"The English and Spanish top-flights both have one club playing on an island (Portsmouth and Mallorca, respectively), but which country's First Division has the most such clubs?" wonders Daniel Brewer.
Daniel's question prompted some degree of confusion among readers, so we better start off with a clarification.
Obviously some countries, such as Australia, are islands in themselves**, and therefore all the teams playing in their national league are based on an island. What we have looked for are teams based on islands that are separate from their national mainland, such as the pair mentioned by Daniel, and not those in an archipelago nation without an obvious mainland. And to those of you who doubt Portsmouth's status, here's Vicky from the Portsmouth Visitor Information Service: "Technically Portsmouth is an island. It's joined to the mainland by roads but there is water that goes all the way round Portsmouth at high tide."
But anyway, on to the actual answers. Greece's Alpha Katigoria was a popular suggestion from readers due to the large number of small islands off the mainland, which do indeed host three out of 16 top-flight clubs - OFI Crete and Ergotelis (both on Crete) and Keryka FC (Corfu).
However, the joint winners were Italy's Serie A and Denmark's SAS Ligaen - each with four teams. Sicilian side Palermo currently sit atop the league and are joined in Italy's upper tier by fellow Sicilians Catania and Messina, as well as Sardinians Cagliari. However, whereas this quartet makes up a fifth of Italy's top division, in Denmark the same number constitutes a third of the Superliga. "Denmark is made up of over 500 islands, of which more than 350 are inhabited," points out David Young. "The two largest islands are Sjælland (Zealand) and Fyn (Funen). FC København, FC Nordsjælland and Brøndby are all based on Sjælland, while OB (Odense BK) is based on Fyn."
Know of a top division with more than four teams based off the mainland? Email
theknowledge@guardian.co.uk with the details.
