Weekend Soccer Television Schedule - 2 August 2008

So many great games coming up that it seems like the regular season must be here. Well, it’s not, at least not in most places. Nevertheless, since we’re on the verge of the Weekly Rankings returning – the pre-season WCR Top 25 comes out this week – and since there are so many matches are going on this weekend that it feels like it’s time to re-introduce the WCR Top 5 Matches of the weekend.

So . . . what’s going on this weekend? Among broadcasted matches, the most intriguing games look like they are coming from the Emirates Cup, which involves Arsenal, Real Madrid, Juventus and Hamburger SV in a round-robin tournament and being televised on GolTV on Saturday and Sunday. Along those same lines, ESPN 360 is broadcasting the third-place match and finals of the Railway Cup on Sunday (the semifinals will be broadcast on Friday), involving Chelsea, AC Milan, Sevilla and Lokomotiv Moskva.

There are a pair of non-televised (in the United States) matches involving WCR Top 25 clubs going up against each other. On Saturday, Lyon faces Bordeaux in the French Super Cup. On Sunday, Flamengo hosts Cruzeiro in Brasileiro Serie A action.

Elsewhere, there’s still a lot of action going on. In addition to great friendlies, like Liverpool at Rangers on Sunday, there is a full slate of action in the United States, Mexico, Russia, Colombia and Ecuador – all of which is on a television or internet service near you this weekend. (This is not even including Superliga and Copa Sudamericana action which is going on during midweek.)

WCR Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Lyon vs. Bordeaux (Saturday, Noon, Not Televised)
2. Cruzeiro at Flamengo (Sunday, 3:00 pm, Not Televised)
3. Real Madrid at Arsenal (Sunday, 11:00 am, GolTV)
4. Juventus at Arsenal (Saturday, 11:00 am, GolTV)
5. Railway Cup Final (Sunday, 8:30 am, ESPN 360)

Saturday, August 2, 2008

8:00 am – FC Moscow at Zenit St. Petersburg (ESPN 360)
9:00 am – (4) Real Madrid vs. Hamburger SV (GolTV)
11:00 am – (11) Juventus at (8) Arsenal (GolTV)
5:00 pm – El Nacional at Deportivo Quito (GolTV)
6:00 pm – Indios at Monterrey (Galavision)
7:00 pm – Pereira at Deportivo Cali (GolTV)
7:30 pm – Kansas City Wizards at D.C. United (MLS Direct Kick)
8:30 pm – Columbus Crew at Houston Dynamo (FSC)
8:30 pm – Chivas USA at Chicago Fire (HDNet)
10:00 pm – Cruz Azul at Atlas (Delayed) (TeleFutura)
12 midnight – Puebla at Necaxa (Galavision)

Sunday, August 3, 2008

6:00 am – Railway Cup 3rd Place (AC Milan or Sevilla vs. Lokomotiv Moscow or (2) Chelsea) (ESPN 360)
8:30 am – Hull City vs Hearts (Setanta)
8:30 am - Railway Cup Final (AC Milan or Sevilla vs. Lokomotiv Moscow or (2) Chelsea) (ESPN 360)
9:00 am – Hamburger SV vs (11) Juventus (GolTV)
11:00 am – Krylya Sovetov at CSKA Moscow (ESPN 360)
11:00 am – (4) Real Madrid at (8) Arsenal (GolTV)
11:45 am – Borussia Dortmund at Tottenham Hotspur (ESPN 360)
1:00 pm – Club America at Toluca (Univision)
1:30 pm – Barcelona at Olmedo (Delayed) (GolTV)
2:00 pm – Celtic at Feyenoord (ESPN 360)
3:00 pm – Los Angeles Galaxy at San Jose Earthquakes (TeleFutura)
4:00 pm – FC Dallas at Toronto FC (MLS Direct Kick)
6:30 pm – America de Cali at Once Caldas (GolTV)
7:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara vs (13) Barcelona (FSC, Galavision)

Top 25 Club Matches – Not Televised

Sat., 10:00 am – Espanyol at (1) Manchester United
Sat., 10:00 am – (14) Liverpool at Rangers
Sat., Noon – Trabzonspor at (23) Werder Bremen
Sat., Noon – (10) Lyon vs. (22) Bordeaux (France Super Cup)
Sun., 10:00 am – (19) Ajax at Sunderland
Sun., 1:00 pm – (16) LDU Quito at Espoli
Sun., 3:00 pm – (17) Cruzeiro at (6) Flamengo
Sun., 3:00 pm – Vitoria at (20) Gremio
Sun., 6:00 pm – (25) Everton at Colorado Rapids

World Club Rankings - Top 25 Clubs - 1981

In 1981, for the third time in five years, Liverpool took home the Champions Cup trophy. This time Liverpool won the title by defeating Real Madrid 1-0 in Paris, France on an 82nd minute goal by Alan Kennedy. As was the case in 1978, however, Liverpool was unable to secure the top spot in the World Club Rankings in 1981, despite the European Championship, because of a fifth-place showing in domestic action. In fact, of the final four teams in the Champions Cup in 1981, only Bayern Munchen managed to win its domestic title and Bayern was able to ride that title to its second WCR Number One annual ranking.

The 1981 Cup Winners Cup lacked its typical array of high-profile and highly-ranked clubs. The result was a final in which only 9,000 people came to see a meeting of eastern bloc clubs in Dusseldorf, West Germany. In that match, Soviet club Dinamo Tbilisi came back from a 0-1 deficit to defeat East Germany’s Carl Zeiss Jena 2-1. The UEFA Cup, on the other hand, did see many of the top teams in Europe compete, with two clubs ranked in the final WCR Top Ten facing off in the finals. After scoring a 3-0 victory at home in the first leg, Ipswich Town held on to defeat AZ Alkmaar 5-4 in aggregate in the final, delivering yet another cup to England.

The 1981 Copa Libertadores turned into a one-man show featuring a man with one name. The finals saw Brazil’s Flamengo facing Cobreloa from Chile. After both clubs were able to score one-goal victories at home, a playoff was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, where Flamengo triumphed 2-0. All four of Flamengo’s goals in the three-game final were scored by Zico, including both goals in the playoff. With respect to other continental silverware, Transvaal won their second Copa de Champeones y Subcampeones when the Suriname club defeated Atletico Marte from El Salvador. Algeria’s JE Tizi-Ozou won the African Champions Cup, defeating AS Vista Club from Zaire. Finally, Union Douala (Cameroon) defeated Staionery Stores (Nigeria) to take home the African Cup Winners Cup.

