall, Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace are in the first division.

Brentford is in the second division.

And Barnet, Fulham and Leyton Orient are in the third division.

“London has been able to support this many clubs,” said Mike Collett, veteran soccer correspondent for Reuters.

In their book, Soccer City, authors Denis Campbell and Andrew Shields wrote that they decided to focus on London because “of the sheer number of clubs, 13 in all, to be found in the capital. Nor does any other metropolitan center have clubs at every level of the professional game: from European Super League aspirations of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur to the eternal battle for survival of Fulham and Leyton Orient to the discreet ambitions of QPR and Brentwood.”

Traditionally, London-based clubs haven’t won very many titles. In fact, in the past 25 years, a capital team has captured the Premier League crown (the previous first division – Arsenal three times). In contrast, it has done quite well in the English FA Cup, winning 10 times over the same time span.

“There is an amazing heartbeat for the game in Lancashire and Yorkshire,” Collett said. “there still is a feeling that northern teams are more difficult to beat and are much harder because of the passion of their fans.”

But there is plenty of passion in London as Arsenal and Tottenham regularly pull sellout or near-capacity crowds.

For the smaller clubs, the future isn’t as certain in terms of attendance, particularly when there is inclement better.”

“It’s very, very tight,” Brentford marketing manager Peter Gilham said. “Because there’s a lot of football on television due to the Premiership, it’s very easy for everybody to put their feet up and watch a game. Unless you happen to be a die-hard supporter, you don’t go.”

But Collett doesn’t see the smaller clubs being enveloped by the larger ones. “There is such a following for the Leyton Orients and Brentfords of the world, they will survive, come what may,” he said.

And London soccer will go on.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.