The world's strongest leagues in 2010  First trends

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------by IFFHS---

The English Premier League is not more the No.1 of the world !

Every July it is possible to make the first assessment of the relative strengths of the various leagues. The methodology for determining the current strength of the national leagues is unchanged since 1991 and has proved to be a sensitive and accurate indicator. It also takes into consideration that, because of the national and international schedules, the South American and West Asian leagues are better placed in the first half of the year and those from Northern and Eastern Europe less so. The current trends by area are as follows:


A)
It may cause a sensation but the reality is that the English Premier League has shown a drop in performance not previously seen in the first decade of the 21st Century. At the beginning of the year the English league had a lead of 110 points ahead of the Spaniards. In the month of July the Spanish Primera División was ahead of the Englishmen by 94 points. That means, for example, that the English clubs must achieve seven more wins than the Spanish clubs in the UEFA club competitions by end of the year if the English league is again to be the No.1.

B)
The trend shows that the Spanish Primera División is on the way to becoming the strongest league in the world. But the gaps to the next placed national leagues are small. And the Italian Serie A has clearly benefited from the triumphal march of "Inter". In comparison FC Bayern München - Germany‘s showpiece team - lost too many matches on the way to Madrid, so this affected the points of the German league.

C)
A similar drop in performance to the Englishmen took place also in the leagues of the Ukraine and Romania. Negative trends have also been shown by the national leagues of the Netherlands, Turkey and Greece while the leagues of Portugal and Belgium remained as constant.

D)
The Brazilian Serie A is still the strongest league in South America, but the Argentinean Primera División has reduced the gap to the Brazilians. Remarkably the Peruvian Primera División takes the 3rd place in the South American leagues at present. But the margin of points to the chasing leagues from Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador and Uruguay are very small.

E)
In Central and Northern America, the Mexican league at No 1 is well clear. But the clubs of the MLS disappointed in the CONCACAF Champions League, following the USA league is now in 88th place. The league from Guatemala is currently ahead of those from the USA, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica, the No.2  in this region. But the margins of points are extremely small, so the positions behind the Mexican Primera División can change almost weekly.

F)
Egypt again has the strongest African league, ahead of  the leagues of Algeria, Nigeria, Tunisia, Libya, Angola and Morocco. The Egyptians, Algerians and Tunisians have reverted to the old order. There are currently five North-African leagues among the "Top 60" in the world.

G)
While the national league from Japan, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan have maintained their good placings from end of the year 2009, the leagues from Iran, Kuwait and Qatar have achieved sensational improvements. The Japanese have the best-placed league in the world ranking at present. The impact of improvements in Asian football has taken place gradually and has become apparent in the national leagues, above all in Syria and Vietnam as well as in other Southeast-Asian countries.

H)
In Oceania the margin of points between the leading league (New Zealand) and the other leagues has reduced. But heading the pursuing leagues, ahead of the expected leagues of Tahiti (119th) and Fiji (123rd), is Papua New Guinea league (116th). That is a result of national champions PRK Hekari United unexpectedly winning the Oceanian Champions League.

 

The "Top 115" leagues are as follows: 


National league fromPoints



1.España580,0
2.Brasil577,0
3.Argentina536,0
4.Italia508,0
5.England486,0
6.Deutschland457,0
7.France413,0
8.Perú407,0
9.Chile362,5
10.Paraguay357,5
11.Ecuador342,5
12.Egypt334,0
13.México330,0
14.Uruguay329,0
15.Portugal324,0
16.Belgique301,0
17.Colombia283,5
18.Nederland276,5
19.Scotland273,5
20.Algérie272,5
21.Türkiye270,0
22.Japan269,0
23.Iran261,0
24.Kuwait259,5
25.Greece258,5
26.Korea Republic255,0
27.Qatar253,0
28.Česká Republika237,0
29.Syria236,0
30.Saudi Arabia234,5
31.Israel228,0

Nigeria228,0
33.Danmark227,5
34.Malaysia219,5
35.Vietnam219,0
36.Singapore216,0
37.Cypern211,0
38.Tunisie209,5

Uzbekistan209,5
40.Belarus206,0

Northern Ireland206,0
42.Russia205,0
43.Georgia204,0
44.România200,0
45.Schweiz194,5
46.Sverige194,0
47.Ukraina193,0
48.Österreich191,0
49.Libya187,0
50.Thailand183,5
51.Eesti182,0
52.Indonesia181,5
53.Hong Kong172,5
54.Angola171,5
55.Éire170,0
56.Botswana169,5
57.Yemen168,0
58.Magyarország166,0
59.Maroc165,0
60.UAE164,5
61.Cameroun163,5
62.Lebanon162,0
63.Sudan161,5
64.Moldova161,0
65.Jordan160,5
66.Bolivia160,0
67.Lietuva159,0

Polska159,0
69.Suomi158,0
70.Armenia156,0
71.Venezuela155,0
72.Guatemala152,5
73.Bahrain148,5
74.China148,0
75.South Africa146,5
76.Hrvatska144,0
77.Albania143,0

Bulgaria143,0
79.Mali142,0

Srbija142,0
81.Norge140,0
82.Zimbabwe139,0
83.Sénégal137,5
84.Australia136,5
85.Zambia136,0
86.Macedonia135,5
87.India130,5
88.USA129,0
89.Malawi128,5
90.Côte-d'Ivoire128,0
91.Ghana127,0
92.Honduras126,0
93.El Salvador124,0
94.Bosne i Hercegovine123,0

Costa Rica123,0

Slovenija123,0
97.Iceland122,5
98.Ethiopia119,5
99.Azerbaijan115,0
100.Latvija114,5
101.Malta112,0

Nicaragua112,0
103.Panamá108,0

Slovensko108,0
105.Oman107,0
106.Swasiland102,5
107.Burkina Faso100,5
108.Crna Gora96,5
109.Tanzania96,0
110.Uganda95,5
111.Luxembourg95,0
112.Wales91,5
113.Mosambique90,0
114.Kazakhstan89,5
115.New Zealand88,5

 

  

-----------

 The classification of the best leagues of the world is made objectively without any outside influence of any sort. We follow the criteria that the level of performance of a league is reflected by the best classified teams of that league who in turn usually represent their country in international club competitions. If one looks at the football power-houses of the world, one notices that regularly 4 or 5 clubs of their leagues are always competing in continental competitions. By adding the points won in all competitions by the five best placed clubs of each league, we have the points for the country which in turn helps to establish a fair classification. It is important to note that only the yearly classification is representative, since all competitions move along the whole season and over twelve months, we have an objective view of the best. This system has been used since 1991, and it is recognized today as the most precise in rating the leagues of the world.