The list of champions of the top domestic leagues in the world in 1981 included Aston Villa, Bayern Munchen, Real Sociedad, River Plate and Gremio. Below are the Top 25 Clubs in the World for 1981.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – 1981

1. Bayern Munchen (FRG) – Champions Cup-Semifinalist; Second Number One ranking.
2. Aston Villa (Eng) – First Top 25 ranking.
3. Real Madrid (Esp) – CC-RU.
4. Ipswich Town (Eng) – UEFA Cup-Champion; Highest ever ranking.
5. Liverpool (Eng) – Champions Cup-Champion; Fifth consecutive Top Five ranking.
6. Boca Juniors (Arg)
7. Hamburger SV (FRG) – UEFA-3R.
8. Real Sociedad (Esp) – UEFA-3R; Highest ever ranking.
9. RSC Anderlecht (Bel) – UEFA-1R.
10. AZ Alkmaar (Ned) – UEFA-RU; Highest ever ranking.
11. Ferro Carril Oeste (Arg) – First ever ranking.
12. VfB Stuttgart (FRG) – UEFA-3R.
13. Flamengo (Bra) – Copa Libertadores-Champion.
14. Inter Milan (Ita) – CC-SF.
15. Juventus (Ita) – UEFA-2R.
16. KSC Lokeren (Bel) – UEFA-QF; Only Top 25 ranking.
17. BFC Dynamo (GDR) – CC-2R; Final Top 25 ranking.
18. Nacional (Uru) – CL-SF.
19. Arsenal (Eng)
20. Sao Paulo (Bra) – First Top 25 ranking.
21. FC Kaiserslautern (FRG) – UEFA-2R.
22. West Bromwich Albion (Eng) – Final Top 25 ranking.
23. Gremio (Bra) – First Top 25 ranking.
24. Ajax (Ned) – CC-2R; Sixteenth consecutive Top 25 ranking.
25. Valencia (Esp) – Cup Winners Cup-2R.


Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

What's Going On . . . in the Emirates Cup

What’s Going On with the Emirates Cup? Well, at the moment, not much; but that will all change this coming weekend. For those of you not familiar with the Emirates Cup, it is a two-day exhibition tournament that dates back to the middle ages, if you consider last year to be the middle ages, and has continued until this day. It is played, not surprisingly, at Emirates Stadium in London and is hosted, again not surprisingly, by Arsenal.

What is significant about the Emirates Cup? Seeing as it’s a pre-season exhibition, there’s a limit to how significant it can be. Nevertheless, Arsenal is able to draw great competition to the tournament (including three clubs in the current WCR Top 25) and since it’s just a few weeks before the start of the opening match of their domestic seasons, the clubs involved at least resemble what they’ll look like when they play for real. Last year, Arsenal took home the cup, followed by Paris St.-Germain, Valencia and Inter Milan. This year’s tournament will see Arsenal taking on Juventus, Real Madrid and Hamburg SV.

How do you play a four-team tournament in two days? To begin with, not every team plays every other team in the Emirates Cup. In this year’s edition, Arsenal will not play Hamburg and Juventus will not play Real Madrid. To determine the champion, teams are awarded points based upon performance. Each team gets three points for a win and one point for a draw. I’m sure you’re used to that format by now. In the Emirates Cup, however, is that each team gets an additional point for each goal that it scores. The result is that a club with a 3-3 draw scores as many points (4) as does a club with a 1-0 victory.

Who plays who and when? The schedule is below (all times E.S.T.). Given the teams involved, I’m sure it will be televised on a network near you. It should be a good tune-up and help to get you salivating for the start of the season.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

9:00 am – (4) Real Madrid vs. Hamburg SV
11:15 am – (11) Juventus at (8) Arsenal

Sunday, August 3, 2008

9:00 am – (11) Juventus vs Hamburg SV
11:15 am – (4) Real Madrid at (8) Arsenal

Weekend Soccer Television Schedule - 26/27 July 2008

The action begins to pick up this weekend, though it is still a far cry from what we will see in another few weeks or so. Where should we start . . .? How about with a question. Why does it seem that there are never any good MLS matchups over the weekend? There are four MLS games on this weekend and none of them match up teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today. Do they save all the good ones for ESPN2 Thursday nights? It seems so.

The most exciting event of the weekend with respect to football and television is that it’s the opening weekend of the Mexican Apertura and all of the teams are in action. It may be a little early to say which matchup is best, but I have to say that I’m looking most forward to the Santos Laguna v. Club America match on Sunday night.

GolTV is showing its usual collection of non-Brazilian and non-Argentine South American matches. The highlight of these should be Sunday’s matchup between Nacional and Defensor Sporting for the Copa Artigas championship. The GolTV website currently states that Defensor is playing River Plate, but that doesn’t make sense to me. That website tends to be in a constant state of self-correction, and I believe that it is currently incorrect. The nice surprise of the weekend from GolTV will be a friendly between Bayern Munchen and FC Koln on Saturday afternoon in the only match featuring a WCR Top 25 club this weekend on American television.

ESPN360, as usual, heads east, showing a Russian Premier League match on Saturday morning and a J-League match early, early Sunday morning. There are numerous non-televised matches this weekend featuring WCR Top 25 clubs. These matches are split between South American clubs playing in domestic league action and European clubs playing pre-season friendlies.

Finally, this weekend is the final ever weekend for the Intertoto Cup. I am not aware of any American broadcasts for any of these matches, but they are noteworthy nonetheless. As always, if you have any additional information regarding where any matches that I haven’t mentioned can be found on the tube or the web, please post a comment or drop me a line and I will update as necessary. Have a great weekend!!!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

8:00 am – Zenit St. Petersburg at Dinamo Moscow (ESPN360)
12 noon – (9) Bayern Munich at FC Cologne (GolTV)
6:00 pm – Morelia at San Luis (Delayed) (Galavision)
7:15 pm – Deportivo Cali at Millonarios (GolTV)
8:00 pm – Pachuca at Tigres (Galavision)
10:00 pm – Toluca at Atlante (TeleFutura)
12 midnight – Chiapas at Atlas (Delayed) (Galavision)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

5:00 am – Shimizu S Pulse at Omiya Ardija (ESPN360)
12 noon – Olmedo at Deportivo Quito (GolTV)
1:00 pm – Monterrey at Puebla (FSE)
1:00 pm – Necaxa at UNAM (Univision)
2:00 pm – Nacional vs Defensor Sporting (GolTV)
3:00 pm – New York Red Bulls at San Jose Earthquakes (TeleFutura)
5:00 pm – Emelec at Barcelona (GolTV)
5:00 pm – Santos Laguna at Club America (TeleFutura)
7:00 pm – Santa Fe at America de Cali (Delayed) (GolTV)
7:00 pm – Los Angeles Galaxy at FC Dallas (MLS Direct Kick)
8:00 pm – Chicago Fire at Kansas City Wizards (MLS Direct Kick)
9:30 pm – Columbus Crew at Colorado Rapids (MLS Direct Kick)

