We are two weeks from resuming the publishing of our weekly rankings and we are two weeks from publishing our pre-season rankings so it’s time for the one in the middle. Some of the top leagues are now under way, as the River Plate-less Argentine Apertura began this weekend along with the French Ligue Un and the German Bundesliga.
As we do every season at this time, we’ll remind you that until five match days are completed in any given league, last season’s numbers will dominate the formulas in the rankings, so there will be very little change until those fifth match days and then sudden and often surprising changes will take place, but we’re not there yet. Basically, the universe of data from which to make the rankings is still in its very early stages.
Despite the fact that many top leagues still haven’t begun, some clubs are participating in a ton of meaningful matches right now. For example, between the last rankings and the next rankings, Flamengo has/will have played six Brazilian Serie A matches and two Copa Sudamericana matches. Since there is so much action, lets get right to it.
World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – August 8, 2011
1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – I usually don’t pay too close attention to the various Super Cups going on this time of year, but I have to admit that Manchester United’s 3-2 defeat of Manchester City in the Community Shield was pretty darn exciting. Coming Up: Manyoo’s Premier League season will begin against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday and followed up at home against Tottenham Hotspur on Aug. 22.
2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – No current matches. Coming Up: In the next week is the two-legged Spanish Super Cup matchup between Barça and Real Madrid, at the Bernabeu on Sunday and the Camp Nou on the 17th. Afterwards, Barcelona is scheduled to begin its Primera División defense against Malaga on Aug. 20.
3. AC Milan (Ita) (3) – AC Milan took home the Italian Super Cup from Beijing with a 2-1 victory over its city rival Internazionale. Coming Up: No upcoming matches.
4. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (4) – Dortmund found success both in its opening DFB Pokal match, beating Sandhausen 3-0, and in its opening Bundesliga match, beating Hamburger SV 3-1. Coming Up: Next up for Dortmund in the Bundesliga will be Hoffenheim (Aug. 13) and Nürnberg (Aug. 20).
5. Real Madrid (Esp) (6) – No current matches. Coming Up: As mentioned above, the 14th and 17th will see two more superclasicos between Real and Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup. Real Madrid’s Primera División season is scheduled to begin on Aug. 20 against Athletic Bilbao.
6. Chelsea (Eng) (5) – No current matches. Coming Up: Chelsea’s Premier League season starts on Sunday at Stoke City. The following Saturday, Chelsea will host West Brom at Stamford Bridge.
7. Porto (Por) (7) – Porto also won its domestic Super Cup, defeating Vítoria Guimarães 2-1. Coming Up: Porto faces a rematch against Guimarães on Sunday in its Premeira Liga debut on Sunday. On Aug. 21, Porto will host Gil Vicente in another league match.
8. Lille (Fra) (8) – Lille’s season isn’t starting off so hot. After losing in the French Super Cup 4-5 to Marseille a week ago, Lille had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Nancy in its Ligue Un debut. Coming Up: The next two Ligue Un matches for Lille will be against Montpellier (Aug. 14) and Caen (Aug. 20).
9. Inter Milan (Ita) (9) – Inter’s trip to China wasn’t as fun as mine since it lost 1-2 to archrivals AC Milan in the Italian Super Cup. Coming Up: No upcoming matches.
10. Manchester City (Eng) (10) – Like Inter, Mansee fell in its Super Cup attempt to a cross-town rival, losing in dramatic fashion to Manyoo by a 3-4 score in the FA Community Shield. Coming Up: Next Monday, City’s Premier League season against Welsh club Swansea City. The following Sunday, Man City’s first league away match will take place against Bolton Wanderers.
12. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (14) – The Ukranian Premier League is the first of the 2011/12 European league to reach five match days and be judged solely on this season. Not much has changed, though, as Shakhtar still finds itself on top after following up a 1-1 draw with Arsenal Kyiv with a 2-0 victory over Kryvbas. Coming Up: Shakhtar will have two more league matches between now and the next rankings against Dnipro (Aug. 13) and Illychivets (Aug. 19).
13. Corinthians (Bra) (11) – Corinthians gave up the top spot in the Brazilian Serie A, though it still has a match in hand, after picking up four points in three matches in two weeks, losing 2-3 to Avai, winning 2-1 against Atlético Mineiro, and drawing 1-1 with Atlético PR. Coming Up: The fun doesn’t slow down at all for Corinthians who have four Serie A matches in the next two weeks: at Santos (Aug. 10), vs. Ceará (Aug. 14), at Atlético Mineiro (Aug. 17) and vs Figueirense (Aug. 20).
