Worldwide Historical Ranking of Clubs

WORLD CLUB TEAMS ALL-TIME RANKING

(updated until 24/08/2009)

* Team extinct since 1930.

Criteria of Punctuation:

WORLD TITLES:
FIFA Club World Cup = 55 (champion) or 30 (runner-up)
Intercontinental (Toyota) Cup = 50

CONTINENTAL TITLES:
European Champions Cup = 40 (champion) or 35 (runner-up)
Taça Libertadores = 40 (champion) or 35 (runner-up)
African Champions Cup = 13 (champion) or 11 (runner-up)
CONCACAF Champions Cup = 13 (champion) or 11 (runner-up)
Asian Champions Cup = 11 (champion) or 10 (runner-up)
Oceanian Champions Cup = 8 (champion) or 6 (runner-up)

NATIONAL TITLES:
Championships of Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy
and Spain = 12
Championships of Netherlands and Portugal = 7
Championships of Belgium, Chile, Mexico, Russia, Serbia, Serbia & Montenegro,
Scotland, Uruguay, USSR and Yugoslavia = 5
Championships of Austria, Cameroon, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Paraguay and Romenia = 3
Championships of other countries = 2

BRAZILIAN NATIONAL COMPETITIONS TITLES:
Brazilian Championship (1971-today) = 12
Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1967-1970) = 10
Taça Brasil (1959-1966)= 8
Torneio Rio-São Paulo (1933 and 1950-1958) = 7
State Champions Cup (1920 and 1937) = 4

BRAZILIAN STATE TITLES:
Championships of Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo = 10
Championships of Bahia, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do
Sul = 5
Championships of Ceará, Goiás and Santa Catarina = 2
Championships of other states = 1

Criteria of Teams' Selection:

To be included in this ranking, the team must obey (at least) one of these
criteria:

 1) To be mentioned in PLACAR Magazine - "Grandes Times" (edition number 1058)
 2) To be mentioned in PLACAR Magazine - "Esquadrões" (edition number 1064)
    or in PLACAR Magazine - Esquadrões Brasileiros ("100 Anos de Futebol no
    Brasil") (edition number 1097)
 3) Had won at least 1 (Copa Libertadores, European Champions Cup or Inter-
    continental (Toyota) cup) or 4 (African, CONCACAF, Asian Champions Cup,
    Oceanian Champions Cup) titles or 1 runner-up of FIFA Club World Club.
 4) To be mentioned in PLACAR Magazine - Ranking dos Melhores Times do Mundo
    (edition number 1111; revised version - edition number 1157)
 5) To be mentioned in The 50 Greater Clubs of The World
 6) To be mentioned in "Os Principais Clubes do Mundo" (PLACAR Magazine -
    Guia do Torcedor) (distributed with edition number 867)**
 7) To be mentioned in FOUR-FOUR-TWO Magazine - "World League" (edition
    number 103 - World Football Supplement)
 8) To be mentioned in the book "The Greatest-Ever Football Line-ups"
 9) To be mentioned in FIFA Classic Clubs
10) To be mentioned in GOL FC magazine - "Os 100 Maiores Times do Mundo" (special edition number 3)***

** Except teams from Brazil, Italy, Portugal or Spain
*** Except teams from Brazil

FAQs:

1) Why you include all past Brazilian Competitions and don't include past
competitions of other countries?

Answer: Because the Brazilian Championship is very younger than the other
national leagues. If I don't include these Brazilian competitions, the
Brazilian teams' position in the ranking would be inferior of the reality.

2) Why you include the Brazilian state championships?

Answer: See the answer above.

3) How you defined the criteria of punctuation?

Answer: I tried to build an set of weights to the various championships that
would be similar to the sets used by IFFHS and PLACAR (see Criteria of Teams'
Selection - item 4).

Disclaimer: the above ranking is not officially endorsed by any official organisation but the private effort of the author

Prepared and maintained by Marcelo Leme de Arruda for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Marcelo Leme de Arruda (mlarruda@terra.com.br)
Last updated: 28 Aug 2009

(C) Copyright Marcelo Leme de Arruda and RSSSF 1999/2009
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.