Non-Televised Matches Involving Top 25 Clubs

Sat. 8:00 am – (2) Chelsea at Chengdu Blades
Sat. 11:00 am – (13) Barcelona at Dundee United
Sat. 2:00 pm – Celtic at (5) Porto
Sat. 3:00 pm – Palmeiras at (20) Gremio
Sat. 3:15 pm – Blackburn Rovers at (15) Sporting CP
Sat. 5:20 pm – (17) Cruzeiro at Fluminense
Sun. 9:00 am – (4) Real Madrid at LASK
Sun. 1:00 pm – (22) Bordeaux at L’Orient
Sun. 1:00 pm – (16) LDU Quito at Deportivo Cuenca
Sun. 5:10 pm – Botafogo at (6) Flamengo

World Club Rankings - Top 25 Clubs - 1980

One in a row wasn’t enough for Ajax, Bayern Munich or Liverpool; what makes you think it would be enough for Nottingham Forest? If your answer was “nothing,” then you are correct. The 1980 European Champions Cup saw Nottingham Forest not only reach the final at the Bernabeu in Madrid, it saw Forest defeat Hamburger in the final 1-0 on the leg of John Robertson, who scored the match’s only goal in the twenty-first minute. For the second year in a row, however, the WCR final Top 25 saw the West German runner-up finish atop the year-end rankings over the English Champions Cup winner as Nottingham Forest finished a disappointing fifth in England.

Another English club made it to the final of the Cup Winners Cup, but failed to achieve as good a result as Forest. In the final at Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Arsenal faced Valencia. Neither team scored in regulation and the game was forced to penalty kicks, where Valencia triumphed by a score of 5-4. In the UEFA Cup, West Germany demonstrated that it possessed, if not the best domestic league in the world, at least the deepest as it produced five of the final eight teams and all of the semifinalists in the tournament. Seeing Kaiserslautern fall in the quarterfinals and Bayern Munich and Stuttgart follow in the semifinals, the finals consisted of their Budesliga foes Borussia Monchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt. After falling 2-3 in the first leg, Frankfurt’s Fred Schaub scored a late (81st minute) goal in the return leg to draw even with Monchengladbach and give Frankfurt the title on away goals.

For the first time since Santos defeated Penarol in 1962, Argentina failed to provide a finalist in the Copa Libertadores in 1980. Once again, the final pitted a Brazilian club against a Uruguayan club, but this time the cup went to Uruguay as Nacional defeated Internacional, thanks to a Victorino goal in the 35th minute of the second leg, which was the only goal of the two-leg final. The Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones finished with a three-team round robin tournament, won by UNAM of Mexico. The African nation with the best results in continental play in 1980 was Zaire was AS Bilima made it to the final of the African Champions Cup, where it fell 5-2 (agg.) to Cameroon’s Canon Yaounde and TP Mazembe took home the African Cup Winners Cup with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Africa Sports from the Cote D’Ivoire.

The continental championships were not kind to domestic champions in 1980 as only Real Madrid was able to double a championship in one of the top domestic leagues in the world with a semifinal appearance in a continental championship. Joining Real Madrid as champions of the top domestic leagues in the world were Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Nantes and Rosario Central. Below is the WCR Top 25 clubs of 1980:

World Club Rankings – 1980 – Top 25

1. Hamburger (FRG) – Champions Cup-Runner-Up; First Number One ranking.
2. Real Madrid (Esp) – CC-SF.
3. Ajax (Ned) – CC-SF; Fifteenth consecutive Top 25 ranking.
4. Liverpool (Eng) – CC-1R; Sixth consecutive Top 25 ranking.
5. Bayern Munich (FRG) – UEFA Cup-SF.
6. Nantes (Fra) – Cup Winners Cup-SF.
7. Nottingham Forest (Eng) – Champions Cup-Winner.
8. Manchester United (Eng)
9. Sochaux (Fra) – Only Top 25 ranking.
10. Club Brugge (Bel)
11. Real Sociedad (Esp) – UEFA-1R; First Top 25 ranking.
12. Internacional (Bra) – Copa Libertadores-Runner Up.
13. River Plate (Arg) – Sixth consecutive Top 25 ranking.
14. Ipswich Town (Eng) – UEFA-2R.
15. AZ Alkmaar (Ned)
16. Standard Liege (Bel) – UEFA-3R.
17. VfB Stuttgart (FRG) – UEFA-SF.
18. BFC Dynamo (GDR) – CC-QF.
19. St. Etienne (Fra) – UEFA-QF; Final Top 25 ranking.
20. Flamengo (Bra) – First Top 25 ranking.
21. FC Kaiserslautern (FRG) – UEFA-QF.
22. AS Monaco (Fra) – UEFA-2R.
23. Atletico-MG (Bra)
24. Osters IF (Swe) – CC-1R; Only Top 25 ranking.
25. Arsenal (Eng) – CWC-RU.


Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

What's Going On . . . in the Intertoto Cup

The Intertoto Cup has been called the “Cup for the Cupless” because it involves clubs that otherwise would not be involved in European action. Before we get too far into What’s Going On, a little background on the Intertoto Cup may be in order. The Intertoto Cup was created as a way to generate money for football pools during the summer off-season. The tournament began in 1961 and has been providing work for players who would otherwise be on vacation ever since.

UEFA took over the Intertoto Cup in 1995 and since that time, “winners” have advanced to a spot in the UEFA Cup. “Winners” is used loosely because throughout its history, the Intertoto Cup has had no official “winners.” From 1995-2005, the Intertoto Cup resulted in three clubs advancing to the UEFA Cup, all but one of which were from England, France, Germany, Spain or Italy. (The outlier was Danish club Sikeborg IF in 1996, which didn’t face a club from any of the five aforementioned nations in the course of “winning.”) Since 2006, the Intertoto Cup has advanced eleven “winners” to the UEFA Cup. Beginning in 2006, the Intertoto Cup has also produced a “winner,” which is determined by which of the eleven “winners” advanced furthest in the UEFA Cup. Those “winners” have been Newcastle United in 2006 and Hamburger SV in 2007.

This year’s Intertoto Cup is significant in one major way – it is the final one. Not only that, but this weekend’s upcoming games are the final Intertoto Cup games. Ever. If you’ve never followed the Intertoto Cup before, this is your last chance. If you have followed the Intertoto Cup, I assume one of your favorite clubs has been involved.

