[Archived] World Club Ranking - 1979

[neekoy]

Just looking the the world club ranking in 1979 and my gut was filled with sadness at how much has changed in so few years. I long for the good old days of fair and even competition

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1979

1. Nottingham Forest (Eng) – Champions Cup-Winner; Only Number One ranking.

2. Liverpool (Eng) – CC-1R; Fifth consecutive Top 25.

3. Hamburger (FRG)

4. Strasbourg (Fra) – UEFA Cup-3R; Final Top 25 ranking.

5. SK Beveren (Bel) – Cup Winners Cup-SF; Only Top 25 ranking.

6. VfB Stuttgart (FRG) – UEFA-3R; First Top 25 ranking.

7. Nantes (Fra) – UEFA-1R.

8. FK Austria (Aut) – CC-SF; Final Top 25 ranking.

9. Rosario Central (Arg) – Highest ever ranking.

10. West Bromwich Albion (Eng) – UEFA-QF; First Top 25 ranking.

11. Ajax (Ned) – UEFA-3R; Fourteenth consecutive Top 25 ranking.

12. Cologne (FRG) – CC-SF.

13. Independiente (Arg) – Copa Libertadores-Semifinalist.

14. RSC Anderlecht (Bel) – CWC-2R.

15. St. Etienne (Fra)

16. BFC Dynamo (GDR) – UEFA-1R; First Top 25 ranking.

17. FC Kaiserslautern (FRG) – First Top 25 ranking.

18. Malmo FF (Swe) – CC-RU; Only Top 25 ranking.

19. Boca Juniors (Arg) – CL-RU.

20. Real Madrid (Esp) – CC-2R.

21. Spartak Moscow (Sov) – First Top 25 ranking.

22. Bayern Munich (FRG)

23. Feyenoord (Ned)

24. River Plate (Arg) – Fifth consecutive Top 25.

25. Everton (Eng)

[philipl]

Do you have all the rankings for every year?

[neekoy]

I could probably get them, what year in particular you after?

[philipl]

I could probably get them, what year in particular you after?

As you rightly point out, it is absolutely fascinating to see the clubs in that list so I was wondering if there is awebsite which lists all the years and the criteria used to score the selection. eg why do Everton sneak in at 25 in 1979?

[neekoy]

Well you have IFFHS, but that lists from 1991 until 2007 and I cannot verify the reliability.

The precise set of rules for 1991:

National championships: every country has a multiplication factor M; for

1991, this was 5 for Italy, 4 for Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany,

and Spain, 3 for France, Uruguay, Mexico, Netherlands, and quite a few

others, 2 for e.g. Greece, Egypt, Denmark, and Austria (among many others),

1 for Luxembourg and the like. Every win in the national league gives

a team M points, every draw M/2, every loss 0. No correction for number

of games is made except in extremal cases. The second divisions of

England, Germany, Italy and Spain are given M=2. France was moved into

the category with M=4 for 1994, Italy was moved back to M=4 for 1997 (there

were several less important changes).

National cup: every country has again a multiplication factor N. If M=5,

N=20; M=4 then N=18; M=3 then N=12; M=2 then N=7; M=1 then N=3,5. (Note

that N/M is not constant). For every country, if a team reaches the

1/8 final of the cup, it obtains N points, unless it needed extra time

and/or a penalty shoot-out, in which case both winner and loser gain N/2

points. The same applies each subsequent round. I.e., the Italian

cup winner can get maximally 5x20=100 points (if no extra time was needed),

the Dutch cup winner maximally 60, the Luxembourg one maximally 17,5.

Continental cups: in Europe, every win in a European cup competition (no

matter which) counts for 25 points, a draw 12,5, a loss 0. (This was

changed to 20, 10, and 0 in 1994.) In South America, these numbers ae

15, 7,5, and 0, respectively (because clubs can enter several tournaments).

Stuff like the European Super Cup, the Copa Conmebol, etc., is all counted

and the same way as the Champions Cup or the Copa Libertadores. For all

other continents, wins give 8, draws 4 points, with the exception of the

Caribbean qualifying competition for the Concacaf Cup (4 and 2).

You also have the The RSSSF Archive

below link takes you to the misc pages where there are a number of links to ranking information

Rank Info

Probably my favourite tidbit of info

The Worst Team in History

16.SSA Antwerpen P30 W0 D0 L30 F12-A271 Points 0

[The Prof.]

Good post Neekoy. However as an Englishman my heart doesn't bleed to much as I would think the Premiership clubs have a lot more clout now generally and are much higher in the ratings overall - and probably will be for the forseeable future.

Forest were an enigma really as they were virtually a one man club with Clough doing the most incredible things with the resources at his disposal. Makes you wonder where England would be now if 'Ted' from Hampshire had been gifted with the courage to appoint him manager.

[neekoy]

Good post Neekoy. However as an Englishman my heart doesn't bleed to much as I would think the Premiership clubs have a lot more clout now generally and are much higher in the ratings overall - and probably will be for the forseeable future.

Forest were an enigma really as they were virtually a one man club with Clough doing the most incredible things with the resources at his disposal. Makes you wonder where England would be now if 'Ted' from Hampshire had been gifted with the courage to appoint him manager.

