World Club Rankings - Top 25 Clubs - 1974

I’m not sure if 1974 is more fairly seen as a blip in the 1970s dominance of the Dutch or the year marking the rise of the Bundesliga and Bayern Munich. Both are probably fair to some degree. After three straight years as European champions and WCR Team of the Year, Ajax failed to win its domestic league and fell to CSKA Sofia in the second round of the Champions Cup. Falling so early opened the door for several teams, obviously, but only one of them could manage to walk through. The semifinals saw upstarts Bayern Munich defeat Ujpest Dozsa and Atletico de Madrid advance against Celtic, who were finishing the greatest run of seasons in its history. The final was a scoreless draw deep into extra time, when Atletico took a 1-0 lead on a 114’ goal by Luis Aragones. Things looked dark for Bayern, but a miracle occurred when Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck tied the game up at the 119’ minute mark to send the championship into a replay. Two days later, in front of a half-empty Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Bayern Munich dominated Atletico de Madrid to take its first ever Champions Cup, defeating the Spaniards 4-0 on braces by Uli Hoeness and Gerd Muller.

The Germans in the west weren’t the only ones celebrating in 1974. East German club FC Magdeberg brought home the Cup Winners Cup after defeating AC Milan 2-0 in the final. Although they couldn’t maintain their run of Champions Cup titles, the Netherlands did manage a consolation prize as Feyenoord ended the British domination of the UEFA Cup by defeating Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in aggregate in the final round.

While one dynasty was ending, another one on the other side of the world was still going strong. Independiente took its third consecutive Copa Libertadores title, defeating Sao Paulo, as a Brazilian club returned to the final. After splitting home and away matches, the two clubs faced on in a playoff in Santiago, Chile, where Independiente scored a 1-0 victory and the title.

In other continental action, Municipal (Guatamala) took the Copa de Campeones, defeating Transvaal (Suriname) 4-2 (agg.) in the final and CARA Brazzaville (Congo) defeated Ghazl Al-Mehalla (Egypt) 6-3 (agg.) in the final of the African Cup of Champions. The list of domestic champions in the top leagues in the world included Feyenoord, Bayern Munich, Celtic, Lazio (for the first time) and San Lorenzo. Below are the Top 25 clubs in the world for 1974:

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs – 1974

1. Bayern Munich (FRG) – Champions Cup-Winner; First ever ranking.
2. Celtic (Sco) – CC-SF; Fifth consecutive Top 5.
3. Feyenoord (Ned) – UEFA Cup-Winner; Fifth consecutive Top 10.
4. Ujpest Dozsa (Hun) – CC-SF; Highest ever ranking.
5. Penarol (Uru) – Copa Libertadores-Semifinalist.
6. Atletico de Madrid (Esp) – CC-RU.
7. Twente (Ned) – UEFA-3R.
8. Independiente (Arg) – Copa Libertadores-Winner.
9. Borussia Monchengladbach (FRG) – Cup Winners Cup-SF; First ever ranking.
10. Ajax (Ned) – CC-2R; sixth consecutive Top 10.
11. San Lorenzo (Arg)
12. Lazio (Ita) – UEFA-2R.
13. Barcelona (Esp) – UEFA-1R.
14. Juventus (Ita) – CC-1R.
15. PSV Eindhoven (Ned)
16. Rosario Central (Arg) – CL-1R.
17. Hibernian (Sco) – UEFA-2R; Last ever ranking.
18. Sporting CP (Por) – CWC-SF.
19. Olympiakos (Gre) – CC-1R.
20. Rangers (Sco) – CWC-2R.
21. Fortuna Dusseldorf (FRG) – UEFA-3R; First ever ranking.
22. Velez Sarsfield (Arg)
23. Leeds United (Eng) – UEFA-3R; Sixth consecutive Top 25.
24. Benfica (Por) – CC-2R; Fourteenth consecutive Top 25.
25. Eintracht Frankfurt (FRG)

Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

Copa Libertadores Finals - History in the Making

Wednesday night, Fluminense hosts Liga Deportiva Universitaria (LDU) Quto in the second leg of the finals of the Copa Libertadores. Last week, in the first leg of the final in Quito, Ecuador, LDU Quito saw goals from four different scorers in the first half and held on to score a 4-2 victory. Regardless of what happens on Wednesday night, a little history will be made.