Either way, What’s Going On this weekend? The answer is that this weekend is the second leg of a two-leg series for 22 clubs. The eleven “winners” will advance to the UEFA Cup. As usual, clubs from the top domestic leagues in Europe are in good position to advance, having won the first leg, including Napoli (Ita), Deportivo La Coruna (Esp), Sporting Braga (Por), Rennes (Fra) and NAC Bred (Ned). There were a few surprises, however, as Aston Villa managed only a 2-2 draw with Odense BK and VfB Stuttgart fell 0-1 to Saturn Moscow. The Saturn/Stuttgart rematch in Germany will be the final match in the history of the Intertoto Cup. We’ll miss you. Below is the schedule for this weekend’s matches, along with the current score.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

12 noon – Rennes at Tavria (Rennes leads 1-0)
12:15 pm – Odense BK at Aston Villa (Tied 2-2)
12:30 pm – Neftchi at Vaslui (Neftchi leads 2-1)
1:45 pm – Grasshopper Club at Chernomorets Burgas (Grasshopper leading 3-0)
2:00 pm – Sturm at Budapest Honved (Tied 0-0)
2:00 pm – Sivasspor at Sporting Braga (Braga leading 2-0)
3:00 pm – Panionios at Napoli (Napoli leads 1-0)
3:00 pm – Bnei Sakhnin at Deportivo La Coruna (Deportivo leads 2-1)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

9:45 am – NAC Breda at Rosenborg (NAC leads 1-0)
11:00 am – Elfsborg at Riga (Elfsborg leads 1-0)
12 noon – Saturn Moscow at VfB Suttgart (Saturn leads 1-0)

World Club Rankings - Top 25 Clubs - 1979

Liverpool was unable to follow in the footsteps of Ajax and Bayern Munich with a third consecutive Champions Cup title in 1979 as they fell in the first round of the tournament to fellow English club Nottingham Forest. Forest carried the national banner valiantly, however, moving past AEK Athens, Grasshopper Club and FC Cologne on their way to the championship match. In front of a crowd of 57,000 at Olympiastadion in Munich, West Germany, Forest’s Trevor Francis scored a goal at the end of the first half against Forest’s opponent, Malmo FF. That goal stood up and Nottingham Forest delivered a third straight Champions Cup to England.

The Cup Winners Cup final saw seven times as many goals as Barcelona and Fortuna Dusseldorf slugged it out in Basel, Switzerland. Both clubs scored twice in the first half and were held scoreless in the second half. In extra time, Barcelona scored twice, at the 104th and 111th minutes. Dusseldorf managed to cut the lead in half, but they ran out of time as Barcelona won 4-3. West Germany did manage to win a trophy, however, as Borussia Monchengladbach finally avoided Liverpool and took home some hardware, defeating Red Star Belgrade 2-1 in aggregate in the final of the UEFA Cup, thanks to an Allan Simonsen penalty kick at the 15-minute mark of the second leg.

Like Liverpool, Boca Juniors failed to continue its reign at the top of its continental cup. Boca did reach the finals of the Copa Libertadores, but gave up a goal in the first two minutes of the first leg of the final and nothing else was needed as Paraguay’s Olimpia defeated Boca 2-0 in aggregate in the finals. A little north, El Salvador’s Deportivo FAS defeated Jong Colombia 9-0 (agg.) to win the Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones. Cameroon pulled off a double in African Cup competition as Union Douala defeated Ghana’s Hearts of Oak on penalty kicks to take the African Cup of Champions and Canon Yaounde took home the African Cup Winners Cup.

For the first time since Ajax and Feyenoord topped the charts in 1971, the top two spots of the World Club Rankings annual Top 25 belonged to clubs from the same nation in 1979. Despite being knocked out in the first round of the Champions Cup, Liverpool won, what was by the late 1970s, the toughest league in the world. This coupled with Nottingham Forest’s Champions Cup victory placed English teams at numbers one and two. Champions in the other top domestic leagues in the world included Hamburger, Strasbourg, SK Beveren and River Plate. Below are the WCR Top 25 Clubs of 1979:

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)


Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

WCR Weekend Soccer Television Schedule - July 19, 2008

Last week, I believe I said that the Superliga was the most exciting thing going on over the weekend. Even though the group stage of the Superliga concludes this weekend, now that D.C. United has been all but mathematically eliminated from the tournament, I’m not so excited about it. TeleFutura will be broadcasting the last matchdays of the group stage on Saturday and Sunday, but I’m more excited about the Uruguayan Copa Artigas, which concludes this weekend, so we will soon learn which Uruguayan teams advance to the 2008 Copa Sudamericana and which advance (in addition to Defensor Sporting) to the 2009 Copa Libertadores. All of the Copa Artigas games will be televised this weekend on GolTV, which is also broadcasting a pair of Colombian matches over the weekend. [Ed.: GolTV has added a pair of Ecuadoran matches to the schedule.]

As always this time of year, there are plenty of MLS matches on television and the internet. The best matchup should be between first-place Real Salt Lake (did I just write that?) and the Chicago Fire, which can be found on MLSnet.com. Setanta USA returns to broadcasting top-level club football this weekend as they provide live coverage of Aston Villa’s Intertoto Cup match as well as a pair of friendlies involving crowd favorites Liverpool and Celtic – not against each other. In addition, ESPN 360 is broadcasting another Moscow derby, this time Lokomotiv hosts Spartak.

There are a number of non-televised matches involving WCR Top 25 clubs this week. Many of those are friendlies as European clubs that are preparing for the upcoming season. Since I don’t have a proper list of those, I am listing only those that are being televised. [Ed.: I found a list of weekend friendlies that appears to be accurate, so I am adding those involving Top 25 clubs to the list below.] Additionally, Brasileiro Serie A action heats up this weekend as the top four teams face off against each other as first-place Flamengo hosts fourth-place Vitoria on Sunday and the two teams that are currently tied for second place match up as Gremio hosts Cruzeiro. I expect that to be the best game of the weekend.