Unfortunately it doesn't appear anyone is going to be able to pull a "Clough" anytime soon. With the top four domination in world rankings this could only mean further detriment to the likes of Rovers, who whilst still remain to have a share of the 'clout' in the domestic league will only drift further and further back in Europe and therefore naturally in the domestic competition.

I actually don't want to see PL clubs dominate the rankings (or any other major club), I would much rather see a Eusebio or Pele come through an help clubs in other leagues succeed.

If the major clubs lose, this impacts revenue and transfers therefore Rovers have a chance of closing the gap.

Going through the list there are the usual suspects still there in the Top 25 however seeing the likes of Nantes and Hamburg in the mix meant there should be no reason why we couldn't see the blue and white in there as well.

But that was 1979, today's picture is some much different. See below 2007 rankings, pretty much dominated by major clubs in the world

World Club Rankings Top 25 - 2007

1. Manchester United (Eng) - Premiership Winner; Champions League Semifinalist; FA Cup runner-up. Eleventh consecutive year in the WCL Top 25.

2. Chelsea (Eng) - FA Cup Winner; Carling Cup Winner; Premiership runner-up; Champions League semifinalist. Fourth consecutive year in the WCL Top ten.

3. Liverpool (Eng) - Champions League runner-up; Premiership third-place; Carling Cup quarterfinalist. Best WCL finish since finishing third in 1986.

4. Boca Juniors (Arg) - Copa Libertadores Winner; Club World Cup runner-up; 2006/07 Apertura runner-up; Clausura runner-up. Third time in the Top Five over the past five years.

5. AC Milan (Ita) - Champions League Winner; Club World Cup Winner; Serie A fourth-place; Coppa Italia semifinalist. Third straight WCL Top Five; fifth consecutive season in the Top Ten.

6. Internazionale (Ita) - Serie A Winner; Coppa Italia runner-up. Best WCL Top 25 finish since 2003.

7. Pachuca (Mex) - CONCACAF Champions Cup Winner; 2006/07 Apertura runner-up; Clausura Winner; Club World Cup quarterfinalist. First season in WCL Top 25.

8. Santos (Bra) - Brazil Serie A - runner-up; Copa Libertadores semifinalist. Highest WCL finish since 1964.

9. Porto (Por) - BWIN Superliga Winner. Fourteenth Top Ten finish in the WCL annual rankings.

10. Roma (Ita) - Coppa Italia Winner; Serie A runner-up; Champions League quarterfinalist. Best WCL finish since 2001.

11. Real Madrid (Esp) - Primera Division Winner. Eighth straight WCL Top25 ranking, 38th overall since 1960.

12. Cucuta Deportivo (Col) - Copa Libertadores semifinalist; second-best overall record in 2007 Colombian season. First ever WCL Top 25 finish.

13. Barcelona (Esp) - Primera Division runner-up; Copa Del Rey semifinalist. 33rd WCL Top 25 finish.

14. Sporting CP (Por) - Portugal Cup Winner; BWIN Superliga runner-up. Best WCL finish since 1966.

15. Sao Paulo (Bra) - Brazil Serie A Winner. Fourth WCL Top 25 finish in six years.

16. Lazio (Ita) - Serie A third-place. Best finish since 2000.

17. Chivas de Guadalajara (Mex) - 2006/07 Apertura Winner; Clausura semifinalist; CONCACAF Champions Cup runner-up; Copa Sudamerica semifinalist. Best WCL finish since 1997.

18. Al-Ahly (Egy) - Egyptian League Winner; Egyptian Cup Winner; CAF Champions League runner-up. Third consecutive WCL Top 25 finish.

19. Lyon (Fra) - Ligue Un Winner. Fourth straight finish at number 19.

20. Gremio (Bra) - Copa Libertadores runner-up. First time in WCL Top 25 since 2002.

21. Benfica (Por) - BWIN Superliga third-place; UEFA Cup quarterfinalist. Fourth WCL Top 25 finish in five years.

22. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) - Eredivisie Winner; Champions League quarterfinalist; KNVB Beker Cup quarterfinalist. Eleventh WCL Top 25 in past fourteen years.

23. Sevilla (Esp) - UEFA Cup Winner; Copa Del Rey Winner; Primera Division third-place. First appearance in WCL Top 25 since 1960.

24. Arsenal (Eng) - Premiership fourth-place; Carling Cup runner-up. Tenth consencutive year in WCL Top 25.

25. Ajax (Ned) - KNVB Beker Cup Winner; Eredivisie runner-up. Thirtieth overall appearance in WCL Top 25, but only second since 1998.

[bennyboyt11]

look at West Brom on that first list

[American]

I like that the new list is more world wide.

[neekoy]

It might cover more land mass but even outside Europe (Al Ahly, Chivas) the major clubs are in there.

The 'smallest' club (barring the surprise Cucuda and looking at only dominance of domestic leagues) is bloody Sevilla!

[Sparky Marky]

West Brom

[neekoy]

West Brom

Not the first list, the newest one.

That was my point of the OP, you had teams like West Brom ect in the top 25 of the world

[Ray-Von]

Interesting. Thinking back, West Brom had an absolutely brilliant side back in the late 70/early 80's under Ron Atkinson.

[philipl]

Interesting. Thinking back, West Brom had an absolutely brilliant side back in the late 70/early 80's under Ron Atkinson.

At last an intelligent post on the subject. In fact I'd go so far to say that the Baggies then were about the most consistingly entertaining side in the English top flight since the '60s.