The European football season has kicked off this week, and fans from around the globe are bringing their World Cup enthusiasm with them. As the most popular sport in the world, football ignites the passion of more than four billion fans, and the unpredictability of this season has added even more flavor to the game.

Big moves from superstars and the rapid rise of the next generation have come to define a new era, both individually and collectively.

“Cristiano Ronaldo, the star player, has moved on to another club to Juventus in Italy, and the coach Zidane has stepped down, so it's a new Real Madrid,” said Tim Vickery, a football journalist based in Rio de Janeiro. “We are seeing an intriguing season with many questions.”

Precise predictions are almost impossible, especially in the English Premier League, where the quality continues to improve. Tim suggested that “there are five to six teams competing for the title that may be possible to give Manchester a run for their money.”

Kate Delaney, host of her self-titled The Kate Delaney Show on NBC Sports Radio and a longtime sports reporter, agreed with that.

“Manchester United is much more challenging than many expected,” she said. But again, she picked Manchester City because of their outstanding performance last time around.

Apart from the traditional footballing center of the European leagues, the MLS is rising too, representing football's emergence as a truly global sport. For the first decade of its existence, the MLS lost a nine-figure sum, but now it has grown into a force to be reckoned with. Several factors, including a new management strategy, new ownership structures and a renewed ambition from the league overall, contributed to this success.

“We're seeing an increasing openness as the MLS joins the world market, both in terms of transfers and awareness,” said Charles Boehm, a contributing editor at MLSSoccer.com. “Having increased numbers of owners rather than three or four billionaires bankrolling the league makes room for rapid growth.”

Kate weighed in on that point, saying that “with varied owners, MLS now has more chance to attract some of these kids that are involved in soccer.” As a producer, she has been urging the executives to produce shows that get more involved with the Premier League, offering more in-depth analysis and giving the next generation a chance to take part.

With the largest Manchester fan base outside the UK, China is a huge market that can't be ignored. According to Wang Guan, a correspondent and football enthusiast at CGTN, China is “where the money and passion are.” Chinese businessmen have acquired Italy's AC Milan and Spain's Atletico Madrid in the past two years, besides for that, half of the billboard advertisements at the World Cup were in Chinese. Data showed that nearly 400 million clicks or views were made on CCTV sports and its multiple platforms every single day during the World Cup, proving China to be a big football nation.

China has put in a lot of effort into achieving its ambition of becoming a first-rate sporting nation. For example, 10,000 football camps have been set up across China as a way of developing China’s own national team, but Wang is also outspoken about how match-fixing is a bigger barrier to achieving that goal.

Football globalization also expanded to other continents like Africa. However, just as in finance, rather than cultivating talent within its borders, African countries are now exporting outstanding players or potential football stars to the European leagues. Tim expressed his worry about the phenomenon in a recent panel.

“South Africa used to export sugar and coffee. Now it's footballers,” said Tim. “It's very hard to strengthen domestic football in the era of globalization because many people in Africa are more concerned with Chelsea in the English Premier League than they are with their own domestic club.”