It’s still too early in the season for the rankings to be but so meaningful. Hell, they haven’t even started playing in Spain, Greece or Italy and I don’t know if they’ll ever start playing in Turkey. Still, if we don’t rank everybody, there’s no reason to come back so we continue to do so.
This week marks the return of the true “weekly” rankings, although we’ll be absent in a couple of weeks (and periodically after that) because of international weekends in which most leagues will be out of action. For now, most of the data used still is last season’s domestic results because not enough matches have been played in the current season for those numbers to be relevant. That will slowly change in the coming month or so as more-and-more domestic leagues complete the magical fifth matchday. It’s already happened in the Ukraine, Denmark and Ecuador. It’ll happen everywhere soon enough.
The big news of the past week was Barcelona’s victory in the Spanish Supercopa. It’s not that important a cup, but the participants and passion involved made for some very dramatic football. In the coming week, there are some fantastic early-season matchups all over the world – Manchester United/Arsenal, Lille/Marseille and Dortmund/Leverkusen among them. Throw in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League playoff round and we have a great week ahead.
World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – August 22, 2011
1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – No matches in past week. Coming Up: This week will be a great test for the current pole sitters as Manchester United hosts Tottenham Hotspur later today and Top 20 club Arsenal on Sunday.
2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – It was closer than I was expecting but the fireworks made it worth it as Barcelona followed a 2-2 away draw with a 3-2 home victory over Real Madrid on a late Messi goal that delivered the Spanish Supercopa to Barcelona. Coming Up: Barcelona is the one Spanish club that we know will play this weekend when it takes on Portugal’s Porto in the UEFA Super Cup. Another big match would be next Monday’s battle between Barça and Villarreal; however, the La Liga strike likely will prevent that match from taking place.
3. AC Milan (Ita) (3) – No matches in past week. Coming Up: Milan will begin its Serie A title defense against Cagliari on Saturday.
4. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (4) – Dortmund looked more like the Dortmund of last season in its 2-0 defeat of Nürnberg on the weekend. Coming Up: A huge early-season match takes place on Saturday when Dortmund travels to play Bayer Leverkusen.
5. Real Madrid (Esp) (5) – As mentioned a few times above, José’s boys lost in the Spanish Supercopa, losing 2-3 at the Camp Nou after drawing 2-2 with Barcelona at the Bernabeu. Coming Up: It’s unlikely to happen because of the strike, but Real Madrid is scheduled to take on Real Zaragoza.
6. Manchester City (Eng) (10) – It wasn’t pretty, but Mansee took down Bolton Wanderers 3-2 this weekend to maintain its perfect start to the Premier League season. Coming Up: In another great early-season test, City will travel to White Hart Lane to take on Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
7. Porto (Por) (7) – Porto’s two-season non-loss streak in the Liga Sagres continued this week with a 3-1 victory over recently promoted Gil Vicente. Coming Up: In a big test against top, non-Portuguese, competition, Porto will take on defending European champions Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup on Friday.
8. Chelsea (Eng) (6) – The Blues secured their first victory of the season with a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion. Coming Up: Chelsea will host Norwich City on Saturday.
9. Inter Milan (Ita) (9) – No matches this week. Coming Up: Internazionale will begin its Serie A campaign at the San Siro on Sunday against Lecce.
10. Lille (Fra) (8) – Lille pulled off its first victory of the young Ligue Un season by a 2-1 score over Caen. Coming Up: France also has a great early-season battle this weekend as Lille hosts Marseille on Sunday.
11. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (12) – Shakhtar continues to roll unfettered through the Ukranian Super League, defeating Illychivets 3-0 this weekend. Coming Up: The next victim for Shakhtar is scheduled to be Chornomorets on Sunday.
12. Olympiakos (Gre) (11) – No matches this week. Coming Up: The Greek Super League season begins on Saturday when Olympiakos hosts Kavala in the opener.
13. Bayern Munich (Ger) (15) – Seven goals and two victories this week for Bayern, who defeated Zürich 2-0 in the first leg of the clubs’ UEFA Champions League playoff round match and then crushed Hamburger SV 5-0 in weekend Bundesliga play. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Bayer will take on Zürich in the Swiss leg of the clubs’ UEFA Champions League series. Bayer returns to domestic league action on Saturday against Kaiserslautern.