If I become aware of schedule changes or additional televised games, I’ll update the list below. If you have any additional information, please pass it along and I’ll get it into the schedule. For the time being, below is the current weekend television schedule of club football. All times are Eastern (U.S.). Have a great weekend!!!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

8:00 am – Spartak Moscow at Lokomotiv Moscow (ESPN 360)
2:00 pm – Nacional vs. Danubio (GolTV)
2:00 pm – Aston Villa at Odense SK (Setanta)
3:00 pm – San Jose Earthquakes at Toronto FC (HDNet)

5:00 pm - Azogues at Deportivo Quito (GolTV)
6:30 pm – Los Angeles Galaxy at New York Red Bulls (FSC)
7:15 pm – Millonarios at Independiente Medellin (GolTV)
8:00 pm – (14) Liverpool vs. Wizla Krakow (Delayed) (Setanta)
8:00 pm – Houston Dynamo at D.C. United (TeleFutura)
8:30 pm – Real Salt Lake at Chicago Fire (MLS Direct Kick)
8:30 pm – Colorado Rapids at FC Dallas (MLS Direct Kick)
10:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Atlante (TeleFutura)

Sunday, July 20, 2008

12:00 pm – River Plate vs Defensor Sporting (Delayed) (GolTV)
2:00 pm – Penarol vs. Rampla Juniors (GolTV)

5:00 pm - El Nacional at Barcelona (GolTV)
7:00 pm – Junior Barranquilla at Once Caldas (Delayed) (GolTV)
8:00 pm – New England Revolution at Chivas USA (TeleFutura)
9:00 pm – Celtic at Southampton (Delayed) (Setanta)
10:00 pm – Pachuca vs. Santos Laguna (TeleFutura)

Non-Televised Matches Involving Top 25 Clubs

Saturday, 9:00 am - (1) Manchester United at Kaizer Chiefs

Saturday, 10:00 am - (8) Arsenal at Barnet

Saturday, 1:00 pm - (10) Lyon at Rapid Bucharest

Saturday 5:10 pm – (17) Cruzeiro at (20) Gremio

Sunday, 4:00 pm - Sunderland at (15) Sporting CP
Sunday 5:10 pm – Vitoria at (6) Flamengo

What's Going On . . . in the Uruguayan Copa Artigas?

It’s been a while since we’ve added a new feature here at WCR. We have Weekly Rankings (which will return in September), Annual Rankings and Television Schedules, but to avoid getting stale, it’s time to add something more. This new feature is called What’s Going On. Each week, we’ll focus on a league or a tournament or something of that nature and preview the upcoming events associated therewith. Sometimes it’ll be what every other blog is writing about; sometimes it’ll be something obscure; usually, I expect, it’ll be something in between.

This week, we’ll be beginning with the Copa Artigas from Uruguay. The Copa Artigas matches up the six clubs with the most points in the past year in Uruguayan football – Apertura 2007 & Clausura 2008. Each team plays every other team in the round-robin tournament. At stake are spots in the 2008 Copa Sudamericana and 2009 Copa Libertadores. Defensor Sporting has already won the national championship, so they are guaranteed a spot in the Copa Libertadores. The top two finishers (not counting Defensor Sporting) earn a spot in next year’s Copa Libertadores. The third- and fourth-place finishers in the Copa Artigas (again, not counting Defensor) earn a spot in the upcoming Copa Sudamericana.

The six teams in this year’s Copa Artigas are Danubio, Defensor Sporting, Nacional, Penarol, Rampla Juniors and River Plate. Four of the five matchdays are complete and the only thing that is guaranteed is that Rampla Juniors will not be playing in next season’s Copa Libertadores. Every other result for every team is still mathematically possible. With one match left per club, the current standings are as follows:

1. Nacional……………........….7 pts.…..……..+4
2. Defensor Sporting............7 pts…….…….+3
3. Penarol…….……........……..7 pts…….…….+1
4. River Plate….......………….5 pts…….……..-1
5. Danubio…….........……..…..4 pts…..….……-1
6. Rampla Juniors….............3 pts…….……..-6

The schedule for this weekend is as follows:

Danubio vs. Nacional (Saturday, July 19, 2 pm E.S.T.)

Defensor Sporting vs. River Plate (Sunday, July 20, 9 am)
Rampla Juniors vs. Penarol (Sunday, July 20, 2 pm)

Four teams – Nacional, Defensor Sporting, Penarol and River Plate – still have a chance to win the tournament going into the final weekend. Furthermore, Danubio can still finish in second (though it is unlikely) and score a trip to the Copa Libertadores and Rampla Juniors can still earn a trip to the Copa Sudamericana. As if that wasn’t enough, there is also still a chance for a three-way tie between the top three clubs. If that happens, Nacional and Penarol will play a semifinal playoff with the winner facing Defensor Sporting for the tournament championship.

Personally, I’ll be rooting for River Plate, but they need help. Even if they defeat Defensor Sporting, which wouldn’t be a shocker since Defensor Sporting likely is less motivated because they have already clinched a Copa Libertadores spot, River Plate will need either Nacional or Penarol to lose in order to advance to the Copa Libertadores.

Whatever happens, it will be exciting. And it will be televised on GolTV over the weekend. It should be the best thing going on in club football this weekend. If I’ve screwed something up or if you have more information regarding the Copa Artigas or this week’s action, drop me a line or leave a comment.

World Club Rankings - 1978 - Top 25

Following in the footsteps of Ajax and Bayern Munich, Liverpool repeated as European champion in 1978. This time they did it by continuing their dominance over Borussia Monchengladbach, who they defeated in the 1977 final and the 1978 semifinals, and over Club Brugge, who they defeated in the 1976 UEFA Cup final and again, 1-0, in the European Cup final at Wembley Stadium, with Kenny Dalglish providing the winning margin in the 65th minute. Liverpool failed to hold on to its domestic championship, however, and fell to second in the World Club Rankings for the season to Monchengladbach.

The Cup Winners Cup final provided little drama as Rob Rensenbrink and Gilbert Van Binst both scored a pair of goals in RSC Anderlecht’s 4-0 vicotry over Austria Wien. The UEFA Cup did provide drama, at least for a little while, until PSV Eindhoven broke it open in the second leg and delivered a 3-0 (aggregate) victory over French club SC Bastia.