14. Valencia (Esp) (16) – No current matches. Coming Up: For Valencia, the Primera División kicks off on August 20 at Osasuna.
15. Bayern Munich (Ger) (13) – Bayern advanced in the DFB Pokal with a 3-0 victory over Eintracht Braunschweiger but fared much worse in its Bundesliga debut, falling 0-1 to Borussia Monchengladbach at Allianz Arena. Coming Up: It will be a busy two weeks for Bayern who will face FC Zürich in a Champions League playoff match on Aug. 16, bookended by weekend Bundesliga matches against Wolfsburg (Aug. 13) and Hamburger SV (Aug. 20).
16. Benfica (Por) (17) – Benfica’s season started in the Champions League’s third qualifying round where it defeated Trabzonspor 3-1 in aggregate to advance to the playoff round. Coming Up: Benfica’s first playoff round match will be on Aug. 16 in Enschede against Twente. Domestically, Benfica is scheduled to take on Gil Vicente on Sunday and host Feirense on Aug. 21.
17. Arsenal (Eng) (15) – No current matches. Coming Up: The Gunners’ first two Premier League matches will be against Newcastle United on Saturday and at home against Liverpool on Aug. 20. In between, Arsenal will host 25th ranked Udinese in a Champions League playoff round match.
18. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (18) – The season couldn’t have started off much worse for Leverkusen, who was embarrassed in a 3-4 loss to Dynamo Dresden in the DFB Pokal and followed that up with a 0-2 loss to Mainz 05 in its Bundesliga debut. Coming Up: The next two matches for Leverkusen will be league matches, against Werder Bremen on Sunday and at VfB Stuttgart the following Saturday.
20. Flamengo (Bra) (BU) – Flamengo is the only debuting team in the rankings this week, taking over the top spot in the Brazilian Serie A with four victories in two weeks over Santos (5-4), Gremio (2-0), Cruzeiro (1-0) and Coritiba (1-0). Coming Up: Flamengo remains busy in the coming two weeks with a Copa Sudamericana match against Atlético PR on Wednesday followed by Serie A matches against Figueirense (Aug. 14), Atlético GO (Aug. 18) and Internacional (Aug. 21).
21. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (23) – Dynamo Kyiv has also been busy. Unfortunately, it was busy being eliminated from the Champions League by falling twice to Russian club Rubin Kazan, 0-2 at home and 1-2 in Russia. Domestically, however, Dynamo is off to a good start, in second place after a 0-0 draw with Metalurh and 2-0 victory over Karpaty. Coming Up: In the next two weeks, Dynamo will face Arsenal Kyiv on Saturday and Kryvbas on Aug. 19 in domestic matches and begin it’s Europa League campaign on Aug. 17 against Lovech.
23. Marseille (Fra) (21) – Marseille did manage to defeat Lille 5-4 to win the French Super Cup, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw in its Ligue Un opener against Sochaux. Coming Up: Marseille plays Ligue Un matches the next two Sundays, first against Auxerre and then against St.-Étienne.
24. CSKA Moscow (Rus) (19) – CSKA’s Russian Premier League lead has taken a big hit recently after drawing 1-1 with Krasnodar and losing 0-2 to second-place Zenit St. Petersburg. Coming Up: On Friday, CSKA will take on Dynamo Kyiv-killers Rubin Kazan. The following Friday, CSKA’s RPL season continues at home against Tom Tomsk.
25. Udinese (Ita) (24) – No current matches. Coming Up: Udinese’s meaningful matches begin on Aug. 16 when it heads to Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal in a Champions League playoff round match.
Bubbling Under: København (Den), Lyon (Fra), Tottenham Hotspur (Eng), Trabzonspor (Tur), Villarreal (Esp).
Next Five: Celtic (Sco), Lazio (Ita), Liverpool (Eng), Metalist (Ukr), Panathinaikos (Gre).
Matches Between Top 25 Clubs in Next Two Weeks:
14 August – (2) Barcelona at (5) Real Madrid
16 August – (25) Udinese at (17) Arsenal
17 August – (5) Real Madrid at (2) Barcelona
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