14. Valencia (14) – No matches this week. Coming Up: Valencia’s “La Liga Match That is Unlikely to Take Place” theoretically occurs against Racing Santander at home on Saturday.
15. Benfica (Por) (16) – In its tough UEFA Champions League playoff round matchup with Twente, Benfica managed a 2-2 draw in Enschede. Domestically, Benfica beat up on Feirense by a 3-1 score. Coming Up: Benfica’s rematch at home against Twente will be played on Wednesday. Domestically, Benfica is off until Monday when it takes on Nacional.
16. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (18) – Leverkusen picked up three points this weekend with a 1-0 victory over VfB Stuttgart. Coming Up: In what could prove to be one of the biggest matches of the Bundesliga season, Leverkusen will host defending champions Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
17. Arsenal (Eng) (17) – The Gunners took a step towards advancing to the Champions League group stage with a 1-0 victory over Udinese at midweek. The good times came to an end this weekend, though, when some questionable offside calls helped Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-0 on Saturday. Coming Up: The second leg of the UEFA Champions League playoff round for Arsenal takes place in Italy on Wednesday. An even tougher opponent awaits the Gunners on Sunday when it heads to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United and tries to avoid having only one point to show for three Premier League matches.
18. Napoli (Ita) (19) – No matches this week. Coming Up: Napoli will be at home against Genoa on Sunday in its 2011/12 Serie A debut.
19. Corinthians (Bra) (13) – Though they still are in first place in the Braziilan Serie A, times have gotten tougher for Corinthians, falling 0-2 this weekend to Figueirense. Coming Up: Next up for Corinthians in the Brazilian Serie A will be Palmeiras on Sunday.
20. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (21) – Dynamo scored a 2-1 away victory against Lovech in this week’s Europa League match. Domestically, Dynamo continues to roll, defeating Kryvbas 1-0. Coming Up: Dynamo welcomes Lovech to Kiev on Thursday as it tries to finish off its opponent in the Europa League. In league action, Dynamo Kyiv will take on Dnipro on Sunday.
22. Marseille (Fra) (23) – Three matches, three draws as Marseille failed to pick up three points again, settling for a goalless draw against St.-Etienne at home. Coming Up: The road just gets tougher for Marseille as it goes on the road to take on defending Ligue Un champions Lille on Sunday.
23. CSKA Moscow (Rus) (24) – Things seem to be back on track for the Russina Super League leaders who defeated Tom’ Tomsk 3-0 over the weekend. Coming Up: One of several Moscow derbies takes place on Saturday when CSKA takes on Spartak Moscow.
24. Udinese (Ita) (25) – Udinese’s only match of the week was a 0-1 loss at Emirates Stadium to Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League playoff round. Coming Up: Udinese will be at home for Wednesday’s rematch against the Gunners. Udinese’s Serie A season will begin on Sunday at home against Juventus.
25. Villarreal (Esp) (BU) – The Yellow Submarine suffered a shocker in Denmark, losing 0-1 to OB in the UEFA Champions League playoff round. Coming Up: Villarreal has a chance to bounce back on Tuesday in its rematch with OB. Domestically, Villarreal is scheduled to take on Barcelona next Monday in a match that likely will be postponed due to the La Liga player strike.
Bubbling Under: Deportivo Quito (Ecu), Flamengo (Bra), København (Den), Lyon (Fra), Trabzonspor (Tur).
Next Five: Lazio (Ita), Liverpool (Eng), Panathinaikos (Gre), Tottenham Hotspur (Eng), Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus).
Matches Next Week Between Top 25 Clubs:
24 August – (17) Arsenal at (24) Udinese
26 August – (2) Barcelona vs (7) Porto
27 August – (4) Borussia Dortmund at (16) Bayer Leverkusen
28 August – (17) Arsenal at (1) Manchester United
28 August – (22) Marseille at (10) Lille
28 August – (25) Villarreal at (2) Barcelona (Likely to be postponed)
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