It is safe to say that Fluminense is not one of the traditional Brazilian powerhouses. Of the 26 trips made by Brazilians to the finals of the Copa Libertadores prior to this year, Fluminense was responsible for a grand total of zero. They have won a Brazilian championship, but only one and that one took place 24 years ago. It appears extremely unlikely that Fluminense will repeat that feat this year as they currently are in 20th place out of 20 teams in the Brazilian Serie A, scoring only two points in seven matches. The tricolores (Fluminense fans) in Rio de Janiero did get to celebrate a victory in the Copa do Brasil in 2007, but their party should be the biggest they’ve ever had should they manage to come back in the second leg against LDU.

A championship for LDU Quito would be even more historic. Not only has LDU Quito never won the Copa Libertadores; no team from Ecuador has ever taken home the cup. In fact, this is only the third time a team from Ecuador has reached the final, as Barcelona fell in the final twice, to Olimpia in 1990 and Vasco da Gama in 1998. Recently a relative powerhouse in Ecuador, LDU’s championship history is not longstanding. LDU has won the Compeonato Ecuatoriano de Futbol nine times, with five of those championships coming since 1998. If LDU can hold on to its lead against Fluminense on Wednesday, it could be the biggest moment in the history of Ecuadoran club football.

Since both Fluminense and LDU Quito came out of the same group (Group 8), Wednesday night’s game will be the fourth between the teams during the tournament. In the group stage, Fluminense scored a 2-0 victory and a 0-0 draw against LDU on its way to winning the group and becoming the top overall seed in the knockout stage. In coming in second, LDU saw defending Copa Sudamerican champion Arsenal de Sarandi and Libertad eliminated. In the knockout stage, Fluminense has eliminated 1989 champion Atletico Nacional, 2005 champion Sao Paulo and 2007 champion Boca Juniors. LDU eliminated Argentine powers Estudiantes and San Lorenzo (in penalty kicks) before knocking out Club America in the semifinals. Interestingly, if LDU Quito wins, they will have done it by defeating the last-place team in the Mexican Clausura and the current last-place team in the Brasileiro Serie A. That notwithstanding, it will still be a well-deserved championship.

The game is on Wednesday night on Fox Sports Espanol (in the U.S.). I’ll be watching. If you have a chance, you should as well. Whatever happens, you will witness history.

Weekend Football Television Schedule

What the weekend lacks for in quantity, it makes up for in quality as the Euro 2008 tournament draws to a conclusion as Germany takes on either Spain or Russia in the final. As I’ve been saying for weeks now, Go Germany!!! I’ll be watching the game at Estadio RFK in Washington, immediately following United’s hosting of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Both games are being nationally televised on ABC on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, among the other MLS games on television or your computer this weekend, the most anticipated takes place in Foxboro, where the Revolution host FC Toronto. On other networks, GolTV is having an Ecuadorian-heavy weekend, showing three games, yet not the LDU Quito match against Espoli. You’ll have to wait until midweek to see LDU Quito against Fluminense in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final, where Liga currently holds a 4-2 lead. ESPN 360 is showing matches from Japan and China this weekend as well.

No clubs from the most recent WCR Top 25 are on television, but a few of them are playing in South America. The sexiest of these contests is a matchup between Sao Paulo and Cruzeiro on Sunday afternoon. If you have any information regarding television or internet resources for these games, please feel free to share your info in the comments section. Have a good weekend!!!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

4:30 am – Tianjin at Shaanxi (ESPN 360)
6:00 am – Kashima at Nagoya (ESPN 360)
4:30 pm – El Nacional at Deportivo Azogues (GolTV)
7:30 pm – Colorado Rapids at Columbus Crew (FSC)
7:30 pm – FC Toronto at New England Revolution (MLS Direct Kick)
8:00 pm – Real Salt Lake at Kansas City Wizards (MLS Direct Kick)
8:30 pm – San Jose Earthquakes at Chicago Fire (MLS Direct Kick)
10:30 pm – New York Red Bulls at Chivas USA (HDNet)

Sunday, June 29, 2008

10:45 am – Macara at Deportivo Quito (GolTV)
12 noon – Los Angeles Galaxy at D.C. United (ABC)
1:00 pm – Barcelona at Universidad Catolica (GolTV)
2:30 pm – Euro 2008 Championship Game (ABC)
9:00 pm – FC Dallas at Chivas de Guadalajara (TeleFutura)

Non-Televised Games Involving WCR Top 25 Clubs:

Sun., 1 pm – Espoli at (15) LDU Quito
Sun., 3 pm – (6) Flamengo at SPORT
Sun., 3 pm – Sao Paulo at (18) Cruzeiro
Sun., 5 pm – Internacional at (10) Gremio

World Club Rankings - Top 25 - 1973

In 1973, Ajax cemented its position as one of the all-time great clubs in European history by becoming the first club since Real Madrid in 1956-1960 to pull a three-peat of the European Champions Cup. It also became the first team to win the (not quite as coveted) World Club Rankings Team of the Year for three consecutive years. Dutch striker Johnny Rep scored in the fourth minute against Juventus in the final and that was all that was necessary as Ajax won the final 1-0. The Cup Winners Cup was also decided by an early goal as Luciano Chiarugi scored in the fifth minute of the final to lead AC Milan to a 1-0 victory over Leeds United. The UEFA Cup remained in England as another English club, this time Liverpool, won the trophy with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Borussia Monchengladbach, thanks in no small part to two first-half goals in the first leg match by the future Geordie Messiah, Kevin Keegan.

