Best team

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics has
today named Barcelona as the best club side of the past 18 years.

The
IFFHS compiled the statistics from 1991, using the position each team
finishes in the annual world rankings as a scoring system, and the
Catalan side are 79 points clear of second place Manchester United.

Behind Manchester United come two Italian giants in the form of Juventus and AC Milan, and then down in fifth are Real Madrid.

During
the time period taken by the IFFHS, Barcelona have won the Champions
League on two occasions, whilst they have won La Liga eight times.

Manchester United on the other hand have also won the Champions League twice, but they have picked up ten Premier League titles.

Below Real Madrid there is quite a gap down to the next Spanish side, with Valencia sitting in joint 17th with Sao Paulo.

England and Italy meanwhile both have four teams in the top 15 of the list.

Official IFFHS Rankings:


1. Barcelona (SPN) 757
2. Manchester United (ENG) 678
3. Juventus FC (ITA) 621
4. Milan AC (ITA) 611
5. Real Madrid (SPN) 605
6. Internazionale Milano (ITA) 567
7. Bayern Munich (GER) 563
8. Arsenal (ENG) 550
9. River Plate (ARG) 503
10. Chelsea (ENG) 442
11. Liverpool (ENG) 435
12. Porto (POR) 425
13. Boca Juniors (ARG) 420
14. AS Roma (ITA) 405
15. AFC Ajax Amsterdam (HOL) 400
16. Parma (ITA) 373
17. São Paulo (BRA) 367
18. Valencia (SPN) 367
19. Glasgow Rangers (SCO) 364
20. SS Lazio Roma (ITA) 342

What is it with IFFHS anyway, nobody knows what criteria or methodology they use, and the time periods seem to vary as well, yet people keep starting threads about their rankings!

Haven't we already decided these lists are stupid?

An All-time Club World Ranking can only be meaningful and useful if it can be determined by taking account all the results of the national championships, the national cup competitions, the club competitions of the six continental confederations and the FIFA. It is therefore only possible to determine an All-time Club World Ranking from January 1st, 1991 – when the Club World Ranking began taking all these details into consideration.

The period from 1872 to 1990 can only be assessed subjectively, mostly by using national and international champions as a guide. It follows that teams placed in the individual competitions cannot be taken into consideration, even if their titles were won easily or in spite of many defeats. It is simply not possible to establish a basis for giving all participating clubs an equal opportunity for the period 1872 to 1990.

The IFFHS has therefore has decided, logically, that the All-time Club World Ranking should be determined from January 1st, 1991 using the annual Club World Ranking (the situation at 31st December annually). For this it will take into consideration the "Top 50 Clubs", annually and award them points from 50 points for the top club down to 1 point for the club in 50th place. Adding the points from the individual years for each club will provide the All-time Club World Ranking.

It's like they've conveniently gone back to when Barca won their first CL title.

Messiah wrote:The International Federation of Football History and Statistics has
today named Barcelona as the best club side of the past 18 years.

The
IFFHS compiled the statistics from 1991, using the position each team
finishes in the annual world rankings as a scoring system, and the
Catalan side are 79 points clear of second place Manchester United.

Behind Manchester United come two Italian giants in the form of Juventus and AC Milan, and then down in fifth are Real Madrid.

During
the time period taken by the IFFHS, Barcelona have won the Champions
League on two occasions, whilst they have won La Liga eight times.

Manchester United on the other hand have also won the Champions League twice, but they have picked up ten Premier League titles.

Below Real Madrid there is quite a gap down to the next Spanish side, with Valencia sitting in joint 17th with Sao Paulo.

England and Italy meanwhile both have four teams in the top 15 of the list.

Official IFFHS Rankings:


1. Barcelona (SPN) 757
2. Manchester United (ENG) 678
3. Juventus FC (ITA) 621
4. Milan AC (ITA) 611
5. Real Madrid (SPN) 605
6. Internazionale Milano (ITA) 567
7. Bayern Munich (GER) 563
8. Arsenal (ENG) 550
9. River Plate (ARG) 503
10. Chelsea (ENG) 442
11. Liverpool (ENG) 435
12. Porto (POR) 425
13. Boca Juniors (ARG) 420
14. AS Roma (ITA) 405
15. AFC Ajax Amsterdam (HOL) 400
16. Parma (ITA) 373
17. São Paulo (BRA) 367
18. Valencia (SPN) 367
19. Glasgow Rangers (SCO) 364
20. SS Lazio Roma (ITA) 342

Where is Al-Ahly on that list?

IFFHS methodology does not have a great result when considerin a short period of time, but when you look at long periods like 17 years, their statistics start to make more and more sense.

This is as good a list as any out there.

Parks lives wrote:It's like they've conveniently gone back to when Barca won their first CL title.

Of course but just let the Barca fans have their moments of joy.
And why choose a period from 90-08? Wouldn't be better to choose from like the post bosman era or some other significant thing that happened.

Parks lives wrote:It's like they've conveniently gone back to when Barca won their first CL title.

no, they have gone back conveniently to the end of the Liverpool dominated era in England, and when Man United took over, so that your team could come in second.

@EMP

122. Audax Italiano Santiago Chile 30
Club Atlético Morelia México 30
Racing Club Genk Belgique 30
Rosenborg BK Trondheim Norge 30
Udinese Calcio Italia 30

127. Bolívar La Paz Bolivia 29

128. Al-Ahly Cairo Egypt 27
CA Banfield Argentina 27
CA Lanús Argentina 27
CD Once Caldas Manizales Colombia 27
Sporting Cristal Lima Perú 27

133. Asociación Deportivo Cali Colombia 25
Cagliari Calcio Italia 25
Gamba Osaka Japan 25
SK Rapid Wien Österreich 25

137. Nottingham Forest FC England 24
SSC Napoli Italia 24
Standard de Liège Belgique 24