Matching Liverpool step-for-step, Boca Juniors also repeated as continental champions, defeating Colombian team Deportivo Cali 4-0 (aggregate) in the Copa Libertadores final, breaking the game open with two quick goals late in the second leg. Canon Yaounde from Cameroon won the African Cup of Champions with a 2-0 aggregate victory over Hafia, though another club from Guinea did manage to win the African Cup Winners Cup as Horoya defeated Hussein-Dey 5-2 (aggregate). The Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones was not completed and the title was shared among Universidad Guadalajara (Mex), Communicaciones (Gua) and Defence Force (Tri). Neither of the top two clubs in the World Club Rankings won their domestic title, but the next five clubs did as the top domestic leagues in the world were won by Cologne, Nottingham Forest, Real Madrid, AS Monaco and Club Brugge. Below are the Top 25 Clubs in the world for 1978.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1978

1. Borussia Monchengladbach (FRG) – Champions Cup-Semifinalist; Only Number One ranking.
2. Liverpool (Eng) – Champions Cup-Winner.
3. Club Brugge (Bel) – CC-RU; Highest ever ranking.
4. Cologne (FRG) – Cup Winners Cup-1R; Highest ever ranking.
5. Nottingham Forest (Eng) – First ever ranking.
6. Real Madrid (Esp)
7. AS Monaco (Fra)
8. Juventus (Ita) – CC-SF; Seventh consecutive Top 25.
9. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – UEFA Cup-Winner; Fifth consecutive Top 15.
10. RSC Anderlecht (Bel) – Cup Winners Cup-Winner.
11. Boca Juniors (Arg) – Copa Libertadores Winner.
12. Nantes (Fra)
13. Everton (Eng)
14. Ujpesti Dozsa (Hun) – UEFA-2R; Last ever ranking.
15. Barcelona (Esp) – UEFA-SF; Fifth consecutive Top 15.
16. Ajax (Ned) – CC-QF; Twelfth consecutive Top 25.
17. Athletic de Bilbao (Esp) – UEFA-3R.
18. River Plate (Arg) – CL-SF.
19. Hertha Berlin (FRG)
20. Standard Liege (Bel) – UEFA-3R.
21. Strasbourg (Fra) – First ever ranking.
22. AZ Alkmaar (Ned) – UEFA-2R.
23. Fortuna Dusseldorf (FRG) – Last ever ranking.
24. Manchester City (Eng) – UEFA-1R; Last ever ranking.
25. Budapest Honved (Hun) – Only ever ranking.

Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

Weekend Football Television Schedule - July 12, 2008

Another weekend, another light set of summer club football action. The most intriguing games of the weekend are those in the Superliga, which will be televised on Saturday and Sunday on TeleFutura. As always, there are a handful of MLS games around the dial and the internet – the best of which promises to be the battle between the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake, which will be televised on HDNet on Saturday night.

GolTV and ESPN 360 are the homes of club action not involving MLS teams. In addition to an Ecuadoran match, GolTV continues with its coverage of the Copa Artigas from Uruguay. While GolTV turns looks south, ESPN 360 turns its eyes east, broadcasting games from China on Saturday morning and Japan on Sunday morning. In addition, in one of the few European leagues currently in action – the Russian Premier League – ESPN 360 is broadcasting a Moscow-filled weekend as CSKA hosts Spartak on Saturday and Dynamo hosts Lokomotiv on Sunday.

In non-televised WCR Top 25 action this weekend, which of course all comes from Brazil, the highlight likely is on Sunday afternoon, when sixth-ranked Flamengo hosts Vasco da Gama. Below is all of the action from around the American television dials and internet . . . umm . . . whatever the proper corresponding internet thing is to a television dial.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

7:00 am – Dalian Shide at Shanghai Shenhua (ESPN 360)
7:30 am – Beijing Guoan at Changsha Ginde (ESPN 360)
8:00 am – Spartak Moscow at CSKA Moscow (ESPN 360)
2:00 pm – Danubio vs. River Plate (GolTV)
4:00 pm – Colorado Rapids at San Jose Earthquakes (MLS Direct Kick)
8:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara at D.C. United (TeleFutura)
8:30 pm – Toronto FC at Chicago Fire (FSC)
9:00 pm – Columbus Crew at Real Salt Lake (HDNet)
10:00 am – Atlante at Houston Dynamo (TeleFutura)

Sunday, July 13, 2008

6:00 am – Albirex Nigata at Yokahama F. Marinos (ESPN 360)
8:00 am – Lokomotiv Moscow at Dynamo Moscow (ESPN 360)
1:00 pm – Tecnico Universitario at Barcelona (GolTV)
3:00 pm – Nacional vs. Penarol (GolTV)
8:00 pm – Santos Laguna at New England Revolution (TeleFutura)
10:00 pm – Pachuca at Chivas USA (TeleFutura)

Non-Televised Games Involving Top 25 Matches

Sun. 3:00 pm – Atletico – MG at (17) Cruzeiro
Sun. 5:10 pm – Portuguesa at (20) Gremio
Sun. 5:10 pm – Vasco da Gama at (6) Flamengo

World Club Rankings - Top 25 - 1977

In the quarterfinals of the 1977 Champions Cup, Soviet club Dynamo Kiev defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 in aggregate, ending Bayern’s three-year run as European champions. Another West German club made it to the European Cup final, but Borussia Monchengladbach fell 3-1 in the final to Liverpool in Rome, Italy. The victory gave Liverpool its first European championship and started a string of six consecutive seasons in which an English team took the title. Another West German club did bring home silverware as Hamburger defeated RSC Anderlecht 2-0 in the Cup Winners Cup final, keeping Anderlecht from repeating as Cup Winners Cup titleholders. The UEFA Cup final saw Juventus defeat Athletic de Bilbao on away goals after finishing the series tied 2-2 in aggregate.

Cruzeiro once again made it to the finals of the Copa Libertadores, but with less successful results. After trading 1-0 victories, Cruzeiro and Boca Juniors played to a goalless draw in the playoff in Montevideo, Uruguay. The playoff went to penalty kicks, where Boca Juniors scored a 5-4 victory to win its first Copa Libertadores title. In other continental action, Club America defeated Robin Hood to win the Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones for the CONCACAF title; Hafia defeated Hearts of Oak to win the African Champions Cup; and the Enugu Rangers defeated Canon Yaounde for the African Cup Winners Cup title.

In 1977, several teams made the final Top 25 for the first time, including Schalke 04, Nantes, AZ Alkmaar, Atletico-MG and Club Brugge. Teams that made the Top 25 for the final time, to date, include Zurich, Vasas, Eintracht Frankfurt and Servette. On both lists would be Dynamo Kiev and Eintracht Braunschweig, who made their only trips to the Top 25 in 1977. Domestically, Borussia Monchengladbach, Liverpool, Ajax, Atletico de Madrid and Nantes won titles in the best leagues in the world. For the first time since Ajax faced Juventus in the finals in 1973, the two highest ranked teams in the world met in the European Cup finals in 1977. Below are the Top 25 Clubs in the World for 1977.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1977