As was the case in Europe, the Copa Libertadores saw a repeat winner as Independiente defeated Chilean power Colo Colo to take the title. After a home and away draw, the clubs met in a tiebreaker in Montevideo, Uruguay and traded first-half goals before Giachello scored an extra time goal in the 107th minute to deliver another title to Independiente.

As far as domestic competitions is concerned, the champions of the top domestic leagues reads for 1973 reads like a who’s who of great clubs with championships going to Ajax, Juventus, Celtic and Liverpool, not to mention Atletico de Madrid and Rosario Central. The Top 25 clubs in the world for 1973 are listed below:

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1973

1. Ajax (Ned) – Champions Cup-Winner; First team with three consecutive Number One rankings.
2. Juventus (Ita) – CC-RU.
3. Celtic (Sco) – CC-2R; Fifth consecutive Top 5.
4. Feyenoord (Ned) – UEFA Cup-2R; Fifth consecutive Top 25.
5. AC Milan (Ita) – Cup Winners Cup-Winner; Sixth consecutive Top 25.
6. Rangers (Sco)
7. Huracan (Arg)
8. San Lorenzo (Arg) – Copa Libertadores-SF.
9. Benfica (Por) – CC-2R; Thirteenth consecutive Top 20.
10. Olympiakos (Gre) – UEFA-2R; First ever ranking.
11. Independiente (Arg) – Copa Libertadores-Winner.
12. Real Madrid (Esp) – CC-SF.
13. Liverpool (Eng) – UEFA Cup-Winner.
14. Twente (Ned) – UEFA-SF.
15. Hibernian (Sco) – CWC-QF; Best ever ranking.
16. Sparta (Ned)
17. Derby County (Eng) – CC-SF.
18. Boca Juniors (Arg)
19. Lazio (Ita) – First ever ranking.
20. PAOK (Gre) – CWC-1R; Only ever ranking.
21. Atletico de Madrid (Esp) – CWC-2R.
22. Panathinaikos (Gre)
23. Arsenal (Eng) – CC-1R.
24. Leeds United (Eng) – CWC-RU; Fifth consecutive Top 25.
25. Ujpest Dozsa (Hun) – CC-QF.


Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - 100th Post Edition

This isn’t a typical Weekly Ranking because, as you are aware, there’s very little going on in club soccer this time of year. The big news is going on in international soccer where Germany, Turkey, Russia and Spain have advanced to the semifinals of Euro 2008. (So much for my Italy over Germany prediction for the finals. Go Germany!!)

Nevertheless, there are things going on in club soccer, particularly in South America and North America. Most importantly, Wednesday is the first leg of the finals of the Copa Libertadores, where Fluminense, from Brazil, takes on LDU Quito from Ecuador. Elsewhere, River Plate has won yet another title in Argentina and post-season playoffs take place in Uruguay and Colombia, among others.

The primary differences in this week’s rankings and the most recent rankings are to reflect recent South American action. The top three teams in the current Brasileiro Serie A race all find a spot in the Top 25. The most glaring omission is Fluminense, who miss the Top 25 (by quite a bit) despite being in the Copa Libertadores finals. Threre’s really no choice, however, seeing as they have managed only two points in their first seven matches and are in dead last place domestically. Other South American teams in the rankings are LDU Quito, as they enter the home stretch of their continental run, and River Plate, fresh off of their Clausura championship.

