The world is covered by soccer clubs. Nearly every country on the face of the planet has a league. Most of those leagues play from the late summer into mid-May.

Why, then, did I have almost no live soccer to watch for two days in April?

In the states, American football has pretty much figured this out.

The NFL plays on Sunday, Monday and Thursday.

College football plays on Tuesday and Saturday. Sometimes Fridays. Even Wednesdays. And over the years, lots of fans have found themselves looking at Mid-American Conference games. Or Mountain West games. And happy to do so.

High schools play Thursday and Friday. Saturdays.

NBA, same thing. A focus on the weekends, but games Monday through Thursday, too. And the NHL.

Major League Baseball plays nearly every day for six months.

So why am I stuck with no live soccer games on a Thursday or a Friday? When it is the game more people want to see than any other?

Shouldn’t some league make a point of playing on those days? Wouldn’t the English second division (the Championship) become an even bigger success than it is by filling these gaps in the schedule?

I understand that soccer teams and leagues are deeply conservative. Fans believe that their Saturday/Sunday rituals built up around their teams is sacred and cannot be changed.

If the European leagues are going to be like that … well, there is an opportunity for someone else.

I would watch North African football, if it were shown live on a Wednesday, Thursday or a Friday. I probably would sit and watch Uzbekistan soccer. Iranian soccer. South African soccer. If one of those teams was being shown by BeIn Sports tonight … I would have it on.

This is the world’s most popular sport, yet it shuts down for as many as five days a week. It cedes an ability to expand its exposure, and the “lesser” leagues miss a chance to break out of their anonymity.

I have often believed that the Arabian Gulf League, here in the UAE, should play every week (or as many as possible) on Thursdays and Fridays. Several times a year, it does, and we watch it on TV and it gets more prominent coverage in newspapers and online — when it is not going head to head with the Premier League and the Bundesliga and the Primera Liga, as if is this weekend.

This is the world’s biggest sport. It has tons of product — yet it fails to spread out that product over the course of a week.

Someone should step into the vacuum. Who knows? The Polish League playing every Wednesday and Thursday could become a big deal.