By Matt Scott
June 23 – Insideworldfootball has conducted an exclusive 10-year analysis of UEFA’s official club rankings for the top-five or -six clubs in the big five European leagues, showing where each of Europe’s biggest club brands stands.
The figures demonstrate that Barcelona has dominated the decade, standing on top of European football on the 10-year and five-year rankings, claiming top spot in four of the past 10 years. On a 10-year basis, Barcelona’s mean position in the UEFA club rankings has been 1.8 and over five years 1.6.
That is despite Barça having slipped over the past two completed seasons to second behind Real Madrid, but they will no doubt return to the top next season once this year’s Champions League final triumph over Juventus counts in the UEFA rankings.
Real’s performance in UEFA’s club rankings, which themselves calculate performance points accumulated over a five-year basis, has been more erratic than their Primera Liga rivals’. Although top of the tree in 2013-14 and 2014-15, Real slipped to as low as 13th in Europe in 2008-9 and 2009-10, meaning their 10-year mean position has been 6.3. However, on both a 10- and five-year basis, Real have consistently maintained fourth spot in the rankings overall.
Bayern Munich’s frequent appearances in the latter stages of the Champions League in recent years – from runners-up in 2009-10 and 2011-12 to being winners in 2012-13 – have forced them up the table comparing their performance with other clubs’. Bayern have moved from sixth to second on the 10-year to five-year comparison, improving their mean ranking from 7.2 to 3.2.
The German champions’ success has been at the expense of Chelsea, who slipped from second to third, despite improving their mean ranking from 4.4 to 3.4 over the period. Perhaps the most unexpected ranking over the period has been Bayern’s recent title rivals and 2012-13 Champions League finalists, Borussia Dortmund. Despite that spike in their performance, Dortmund remain the lowest ranked of the five German clubs in 25th place from 28th over the 10-year ranking.
The biggest risers over the period under analysis have been Atlético Madrid, with a stunning 16 places’ improvement over the 10 years. Despite being unranked by UEFA as recently as 2006-7, Atléti have been on a streak, taking fifth place in Europe in 2014-15.
Also rising fast are Manchester City, who with the help of Sheikh Mansour’s billions have improved from 93rd in 2005-6 to 17th in 2014-15. They are the biggest risers among the English clubs, although their mean ranking remains the lowest – 52.8 on the 10-year basis and 26.2 on the five-year.
Ahead of them, Tottenham Hotspur have risen from 18th in Europe to 14th on the 10- to five-year rankings, closing in on Liverpool. The Reds’ repeated recent failures to qualify for the Champions League have cost them three rankings positions slipping from 10th to 13th with their mean ranking sliding from 12.7 on a 10-year basis to 21.4 over the past five seasons.
Our methodology discounts clubs outside the Big Five European leagues of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. It uses only the top-six clubs in England, Italy and Spain, where there has been the most consistency of performance, and the top-five in France and Germany. Where clubs were unranked, a ranking of 200th in Europe was taken as a representative performance for inclusion in the analysis.
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