It’s that time of year and I have been looking forward to running the numbers for months now. It may seem premature to provide a pre-season Top 25 list, seeing as people are still moving around in the transfer market, but that won’t stop me. The rankings have never been built on individual, but rather on results. Granted, it’s difficult to make a pre-season list based on results because, by virtue of there being no games played in the pre-season, there have been no results. Once again, I won’t let that stop me.
Of the leagues that have clubs in the Top 25, only Brazil is currently in action. For Brazilian clubs, data from the current season is used. For all other clubs, data from the past season is used. Current data will be combined with data from the previous season through matchday five in each domestic league’s individual schedules. Following matchday five, only data from the current season will be used.
Even though we are using data from last season, there is a significant difference between the pre-season ranking and the most recent weekly ranking. The reason for this is that the domestic league coefficients are based on a different set of data because data from the 2003-04 season is no longer taken into account. This affects some domestic leagues beneficially (e.g., Germany, Scotland) while hurting others (e.g., Portugal, Colombia, France). The results of these revised domestic league coefficients is reflected in the club rankings below.
A lot of stuff went on this past week, but I can’t really say much of it was all that important. Bordeaux upset Lyon on penalty kicks to win the French Super Cup. Also, there were two “friendly” tournaments this weekend involving top clubs. In the Emirates Cup, Arsenal had to be humiliated by finishing tied for last despite hosting the tournament. The cup went to Hamburg SV, over three of ten best clubs in the world – Real Madrid, Juventus and the hosts. In the Railway Cup, Sevilla took the title defeating Lokomotiv Moscow in the final. In a star-studded third-place match, Chelsea crushed AC Milan 5-0. Links to stories about this action and other action involving Top 25 clubs can be found below.
The best action this week should come from France, where Ligue Un becomes the first of the major European leagues to begin its 2008/2009 campaign, and England where Manchester United and Portsmouth face off for the Community Shield. There are also three friendlies this week involving matchups of Top 25 clubs: Bayern Munchen and Inter Milan on Tuesday, Manchester United and Liverpool on Wednesday, and PSV Eindhoven taking on Everton on Saturday.
Now, without further adieu, the WCR Pre-Season Top 25:
WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World – Pre-Season Edition
1. Manchester United (Eng) – In the words of the great philosopher Ric Flair, to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. Until another club can demonstrate that they are better than the current champions, then the current champions should be number one. United defeated Espanyol 1-0 this weekend and have a busy week coming up, facing Petersbrough on Monday, Juventus on Wednesday and Portsmouth in the Community Shield on Sunday.
Of the leagues that have clubs in the Top 25, only Brazil is currently in action. For Brazilian clubs, data from the current season is used. For all other clubs, data from the past season is used. Current data will be combined with data from the previous season through matchday five in each domestic league’s individual schedules. Following matchday five, only data from the current season will be used.
Even though we are using data from last season, there is a significant difference between the pre-season ranking and the most recent weekly ranking. The reason for this is that the domestic league coefficients are based on a different set of data because data from the 2003-04 season is no longer taken into account. This affects some domestic leagues beneficially (e.g., Germany, Scotland) while hurting others (e.g., Portugal, Colombia, France). The results of these revised domestic league coefficients is reflected in the club rankings below.
A lot of stuff went on this past week, but I can’t really say much of it was all that important. Bordeaux upset Lyon on penalty kicks to win the French Super Cup. Also, there were two “friendly” tournaments this weekend involving top clubs. In the Emirates Cup, Arsenal had to be humiliated by finishing tied for last despite hosting the tournament. The cup went to Hamburg SV, over three of ten best clubs in the world – Real Madrid, Juventus and the hosts. In the Railway Cup, Sevilla took the title defeating Lokomotiv Moscow in the final. In a star-studded third-place match, Chelsea crushed AC Milan 5-0. Links to stories about this action and other action involving Top 25 clubs can be found below.
The best action this week should come from France, where Ligue Un becomes the first of the major European leagues to begin its 2008/2009 campaign, and England where Manchester United and Portsmouth face off for the Community Shield. There are also three friendlies this week involving matchups of Top 25 clubs: Bayern Munchen and Inter Milan on Tuesday, Manchester United and Liverpool on Wednesday, and PSV Eindhoven taking on Everton on Saturday.
Now, without further adieu, the WCR Pre-Season Top 25:
WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World – Pre-Season Edition
1. Manchester United (Eng) – In the words of the great philosopher Ric Flair, to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. Until another club can demonstrate that they are better than the current champions, then the current champions should be number one. United defeated Espanyol 1-0 this weekend and have a busy week coming up, facing Petersbrough on Monday, Juventus on Wednesday and Portsmouth in the Community Shield on Sunday.
2. Inter Milan (Ita) – The defending Italian champions should be tough again and I’m anxious to see if Jose Mourinho can keep them from underachieving in European action for a change. Face Bayern Munchen on Tuesday, which should be one of the best friendly matchups of the pre-season.
3. Real Madrid (Esp) – Defeated Hamburger in the Emirates Cup on Saturday, but they couldn’t keep it going on Sunday against Arsenal, losing 0-1. I’m not aware of any matches involving Real Madrid in the upcoming week, but if that’s incorrect, feel free to leave a comment.
4. Bayern Munchen (Ger) – After putting together a great team last season and finishing first in the Bundesliga, Bayern gets a chance to take the team into the Champions League after a year’s absence. Bayern looked good against Urawa, winning 4-2 this week. This week, they host Inter Milan on Tuesday before opening the DFB Pokal season at Rot-Wei Erfert on Sunday.