1. Liverpool (Eng) – Champions Cup-Winner; First Number One ranking.
2. Borussia Monchengladbach (FRG) – CC-RU.
3. Dynamo Kiev (URS) – CC-SF; Only ever ranking.
4. Ajax (Ned) – UEFA Cup-1R; Twelfth consecutive Top 25.
5. Schalke 04 (FRG) – UEFA-3R; First ever ranking.
6. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – CC-2R.
7. Atletico de Madrid (Esp) – Cup Winners Cup-SF.
8. Nantes (Fra) – First ever ranking.
9. Barcelona (Esp) – UEFA-QF.
10. Zurich (Sui) – CC-SF; Last ever ranking.
11. Boca Juniors (Arg) – Copa Libertadores-Winner.
12. Manchester City (Eng) – UEFA-1R.
13. AZ Alkmaar (Ned) – First ever ranking.
14. Vasas (Hun) – Last ever ranking.
15. Eintracht Frankfurt (FRG) – Last ever ranking.
16. Eintracht Braunschweig (FRG) – Only ever ranking.
17. River Plate (Arg) – CL-1R.
18. Ipswich Town (Eng)
19. Servette (Sui) – CWC-PR; Last ever ranking.
20. Juventus (Ita) – UEFA Cup –Winner; Sixth consecutive Top 25.
21. Feyenoord (Ned) – UEFA-QF; Ninth consecutive Top 25.
22. Atletico-MG (Bra) – First ever ranking.
23. Torino (Ita) – CC-2R.
24. Club Brugge (Bel) – CC-QF; First ever ranking.
25. Independiente (Arg) – Fifth consecutive Top 25.

Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

WCR - Top 25 Clubs in the World - Post-Copa Libertadores Edition

It’s time for the post-Copa Libertadores version of the World Club Rankings Top 25. Obviously, the big news since the last ranking is the historic victory by LDU Quito in the Copa Libertadores. Liga took a two-goal lead into Rio de Janiero for the second leg of the final against Fluminense. When Liga scored early in the second leg, it looked like it was all over. It was all over, except for Thiago Neves, who scored three goals over the next 85 minutes to send the final to penalty kicks. At that point, the game was taken over again, this time with a brilliant performance by Liga goalie Jose Cevallos who blocked three of four Fluminense penalty kicks and carried Liga to the first Copa Libertadores title for an Ecuadoran club.

In other action, Boyaca Chico and America de Cali faced off in the finals of the Copa Mustang I tournament. The teams traded 1-1 draws in both legs, but Boyaca Chico took home the title after coming out on top 4-2 on penalty kicks for its first Colombian title. Elsewhere in the world, Flamengo remains on top in the Brasileiro Serie A and, in Europe, Dinamo turned out victorious in its Moskva derby against CSKA. (I mention this primarily because I received a ton of page hits this weekend from Russia after reporting that ESPN 360 was going to televise the game. For those of you rooting for Dinamo . . . great game.)

How did all of these matches affect the rankings? Very little. As it turns out, LDU Quito advanced about as far as they could by reaching the finals of the Copa Libertadores and beating the team that currently is in twentieth place in the Brasileiro Serie A didn’t move them up the rankings. The games in Colombia and Russia were exciting, but neither country has a club in the Top 25. There is some movement in the charts, but it is primarily due to movement in the Brazilian tables.

While it is true that there is very little movement in the rankings since the last time, I guarantee that there will be significant movement the next time around. In early August, WCR will be publishing its first pre-season rankings based upon revised league rankings. Then, beginning sometime in September, WCR will return with its weekly Top 25s.

Before I get to the current top 25, I wanted to make mention of a new blog. Last week, new friend of the site Andrew Winter debuted a new blog entitled CONCACAF Club Rankings, just in time for the premier edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. As the number of entries increase, I’ll add the site to my blogroll, but for now, I wanted to give a shout out to the new blog and wish it the best of luck. Now . . . on to the rankings.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – July 7, 2008

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

World Club Rankings - Top 25 Clubs - 1976

Not to be outdone by Ajax, Bayern Munich matched the run of the Dutch club by taking its third consecutive Champions Cup title in 1976. This time around, the game took place in Glasgow, Scotland, and Bayern defeated St. Etienne 1-0 on a second-half goal by Franz Roth. Once again, Bayern Munich failed to win the Bundesliga and failed to finish on top in the WCR rankings, though they did come closer in 1976, finishing third in both. The top of the WCR rankings went again to PSV Eindhoven who won a second straight Dutch championship as well as reaching the semifinals of the Champions Cup.

English and Belgian teams faced off in the finals of each of the other major European cups, with the two nations splitting the silverware. In a game played in Brussels, Belgium, West Ham United took an early 1-0 lead and was tied 2-2 with twenty minutes to go, but couldn’t hang on against RSC Anderlecht as both Rob Rensenbrink and Francois Van Der Elst scored twice each in Anderlecht’s 4-2 victory in the final of the Cup Winners Cup. Meanwhile, English regular season champions Liverpool won their second UEFA Cup in four years, defeating Club Brugge 4-3 in the aggregate, despite falling behind to Club Brugge 0-2 in the first fifteen minutes of the first leg of the final at Anfield. Liverpool went on to score four of the last five goals in the series, including one in each leg by Kevin Keegan.

In the Copa Libertadores, Cruzeiro ended the four-year run on Independiente and became the first Brazilian club to take the title since Santo won back-to-back titles in 1962 & 1963. After splitting home and away matches with River Plate, the two teams met in a playoff in Santiago, Chile, where Cruzeiro blew a 2-0 lead before Joaozinho scored the game winner in the 88th minute of the 3-2 match. Nevertheless, Cruzeiro missed out on the final season rankings due to a poor domestic showing.

In other continental action around the globe, El Salvadoran club Aguila defeated Robin Hood of Suriname to take the Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones; MC Algiers (Algeria) won the African Champions Cup on penalty kicks against Haifa (Guinea) after a pair of 3-0 victories by each team at home; and Nigeria’s Shooting Stars scored a 4-2 aggregate victory over Tonnerre Yaounde (Cameroon) in the finals of the African Cup Winners Cup. In domestic action, the best leagues in the world saw titles awarded to Borussia Monchengladbach, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, Torino and Liverpool. Below are the Top 25 Clubs in the World for 1976.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1976

1. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – Champions Cup-Semifinalis; Second consecutive Number One ranking.
2. Real Madrid (Esp) – CC-SF.
3. Bayern Munich (FRG) – Champions Cup-Winner.
4. Borussia Monchengladbach (FRG) – CC-QF.
5. St. Etienne (Fra) – CC-RU; Highest ever ranking.
6. Feyenoord (Ned) – UEFA Cup-1R; Seventh consecutive Top 10.
7. River Plate (Arg) – Copa Libertadores –Runner-Up.
8. Hamburger (FRG) – UEFA-SF.
9. Torino (Ita) – Highest ever ranking.
10. Huracan (Arg) – Last ever ranking.
11. Liverpool (Eng) – UEFA Cup-Winner.
12. Ajax (Ned) – UEFA-3R; Eleventh consecutive Top 25.
13. Barcelona (Esp) – UEFA-SF.
14. Benfica (Por) – CC-QF.
15. Queen’s Park Rangers (Eng) – First ever ranking.
16. Juventus (Ita) – Fifth consecutive Top 25.
17. Twente (Ned) – Sixth consecutive Top 25.
18. Atletico de Madrid (Esp) – Cup Winners Cup-2R.
19. Independiente (Arg) – CL-SF.
20. Cologne (FRG) – UEFA-2R.
21. Rangers (Sco) – CC-2R; Fifth consecutive Top 25.
22. Internacional (Bra) – CL-1R; First ever ranking.
23. Boca Juniors (Arg)
24. AC Milan (Ita) – UEFA-QF.
25. Vidoton (Hun) – Only ever ranking.

Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960

Weekend Football Television Schedule

Last week, I stated that for what the weekend soccer schedule lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality. Now that Euro 2008 is complete, it is a little harder to make that argument. That is not to say that there is nothing, however. The game of the week has to be the second leg of the Copa Mustang final in Boyaca, Colombia, where Chico hosts America de Cali. Currently, the teams are tied at 1-1 in aggregate.

In other action, FSC has an MLS doubleheader Saturday evening and GolTV shows a game each day from the Copa Artigas, in which clubs from Uruguay face off to determine who will go to next season’s Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Also each day, ESPN 360 will have a game from the top flight in both Russia and China.

There are no teams from the most recent WCR Top 25 on American television this weekend, but a few of them play in the Brasileiro Serie A. Those games are listed below. Have a good weekend!!!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

3:35 am – Zheijang Lucheng at Dalian Shide (ESPN 360)
9:00 am – Rubin Kazan at Kyrlia Sovetov (ESPN 360)
2:00 pm – Penarol at River Plate (GolTV)
8:00 pm – Chicago Fire at Columbus Crew (FSC)
10:30 pm – San Jose Earthquakes at Chivas USA (FSC)

Sunday, July 6, 2008

7:30 am – Qingdao Jonoon at Beijing Guoan (ESPN 360)
8:00 am – Dynamo Moscow at CSKA Moscow (ESPN 360)
2:00 pm – Rampla Juniors at Nacional (GolTV)
6:00 pm – America de Cali at Boyaca Chico (GolTV)

Games Involving Top 25 Teams – Not Televised

Sat. 5:20 pm – Nautico at (6) Flamengo
Sat. 5:20 pm – (18) Cruzeiro at Sport Recife
Sun. 5:10 pm – (10) Gremio at Botafogo

World Club Rankings - Top 25 Clubs in the World - 1975

Dynasties continued to dominate, as dynasties are apt to do, in 1975. Even though it seems odd to say that the Champions Cup, with a final between two teams from two of the top leagues in the world, was anti-climactic – so I won’t – but the final did pit the ninth-place team from England against the tenth-place team in the Bundesliga. Just focusing on the domestic table rankings is misleading, however, because the game involved defending champion Bayern Munich and 70s English powerhouse Leeds United. Two second-half goals delivered a repeat championship for Bayern as they scored a 2-0 victory in the finals. Because of the low domestic standings, however, neither team could manage to get very high in the final annual rankings.

The West Germans also made a splash in the UEFA Cup. After a scoreless draw in the opening leg of the final in Dusseldorf, Borussia Monchengladbach went to Enschede, Netherlands and crushed FC Twente in the second leg 5-1, with a hat-trick from future Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes and a brace by Danish national and future European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen. The Cup Winners Cup delivered silverware to another extinct nation as the Soviet Union’s (now Ukraine’s) Dinamo Kiev defeated Ferenvaros 3-0 in the final on the heels (and toes and head) of two-time Olympic bronze medalist Vladimir Onischenko’s two first-half goals.

In South America, an even longer-running dynasty remained intact as Independiente won an unprecedented fourth consecutive Copa Libertadores title. In this edition, it defeated Chilean team Union Espanola in a playoff for the cup. After splitting the first two matches 0-1 and 3-1, Independiente shut out its opponents en route to a 2-0 victory. In other worldly (as opposed to other-worldly) action, Atletico Espanol (Mexico) defeated Transvaal (Suriname) 5-1 (agg.) to take the Copa de Campeones; Haifa FC (Guinea) defeated Enugu Rangers (Nigeria) 3-1 (agg.) to win the African Champions Cup and Tonnerre Yaounde (Cameroon) defeated Stella (Cote d’Ivoire) 5-1 (agg.) to win the African Cup Winners Cup.

Among the champions in the best domestic leagues in the world in 1975 were PSV Eindhoven, Borussia Monchengladbach, Real Madrid, Derby County and River Plate. What kind of havoc did the European Champions Cup being contested by mid-level teams create? It turned out to be rather significant. The final 1975 rankings are below:

World Club Rankings – Top 25 – 1975

1. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – Cup Winners Cup-Semifinalist; First ever number one ranking.
2. Borussia Monchengladbach (FRG) – UEFA Cup-Winner.
3. Feyenoord (Ned) – Champions Cup-2R; Sixth consecutive Top 10 ranking.
4. Real Madrid (Esp) – CWC-QF.
5. Barcelona (Esp) – CC-SF.
6. River Plate (Arg)
7. Ajax (Ned) – UEFA-3R; Eighth consecutive Top 10 ranking.
8. Rangers (Sco)
9. Eintracht Frankfurt (FRG) – CWC-2R.
10. Juventus (Ita) – UEFA-SF.
11. Rosario Central (Arg)
12. Hertha Berlin (FRG)
13. Ujpest Dozsa (Hun) – CC-2R.
14. Twente (Ned) – UEFA-RU; Fifth consecutive Top 25.
15. Derby County (Eng) – UEFA-3R.
16. Olympiakos (Gre) – CC-2R.
17. AEK Athens (Gre) – Best ever ranking.
18. Napoli (Ita) – UEFA-3R.
19. RWD Molenbeek (Bel) – UEFA-2R; Only ever ranking.
20. St. Etienne (Fra) – CC-SF; First ever ranking.
21. Leeds United (Eng) – CC-RU; Seventh consecutive Top 25.
22. Liverpool (Eng) – CWC-2R.
23. Union Espanola (Chi) – CL-RU; Only ever ranking.
24. Bayern Munich (FRG) – Champions Cup-Winner.
25. Independiente (Arg) – Copa Libertadores-Winner.


Past Final Season Top 25s: 2007, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960