There are no descriptions of past or future games, as is typical in the Weekly Rankings, since there is relatively little going on. The next Weekly Ranking will come out shortly after the second leg of the Copa Libertadores finals. Afterwards, there will be a pre-season ranking in early-August. The regular Weekly Rankings will return in full force in September.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – June 24, 2008

1. Manchester United (Eng)
2. Chelsea (Eng)
3. Inter Milan (Ita)
4. Real Madrid (Esp)
5. Porto (Por)
6. Flamengo (Bra)
7. Roma (Ita)
8. Arsenal (Eng)
9. Bayern Munchen (Ger)
10. Gremio (Bra)
11. Juventus (Ita)
12. Lyon (Fra)
13. Villarreal (Esp)
14. Liverpool (Eng)
15. LDU Quito (Ecu)
16. Barcelona (Esp)
17. Sporting CP (Por)
18. Cruzeiro (Bra)
19. PSV Eindhoven (Ned)
20. Ajax (Ned)
21. River Plate (Arg)
22. Bordeaux (Fra)
23. Werder Bremen (Ger)
24. Everton (Eng)
25. Fiorentina (Ita)

World Club Rankings - Top 25 - 1972

1972 saw Total Football become entrenched in Europe as Ajax tried to become the first club to repeat as continental champions since Inter Milan pulled the trick in 1964 & 1965 by facing that team in the finals. Two second-half goals by Johan Cruyff were all that were necessary, actually the first one was all that was necessary, as Ajax defeated Internazionale 2-0. The victory also allowed Ajax to become the second team to take the World Club Rankings Team of the Year, a feat Inter secured in 1965 & 1966. The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was no longer, but that opened the door for the premier edition of the UEFA Cup. The name may have changed, but the results were consistent with years past as the English teams continued to dominate. In the finals, two English teams, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers faced off in the finals. After pulling off a 2-1 victory in the away match, Tottenham held on to a 1-1 draw in London to win the first UEFA Cup. The Cup Winners Cup also stayed in the United Kingdom, though it did travel north. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Rangers held on against Soviet powerhouse Dinamo Moscow to take the silverware home with a 3-2 victory in the final.

As a European dynasty was in the making, a South American dynasty was just beginning as Independiente won their third Copa Libertadores title and their first of four in a row. As was traditional for Argentine Copa Libertadores teams of the period, Independiente did not do well enough in its domestic league to qualify for a spot in the WCR Top 25, but they did manage to defeat Universitario of Peru 2-1 at home in the second leg of the final, following a scoreless draw in Lima. In the Copa de Campeones, Olimpia of Honduras defeated Robin Hood of Jamaica 1-0 in aggregate in the finals to win its first continental title.

Unlike 1971, Ajax also managed to win its domestic title and a domestic cup title for the legendary treble. The champions of the other top domestic leagues in the world included Juventus, Derby County (yes, they used to be good), Celtic and San Lorenzo. Below is the WCR Top 25 for 1972, along with their results in continental competitions and assorted WCR historical notes.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1972

1. Ajax (Ned) – Champions Cup – Winner; Back-to-back Number One rankings.
2. Celtic (Sco) – CC-SF; Sixth consecutive Top 10.
3. Benfica (Por) – CC-SF; Twelth consecutive Top 25.
4. Nacional (Uru) – Copa Libertadores-Semifinalist; Ninth consecutive Top 25.
5. Juventus (Ita) – UEFA Cup – Quarterfinalist.
6. Feyenoord (Ned) – CC-QF.
7. Internazionale (Ita) – CC-RU
8. Derby County (Eng) – Highest ever ranking.
9. Aberdeen (Sco) – UEFA-2R; Final time in Top 25.
10. Leeds United (Eng) – UEFA-1R.
11. Twente (Ned)
12. AC Milan (Ita) – UEFA-SF; Fifth consecutive Top 25.
13. Panathinaikos (Gre)
14. Vitoria Setubal (Por) – UEFA-3R; Only time in Top 25.
15. San Lorenzo (Arg)
16. Sparta (Ned) – Cup Winners Cup-Second Round.
17. Liverpool (Eng) – CWC-2R.
18. Rangers (Sco) – Cup Winner Cup-Winner.
19. Torino (Ita) – CWC-SF.
20. Real Madrid (Esp) – UEFA-2R.
21. Den Haag (Ned) – UEFA-2R; Only time in Top 25.
22. Manchester City (Eng)
23. Cagliari (Ita) – Final time in Top 25.
24. Anderlecht (Bel) – UEFA-1R.
25. Spartak Trnava (Tch) – CC-1R; Final time in Top 25.

Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

Weekend Football Television Schedule

I will be the first to admit that I have been a little lax recently in my posts. What can I say? This is a club soccer site and there’s not much going on in the club world at the moment, although the Copa Libertadores finals start next week and should give us something to talk about.

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing on television, though. There’s actually some good stuff this weekend, even though there’s not much of it. Of course, the highlight is the Euro 2008 quarterfinals – and the highlight of those will be on Sunday when Spain faces Italy on Sunday. I have to admit that I was rooting for the Netherlands (after Germany, because I always root for Germany), but now I hope the Dutch get beat by Italy in the semifinals. Why? Because it’ll bring my predictions closer to being correct? No. Because the Netherlands should have lost to Romania and eliminated the Italians. Since they did the “right thing” and played to win against Romania, I think losing to Italy in the semis would be poetic justice.

