You voted and I listened. Actually, I determined the year-end World Club Rankings 2007 Top 25 and then posted a meaningless poll in which you participated and, strictly by coincidence, Manchester United came in tops in both. In the vote, Arsenal actually received more than 20 percent of the vote. Based on what? It's fourth-place finish in the premiership or its ouster from the Champions League in the Round of 16 at the hands of PSV Eindhoven? Seriously? That's why the vote was just included as a popularity contest.
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BITCHING (and then feel free to bitch): The year-end ranking, below, is not a snapshot of the best teams in the world at this particular moment in time. If that is what you want, that is better reflected in the Weekly Top 25 lists that I post, usually on Mondays. The year-end rankings are based on the last complete season played by each national league. For most of the higher-ranked leagues, that is the 2006/2007 season. For others, such as Colombia and Russia, it is based on the 2007 season. Information regarding standings and goal differential for the top fifty leagues is factored by league coefficients based upon how each league's members have performed in continental and international competitions over the past five years. Finally, teams are given what I like to call Super-Bonus-Points for reaching the semifinals of their respective continental championship tournaments.
Since most of the data for this ranking is from June 2007 or earlier, you may wonder why I'm posting it now. Well, Kasey Kasem taught me many things. He taught me that you should marry someone who is much younger and much hotter than you are. He taught me that when you have the munchies, Scooby Snacks hit the spot. Most of all, however, he taught me that if you do a weekly ranking, you should save the final weekend of the year for the annual countdown. More importantly, many things have happened since June such as the determination of the champions of Asia and Africa and an entire Brazilian season.
Something special happened in this year's rankings. As stated above, Manchester United, perhaps the most popular team in the world, won its first WCR title, which date back to 1960. (I know they should have won in 1999, but I just manipulate the numbers, I don't make them up.) More surprisingly, England became the first nation in the history of the WCL rankings to place teams in each of the first three positions. How? Well, it's one of the highest ranked conferences and it placed each of its top three finishers in the semifinals of the Champions League. It also helped that the other semifinalist, and eventual winner - AC Milan, could not finish any better than fourth in Serie A.
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.
In time, I'll post the rest of the Annual Top 25s, but for now, here are links to those that I have posted: 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964
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