5. Chelsea (Eng) – Chelsea is starting off this season like it finished last season – missing penalty kicks in a loss to Lokomotiv Moscow in the semifinals of the Railway Cup. Chelsea did bounce back well, however, humiliating AC Milan 5-0 in the consolation matchup.
6. Roma (Ita) – Roma got in some pre-season action this week, defeating Monaco 2-0 on Saturday. This coming weekend, they face Tottenham Hotspur as Roma’s series of pre-season friendlies continues.
7. Arsenal (Eng) – Hosted both Juventus and Real Madrid this weekend in the Emirates Cup. After falling to Juventus, Arsenal bounced back to defeat Real Madrid 1-0 in the second match. Nevertheless, this victory was enough only to tie Arsenal with Juventus for third-place in the tournament. On Wednesday this week, Arsenal will take on Huddersfield Town.
8. Gremio (Bra) – Gremio maintained its spot atop the Brasileiro Serie A with a pair of victories over Coritiba at midweek and Vitoria, 2-0, this weekend. Gremio has another pair of Serie A matches this week, this time against Ipatiga and Atletico-MG.
9. Porto (Por) – The dominant club in the bwin Liga last year was dominant in friendlies this week, including a 4-1 victory over Cagliari. Porto faces another Italian club next Sunday as Lazio comes to town.
10. Juventus (Ita) – Juventus went Jeckyll and Hyde this weekend, looking good (at least passable) in defeating Arsenal in London, but were defeated by Emirates Cup champion Hamburger 0-3. Faces the top club in the world on Wednesday in a friendly against Manchester United.
11. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – I’m not aware of any matches that PSV played in during the past week, but they can make up for that this weekend when they host Everton.
12. Lyon (Fra) – After losing to Monaco earlier in the week, Lyon fell to Bordeaux in the French Super Cup on penalty kicks on Saturday. Is this the season that Lyon’s streak of Ligue Un titles finally comes to an end? We’ll see. Yet another defense begins this Sunday when Lyon takes on Toulouse.
13. Werder Bremen (Ger) – Bremen has been busy in the past week, playing three friendlies, winning two, but falling 1-3 to Trabzonspor on Sunday. The series goes on, including a match on Tuesday against Levski Sofia. In domestic Cup action this weekend, Bremen will play at Nordhorn.
14. Villarreal (Esp) – Held onto a goalless draw this week in a friendly against Liverpool. I’m not aware of any action involving the Yellow Submarine this week.
15. Barcelona (Esp) – Played some good international competition this week, first defeating Fiorentina and then coming to the States to defeat Chivas de Guadalajara 5-2 in Chicago.
16. Liverpool (Eng) – As mentioned earlier, Liverpool played Villarreal to a goalless draw early in the week. Liverpool came back this weekend to destroy Rangers 4-0 over the weekend. On Tuesday, Liverpool travels north (way north) to take on Valarenga.
17. Ajax (Ned) – It’s a shame that Ajax won’t be able to play in the Champions League this year based on the unfair way that spots were chosen in the Eredivisie up until this coming season. Ajax did get to play in some European action this weekend, defeating Sunderland 1-0.
18. Celtic (Sco) – This weekend was a busy one for Celtic against good, not great, competition. Celtic fell to Tottenham 0-1 during the week before defeating Feyenoord 3-1 over the weekend. On Wednesday, Celtic hosts Manchester City.
19. Cruzeiro (Bra) – Won a pair of games this week in Brasileiro Serie A action, including coming from behind to defeat Flamengo 2-1 on the road to hold onto second place. This week, Cruzeiro faces Internacional and Portuguesa in domestic action.
20. Schalke 04 (Ger) – Schalke is looking to a return to the knockout stage of the Champions League this year. Schalke defeated Aachen 4-0 in a friendly this week. This coming weekend, Schalke begins its DFB Pokal season atainst Homburg/Saar.
21. Bordeaux (Fra) – Defeated Lyon on penalty kicks after a scoreless draw to win an upset French Super Cup. Domestic action begins for Bordeaux this week as Bordeaux hosts Caen.
22. Fiorentina (Ita) – Fiorentina played, and lost to, Barcelona during the past week. I am not aware of any matches for Fiorentina in the upcoming week as they prepare for Serie A action later this month.
23. Everton (Eng) – Everton is currently in the United States playing friendlies against MLS clubs and, as far as I can tell, not getting into riots. Everton fell to the Chicago Fire 0-2 at midweek and played the Colorado Rapids this evening. Everton returns to Europe this week, where they will host PSV Eindhoven next weekend.
24. AC Milan (Ita) – As disappointing as AC Milan was last year and Ronaldinho was last year, I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this year. Coming in fourth place out of four in the Railway Cup was a good start, especially the 0-5 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea. I think they’ll spend the next week licking their wounds.
25. Rangers (Sco) – I’m not sure about this one. After managing only a draw at home against FBK Kaunas and getting crushed 0-4 by Liverpool, this season is not starting off well. A shot at redemption comes up on Tuesday as Rangers fight for their European Cup action life in the return match against Kaunas.
Bubbling Under (alphabetically): Atletico de Madrid (Esp), Hamburger (Ger), Palmeiras (Bra), River Plate (Arg), Sevilla (Esp)
CONCACAF: (39) Chivas de Guadalajara (Mex), (54) Cruz Azul (Mex), (61) Santos Laguna (Mex), (89) LD Alajuelense (CRC), (102) San Luis (Mex)
Matches Between Top 25 Clubs This Week
5 August – (2) Internazionale at (4) Bayern Munchen
6 August – (10) Juventus at (1) Manchester United
9 August – (11) PSV Eindhoven at (23) Everton
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