There are also some potentially good MLS matchups this week as the LA Galaxy host the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake hosts the New England Revolution. Throw in the Uruguayan championship, where Penarol faces Defensor Sporting and the weekend should have some quality games, even if the quantity is lacking. Below is the American soccer television schedule. Enjoy the weekend!!!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

2:30 pm – Netherlands vs. Russia (ABC)
3:30 pm – Kansas City Wizards at FC Toronto (MLS Direct Kick)
5:00 pm – Tecnico Universitario at Espoli (GolTV)
7:15 pm – Independiente Medellin at Chico (GolTV)
7:30 pm – FC Dallas at New York Red Bulls (FSC)
9:30 pm – Houston Dynamo at Colorado Rapids (HDNet)
9:30 pm – New England Revolution at Real Salt Lake (MLS Direct Kick)
10:00 pm – Grenada at Costa Rica (GolTV)
10:30 pm – Columbus Crew at Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS Direct Kick)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

2:00 pm – Defensor Sporting vs. Penarol (GolTV)
2:30 pm – Spain vs. Italy (ESPN)
3:00 pm – Racing at Colon (FSC)
3:00 pm – United States at Barbados (ESPN 360)
3:00 pm – San Jose Earthquakes at DC United (TeleFutura)
4:00 pm – Deportivo Quito at Olmedo (Delayed) (GolTV)
6:30 pm – Quindio at Deportivo Cali (GolTV)

World Club Rankings - Top 25 - 1971

Feyenoord won the Champions Cup in 1970, but was unable to secure the top spot in its domestic league and was, therefore, unable to claim the top spot in the WCR Top 25, settling for second. In 1971, Feyenoord was able to win its domestic title, but still had to settle for second in the WCR rankings, sitting behind fellow Dutch team Ajax

Ajax ran wild on the Dutch domestic league despite finishing second. It’s trip to the top of the WCR rankings, however, came primarily through its run to its first of three consecutive Champions Cup titles. A goal in the fifth minute by Dick van Dijk was enough as Ajax defeated Panathinaikos 2-0 in the final. Just as the year before, the Champions Cup was in Holland, but the rest of the hardware went to England. In the Cup Winners Cup, a replay was required, but a pair of first half goals in that match allowed Chelsea to take the title with a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid. Meanwhile, in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Leeds United took the title 3-3 on away goals against Juventus, despite a goal by future England boss, Fabio Capello.

1971 marks the first season in which CONCACAF clubs were included in the rankings. The best of these teams in 1971 was Cruz Azul, who defeated Alajuelense 5-1 in a playoff to win the Copa de Campeones, aided by two goals each by Eladio Vera and Octavio Mucino. In the Copa Libertadores, it took a replay in Lima, Peru, but Uruguayan powerhouse Nacional finally ended Estudiantes’ string of titles, defeating the three-time defending champion 2-0 in the replay, scoring a goal in each half.

In addition to Feyenoord, the domestic champions of the other top leagues around the world were Inter Milan, Celtic, Arsenal and San Lorenzo. Those teams and the other best clubs in the world are listed below:

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1971

1. Ajax (Ned) – Champions Cup – Winner; first Number One rankings; sixth consecutive Top 25.
2. Feyenoord (Ned) – CC – 1R; back-to-back Number Two rankings.
3. Nacional (Uru) – Copa Libertadores – Winner; eighth consecutive Top 25.
4. Celtic (Sco) – CC – QF; fifth consecutive Top Ten.
5. Inter Milan (Ita) – Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – 1R.
6. Atletico de Madrid (Esp) – CC – SF.
7. Arsenal (Eng) – ICFC – SF; first ever ranking.
8. AC Milan (Ita)
9. Aberdeen (Sco) – Cup Winners Cup – 1R; best ever finish.
10. ADO (Ned) – Only season in Top 25.
11. Panathinaikos (Gre) – CC – SF; first time in Top 25.
12. Independiente (Arg)
13. Leeds United (Eng) – Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – Winner.
14. Benfica (Por) – CWC – 2R; eleventh consecutive Top 25.
15. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – CWC – SF.
16. Velez Sarsfield (Arg)
17. Valencia (Esp) – ICFC – 2R.
18. Napoli (Ita)
19. AEK Athens (Gre) – ICFC – 1R; first time in Top 25.
20. Barcelona (Esp) – ICFC – 2R.
21. St. Johnstone (Sco) – Only season in Top 25.
22. Cruz Azul (Mex) – Copa de Campeones – Winner; first time in Top 25.
23. Twente (Ned) – ICFC – QF; first time in Top 25.
24. Spartak Trnava (Tch) – ICFC – 3R.
25. Red Star Belgrade (Yug) – CC – SF.

Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

World Club Rankings - Top 25 - 1970

1970 was the year that the Dutch began their domination of the early part of the decade in European action. The Champions Cup came to Holland for the first of four consecutive seasons as Feyenoord defeated Celtic 2-1. It wasn’t quite enough to deliver Feyenoord the distinction of being the WCR Team of the year since they managed to finish only second , behind Ajax, in domestic action. That title went to Celtic for the second time in four years as they finished 12 points clear of Rangers while outscoring the domestic competition 96-33. Teams from England did manage to bring some hardware to the United Kingdom, however, as Manchester City defeated Gornik Zabrze 2-1 to win the Cup Winners Cup and Arsenal defeated Anderlecht 4-3 in aggregate to take the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

In South America, Estudiantes took its third straight Copa Libertadores title, this time defeating Penarol 1-0, 0-0 for the cup. As in the past, Estudiantes’ domestic woes kept it from climbing to anything close to the summit of the WCR rankings, but they did manage to score their highest ranking of their streak, as they finished at number twenty-two. Runners-up Penarol, on the other hand, finished in the top ten for the seventh consecutive year.

In addition to Celtic and Ajax, champions of the other top domestic leagues included Cagliari, Everton and Boca Juniors. Below is the World Club Ranking Top 25 for 1970.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1970

1. Celtic (Sco) – Champions Cup – Runner-Up; second time at number one.
2. Feyenoord (Ned) – Champions Cup – Winner; highest ever ranking.
3. Leeds United (Eng) – CC-SF.
4. Cagliari (Ita) – Highest ever ranking.
5. Penarol (Uru) – Copa Libertadores – Runner-Up; seventh consecutive Top Ten.
6. Everton (Eng)
7. Ajax (Ned) – Inter Cities Fairs Cup – SF; fifth consecutive top 25.
8. Inter Milan (Ita) – ICFC – SF.
9. Nacional (Uru) – Seventh consecutive Top 25.
10. Juventus (Ita) – ICFC – 2R.
11. River Plate (Arg) – CL – SF.
12. Rangers (Sco) – Cup Winners Cup – 2R; fifth consecutive Top 25.
13. Atletico de Madrid (Esp)
14. Rosario Central (Arg)
15. Sporting CP (Por) – ICFC – 2R.
16. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – CWC – 2R; first time in Top 25.
17. Hibernian (Sco)
18. Boca Juniors (Arg) – CL – SF
19. Benfica (Por) – CC – 2R; tenth consecutive Top 25.
20. Chelsea (Eng)
21. AC Milan (Ita) – CC – 2R.
22. Estudiantes (Arg) – Copa Libertadores – Winner.
23. Legia Warsaw (Pol) – CC-SF; only Top 25 finish.
24. Derby County (Eng) – First time in Top 25.
25. Ujpest Dozsa (Hun) – ICFC – 3R.

Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

Euro 2008 - RPI Prediction Experiment (II)

[Ed: This is a repeat of a post from three weeks ago. With the tournament starting today, it seemed like an appropriate time to re-post it.]

Here at World Club Rankings, we focus on club teams, as opposed to national teams. We do weekly rankings, annual rankings, but we don’t do international rankings. It’s not that we don’t appreciate a good international match and we are definitely looking forward to Euro 2008. It’s just that international football just isn’t our thing.

Nevertheless, it’s a relatively slow Saturday on the world club football scene (outside of Germany and France) and we haven’t created a new spreadsheet in some time, and we do love ourselves some math, so we decided to apply some old fashioned college basketball formulas to the Euro 2008 teams because, well, why not?

Here’s what we decided to do. We applied the RPI formulas to the sixteen teams participating in Euro 2008. We decided to use the pre-2004 RPI formula because (a) it is much simpler and time is always limited and (b) it makes it easier to account for draws. How is the old school RPI determined? I’m glad you asked. Basically, it takes team records and breaks them into three components, does a little math, and then adds them together.

What are the three components? You ask a lot of questions. The first component is team winning percentage. For the purposes of this experiment, a draw counts as half of a half of a loss. Winning percentage accounts for 25% of the RPI. The second component is opponent’s winning percentage. This is pretty straight forward – it’s the combined record of your opponents. If a nation plays another nation three times, the opponent’s record is counted three times. Opponent’s winning percentage accounts for 50% of the RPI. The third component is opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage. Same process, taken a step further. Opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage accounts for the final 25% of the RPI.

