1. (4)
3. (2) Bayern Munich. Didn’t give up a goal in a perfect week, but neither team (Benenses and
4. (5) Inter
5. (1) Real
6. (10)
7. (11) FC Porto. Impressive win at Besiktas Istanbul in midweek Champions League action, along with perfect record in domestic league shows they belong in top ten.
8. (18) Celtic. The week’s biggest movers and deservedly so after knocking off AC Milan and rallying to beat
9. (15) Juventus. Second in Serie A behind mighty Inter. Appear to have reclaimed their old status. Drew third place Fiorentina on Sunday. But lack of European action leaves little room for error if they are going to hang around the top 10 for long.
10. (16.)
11. (-)
12. (-) Olympiakos. Beat Werder
13. (6) PSV
14. (7)
15. (12) Villareal. Beat some crap team in UEFA Cup competition, then succumbed to Osasuna in domestic league action. Probably deserved to fall further, but lack of quality competition in the ranks behind them worked in their favor.
16. (-) Shakhtar Donetsk. Won at Benfica this week and lead what is turning out to be a quality CL group (Celtic and AC Milan are the other two teams).
17. (-) Chivas de Guadelajara. Top non-European team this week made major strides. Knocked DC United out of Copa Sudamericana, then won at SuperLiga champs
18. (19) Rangers. Nice win at #25
19. (13) Sao Paulo. Lost to Flamengo at mid-week, then only managed draw against 17th placed Corinthians. But continue to lead Brazilian league by a comfortable margin (12 points advance on second-place Cruzeiro with five games to play) and are still alive in Copa Sudamericana as well.
20. (8)
21. (22) AS Nancy. Beat Monaco this week to remain second in French league. No continental action will wear on them though.
22.
23. (-) Dynamo Zagreb. Knocked Ajax Amsterdam out of UEFA tourney (and So-So's Top 25) and sit tops in domestic league.
24. (14) Olympique Lyon. Reclaimed top spot in domestic league with win at
25. (-) Atlante. The other undefeated team in Mexico's Apertura. Led by Venezuelan striker Giancarlo Maldonado (11 goals in 11 games). Made quick work of Veracruz last week and face Pachuca at home on Saturday.
Commentary:
England had the most representatives on the list (five clubs), followed by Spain (four), Mexico (three), Scotland, France and Italy (two each) and seven countries with one club each. Regarding the Mexican league's weighting, I feel it is justified on several levels: 1) The league is rich, bankrolled by the country's various business cartels (Cemex, Telcel, FEMSA, Bimbo, etc.) and widely viewed as the best outside Europe. It certainly has more depth than many if not most European leagues, 2) No Mexican team is in the top 15 anyway, and two are clustered in the bottom fifth (20-25th), 3) The Apertura started in early August and intra- and inter-regional club tournaments are at advanced stages (Copa Sudamericana) or have already concluded (Superliga). Plus the region's national teams had a busy summer with two major tournaments (Gold Cup and Copa America), all of which means Mexican teams are likely closer to mid-season form than their brethren in Europe's top leagues, 4) The club world's "middle ground" area, defined by teams not in the G-14 but just below it, is in my view very competitive. The case can be made that the best Mexican league teams are right there with the best of them, especially in light of items 1-3.
So why only two Italian clubs? The Italian league has been watered down by the financial scandals that have compromised most clubs' buying power. That and I hate Italian soccer. It's boring. This personal bias aside, Serie A clubs really have not done very well. Fiorentina needed penalties (against Dutch club Groningen) to make the UEFA group stage and Palermo, Sampdoria and Empoli were eliminated by (in order) Mlada Boleslav, Aalborg and FC Zurich. Besides Zurich, I couldn't even locate any of these teams on a map (Boleslav is Czech and Aalborg Danish, in case you're wondering).
There is also a notable absence of Argentine clubs. This is because that league's leader, Independiente had a mediocre week, losing Sunday to 12th placed Newell's Old Boys. The second-placed team (going into the weekend) Boca Juniors lost the superclassico to River Plate and have separately also been eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana. River itself, while alive in the Copa, have been pretty horrible in the domestic league--this weekend's result notwithstanding--and sit well off the leaders. Bottom line: I just couldn't find an Argentine club worthy of the top 25. That may change next week. Stay tuned.
Interesting list!
ReplyDeleteIs it correct that this list is based solely on your football mind, or is there some sort of math model in the background?
If you`re doing this without math, then you have a good deal of football sense.
I have developed a mathematical sysmtem to assess the strength of the various European leagues and by this have a tool for inter-league comparison. My top 25 is not that much different from yours:
1 Man U
2 Real Madrid
3 FC Barcelona
4 Inter Milan
5 Chelsea
6 Arsenal
7 FC Valencia
8 FC Sevilla
9 FC Villareal
10 AS Rom
11 FC Liverpool
12 Lyon
13 Celtic
14 Porto
15 Atletico Madrid
16 Real Zaragoza
17 Bayern Munich
18 Schalke 04
19 Werder Bremen
20 Sporting Lisboa
21 Benfica Lisboa
22 Stuttgart
23 FC Everton
24 Rangers
25 FC Portsmouth
Only European clubs. Fot me there is no way to compare American clubs with their European counterparts. Details of my method can be found on Big Soccer, search by my username khucke.
no mathematical model. This is based solely on my football mind (or lack thereof). I am familiar with the challenges of comparing European with American clubs, but it was precisely this challenge that led me to create the list in the first place! European lists are a dime a dozen. Having said that, I would be interested in learning more about your methodology and will look for you on Big Soccer.
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