It was fun while it lasted. Nothing ever really compares to the World Cup and the competition between two countries. And for new soccer fans that don’t really know what to do with themselves following the tournament, we've got you covered. Here are the leagues you should pay attention to and what other tournaments are coming up on the calendar. Stay tuned for a more in-depth league-by-league preview to help you figure out which league you might like the best. Below are also some upcoming international tournaments to look forward to before the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
2015: African Cup of Nations (Morocco, January); Women’s World Cup (Canada, June-July); CONCACAF Gold Cup (TBD, July); Copa America (Chile, June-July)
2016: Centenary Copa America (United States, June-July); Euro 2016 (France, June-July); Olympic Soccer (Rio, August)
2017: Confederations Cup (Russia); CONCACAF Gold Cup, African Cup of Nations (Libya); World Cup qualifying
MLS- Major League Soccer 
Right now this is the easiest way to get back into the soccer swing. The MLS is right at the halfway point of the season with D.C. United, defending champs Sporting Kansas City, the Seattle Sounders and Real Salt Lake as the top teams – but pretty much every other team is still in the playoff race. A lot of people bash on the MLS for the level of play compared to the top leagues in Europe and, for the time being, it's the truth. But the level of play is still fairly high, the time zones situation is friendly, and the play is only getting better. You’ll be able to see USMNT starts like Clint Dempsey on the Seattle Sounders, Michael Bradley on Toronto FC, and Kyle Beckerman on Real Salt Lake. International star Theirry Henry and Americans Graham Zusi, Matt Besler and DeAndre Yedlin are some of other players you can see as well. Games will be televised on ESPN every Sunday and every Friday on NBCSN until late October. If you're interested in catching your local team, do it: did you know the MLS has better attendance then both the NBA and the NHL?
English Premier League 
The EPL is the most watched league in the world. NBC Sports has done a great job here in America televising a lot of the EPL action during the season. The season doesn’t get started until August 16th, but you can still get involved with all the transfer (somewhat like free agency in the NBA or NFL when players change leagues and teams, but not exactly) drama commencing in the coming weeks. Like in other leagues in Europe, there are different tiers separating the different English leagues, with the Premier League being the best. The 20 teams all play each other twice, home and away, to make a 38-game season, along with other tournament games sprinkled within their schedules. The bottom three teams of the Premier League by the season's end are relegated to England's second league:the Football League Championship. The top two teams from the Championship league are promoted to the EPL and then there is a 4-team playoff between teams 3-6 for the final spot. Manchester City are the defending champions of the EPL after a wild season that saw Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all atop the table at some point. The league is pretty competitive from top to bottom and has plenty of World Cup stars. About 17% of the World Cup players play their league football in England, which is easily the most (the second is being Serie A in Italy at 9%). The majority of games will be played on Saturdays this year and are being televised on NBCSN. The major tournaments are the FA Cup (a knockout tournament of all the teams in England from all the leagues) and League Cup (20 EPL teams and 72 teams from the next 3 tiers). UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa league are international club tournaments which require qualifying. When asked about the EPL, Cesc Fabregas said “The English league is more difficult to win, but on an individual level, it is much, much easier to shine in England,” he said. “I always thought English football was the best to watch because there are more goals, more chances, more excitement. But now, I understand why there are more goals and more chances: it’s much more crazy, out of control, everyone attacking, pouring forward.”
Serie A 
The Italian league is the second most watched league in the world. It’s format is the exact same as the EPL, but with different inter-country tournaments of course. The Coppa Italia is a 78 team knockout tournament between all the teams in the different leagues. Italy also has the Supercoppa Italiana, which is a preseason match between the Serie A champions and the champions of Coppa Italiana. Juventus ran away with Serie A last season, finishing the season with 17 more points then second place AS Roma. The season starts August 31st, and the action can be seen on the beIN sports network which doesn’t come with regular cable packages. The Italian teams in Champions League this year are Juventus, AS Roma and Napoli.
La Liga 
Like the EPL, Spanish football is separated into different leagues with the Primera División being the top tier. For English speakers, it's simply La Liga, and the league is home to the two best players in the world – Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid). It follows the same format as the other leagues in regards to relegation and promotion. The tournaments in Spain are the Copa del Rey (83 teams) and the Supercopa de España, which is like the Supercoppa Italiana. It was a three-team race last year in La Liga, with Atletico Madrid beating out Barcelona and Real Madrid on the last day of the season by three points. Aside from those three teams La liga isn’t as competitive from top to bottom. The season starts on August 24th, and if you want to potentially see some biting, Luis Suarez will be playing for Barcelona starting in late October after he serves his suspension. Just like Serie A, if you want to catch La Liga games you can do so by getting the beIN sports network. ESPN also televises the Copa del Rey final.
Bundesliga 
Germany’s top league, the Bundesliga has the highest average stadium attendance worldwide. It has the same format as the other leagues but is the smallest with 18 teams. 64 teams participate in the DFB-Pokal tournament, with the DFL-Supercup being the same as the Supercoppa Italiana and Supercopa de España. The Bundesliga is dominated by Bayern Munich almost every year. Borussia Dortmund are their only real competition and they finished with 19 points less than their bitter rivals in Munich. Bundesliga matches can be seen on GOL TV, but starting in 2015 Fox Sports will earn the rights to televise the German league.