For the game pool, I went back five years. Why five years? It gives me enough data to give meaning to the math. There’s no magic to the number – it’s just what I decided to use. Also, for the purposes of the team records, I decided to apply all games each nation played against any other nation in Euro 2008. I didn’t count games against non-Euro 2008 nations because, to do that, I’d have to expand the RPI to over 200 nations instead of just 16, which would take forever and, frankly, I have a little bit of a life. Also, again, I believe I was able to get meaningful data from using these sixteen teams. Also, I included all games I could find, including friendlies and games that did not necessarily mean anything at the time they were played. Does this skew the numbers a little bit? Probably. It really doesn’t matter, because this is basically just an experiment and should give us interesting, if not exactly accurate results.

Before I get to the results, let me just say that this is merely an experiment to see how a commonly used formula in one sport applies to Euro 2008. It doesn’t take into account home/away games (like the post-2003 RPI) and is not meant to be definitive. The data I found included 138 games. If I missed one or two (though I tried to be careful), it’s not the end of the world. If you’re looking for any national bias, I am not European, so I don’t really have a dog in this hunt. I’ll be rooting for the home of my grandfather (Germany), but no bias that I am aware of enters the formulas. Finally, this was just done to kill some time on a boring Saturday afternoon. I hope you find it at least half as interesting as I found it to do.

THE RESULTS

Component One – Winning Percentage (25%)

This component is pretty straight forward. Again, assuming most people didn’t bother to read the admittedly verbose prose above, the records are based on all internationals games played between two teams that are in Euro 2008 over the past five years, with a draw counting as half a win and half a loss.

Winning Percentages:

1. Italy (.6500)
2. France (.6429)
3. Poland (.6071)
4. Germany (.5833)
5. Greece (.5750)
6. Netherlands (.5682)
7. Spain (.5667)
8. Romania (.5417)
9. Croatia (.4643)
10. Turkey (.4615)
11. Czech Republic (.4444)
12. Sweden (.4412)
13. Portugal (.4211)
14. Russia (.3750)
15. Switzerland (.3333)
16. Austria (.1538)

Component Two – Opponent’s Winning Percentage (50%)

This component is the combined record of each of the opponents for each national team.

Opponent’s Winning Percentage:

1. Sweden (.5518)
2. Portugal (.5442)
3. Romania (.5318)
4. Czech Republic (.5208)
5. Spain (.5194)
6. Turkey (.5180)
7. Italy (.5168)
8. Switzerland (.5113)
9. Austria (.5042)
10. Greece (.4865)
11. France (.4849)
12. Russia (.4794)
13. Croatia (.4729)
14. Germany (.4712)
15. Netherlands (.4629)
16. Poland (.4435)

A few observations: Teams that not only played above .500, but also did it against teams above .500 were Italy, Spain and Romania. Poland had a great winning percentage, but did it against weak competition. The opponents of both Switzerland and Austria played over .500 – primarily one assumes because those teams got to play Austria and Switzerland.

Opponent’s Opponent’s Winning Percentage (25%)

I don’t think I can explain it better than that. It is what it sounds like. It may be a tad convoluted, but I didn’t invent the formula. I just applied it to something to which it was never intended to be applied.

Opponent’s Opponent’s Winning Percentage:

1. Greece (.5131)
2. Poland (.5127)
3. Netherlands (.5118)
4. Spain (.5074)
5. Germany (.5065)
6. Russia (.5034)
7. France (.5018)
8. Croatia (.5018)
9. Turkey (.4996)
10. Italy (.4983)
11. Czech Republic (.4880)
12. Portugal (.4869)
13. Romania (.4857)
14. Sweden (.4856)
15. Switzerland (.4856)
16. Austria (.4816)

I won’t even pretend to know how to analyze these numbers. Now, we take the three components, put them together, add a pinch of salt and stir so nothing gets stuck to the bottom, and see what we get for the final RPI ranking.

EURO 2008 TEAM RPI RANKING:

1. Italy (.5454)
2. France (.5286)
3. Spain (.5282)
4. Romania (.5227)
5. Greece (.5153)
6. Germany (.5080)
7. Sweden (.5076)
8. Poland (.5017)
9. Netherlands (.5014)
10. Turkey (.4993)
11. Portugal (.4991)
12. Czech Republic (.4935)
13. Croatia (.4780)
14. Switzerland (.4603)
15. Russia (.4593)
16. Austria (.4110)

I think that’s pretty interesting. Now, let us apply it to the groups in Euro 2008:

EURO 2008 PREDICTIONS – THE EXPERIMENT

Group A:

(10) Turkey
(11) Portugal
(12) Czech Republic
(14) Switzerland

If Group C is the group of death, Group A has to be considered the group of the dead. I have to say that I was surprised to see any team with Cristiano Ronaldo ranked this low. The fact that all of the teams rank between tenth and fourteenth indicate that this group is wide open and any one of the four teams could advance. With home field advantage, I would not be at all surprised to see Switzerland go through. For the purposes of this experiment, however, let’s say Turkey wins the group and Portugal also advances.

Group B:

(6) Germany
(8) Poland
(13) Croatia
(16) Austria

Continuing with the top heavy (light) Group A/B half of the draw, in which there are only two of the top nine teams in the tournament. This is the group in which there is the clearest delineation between the top two teams and the bottom two teams in the group. It is more of a coin flip to determine the winner of the group, but we’ll go with Germany to win and Poland to advance.

Group C:

(1 ) Italy
(2) France
(4) Romania
(9) Netherlands

Wow. Which of the football draw gods did these teams piss off in order to get such a strong group. With three of the top four clubs in the RPI, as well as the number nine team, it is perfectly conceivable that the best team in the world may not even advance to the Euro 2008 quarterfinals. Despite it being unfair, it should make for some awesome games in the group stage. Although Romania might claim a spot, we’ll go with Italy as the group winner and France as the runner-up.

Group D:

(3) Spain
(5) Greece
(7) Sweden
(15) Russia

First of all, let’s just take Russia out of the equation. I saw the Spain team, which was announced earlier today, and it’s hard to imagine that team being stopped by any other team in this group. That notwithstanding, the numbers indicate that this is a three-way battle for two spots and that any one of those three might spend the knockout stages at home. To keep with the tradition began above, we’ll go with Spain as the winner and Greece as the runner-up.

Knockout Rounds

In the quarterfinals and semifinals, Group A and B are in one draw while Groups C and D are in the other, with the winners of one playing the runner-up of the other in the quarterfinals. If the numbers are accurate at all, a few things are clear: (1) The bottom half of the draw is superior to the top half of the draw, with seven of the top nine teams in the tournament in Groups C or D. Within the two draws, Group B appears to have the best two teams in the top half, while the best teams from the bottom half appear to come from Group C, though Group D is also loaded. If the RPI holds up (and I have no reason to believe it will – remember, this is just a random Saturday afternoon experiment), the knockout stages will play out as follows:

Quarterfinals:

Poland over Turkey
Germany over Portugal
Italy over Greece
France over Spain

Semifinals:

Germany over Poland
Italy over France

Finals:

Italy over Germany

Is this how it’ll turn out? I doubt it, but I had fun plugging all of the data into the spreadsheets and seeing how the formulas played out. Again, I hope you find it half as interesting as I found doing it. It should be fun and I can’t wait!!

WCR Weekend Soccer Television Schedule

Things are slowing down to a crawl on the WCR Top 25 schedule, where only one team faces a ranked opponent this week on television. That team, River Plate hosts Olimpico on FSC on Sunday.

Of course, the biggest games of the week are international matches – and the biggest of those take place in Euro 2008 on Saturday on the ESPN family of networks. This weekend, the weaker of the two groups are in action as Group A and Group B begin. There will be two games a day until the end of the group stage. I’m still going with Italy over Germany and the rest of my RPI predictions, but we’ll see how that turns out.

In domestic action, the games of the week will be in Chicago, where the demons known as the Fire take on my beloved D.C. United, and in Los Angeles where the Galaxy host the Rapids in a battle for the top spot in the west.

Let the games begin!!!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

9:15 am – Japan at Oman (ESPN 360)
11:30 am – Czech Republic vs Switzerland (ESPNC)
2:30 pm – Turkey vs. Portugal (ESPNC)
7:15 pm – Chico at Independiente Medellin (GolTV)
7:30 pm – San Jose Earthquakes at Columbus Crew (HDNet)
8:30 pm – D.C. United at Chicago Fire (FSC)
9:00 pm – Kansas City Wizards at Real Salt Lake (MLS Direct Kick)
10:30 pm – Colorado Rapids at Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS Direct Kick)

Sunday, June 8, 2008

11:30 am – Croatia vs. Austria (ESPNC)
2:00 pm – River Plate at Penarol (GolTV)
2:30 pm – Poland vs. Germany (ESPN2)
3:00 pm – Olimpico at (19) River Plate (FSC)
6:30 pm – Deportivo Cali at Quindio (GolTV)
7:30 pm – Argentina at United States (ESPNC)