IFFHS
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organization that chronicles the history of football. It was founded in 1984 and is based in Bonn, Germany.
Club World Ranking
Since 1991, the entity has produced a monthly Club World Ranking.
The ranking takes into consideration the results of twelve months of continental and intercontinental competitions, national league matches (including play-offs) and the most important national cup (excluding points won before the round of 16).
All countries are rated at four levels based upon the national league performance -- clubs in the highest level leagues receive 4 points for each match won, 2 for a draw and 0 for a defeat. Level 2 is assigned 3 pts. (win), 1.5 (draw) and 0 (lost), and so on with the next lower levels.
In continental competitions, all clubs receive the same number of points at all stages regardless of the performance level of their leagues. However, the UEFA Champions League and the Libertadores Cup yield more points than minor competitions UEFA Cup and Copa Sudamericana, respectively. The point assignment system is still lower for African, Asian, CONCACAF and Oceaniac continental tournaments. Competitions between two continents are evaluated depending upon their importance. Competitions not organised by a continental confederation, or any intercontinental events not recognized by FIFA, are not taken into consideration.
| Top 25 (as of 1st December 2007 - 30th November 2008). | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Team | Points |
| 1 |  FC Barcelona
|
278,0 |
| 2 |  Manchester United
|
263,0 |
| Liverpool FC
| ||
| 4 |  FC Bayern München
|
260,0 |
| 5 |  CA Boca Juniors
|
258,0 |
| 6 | Chelsea FC
|
250,0 |
| 7 |  Olympique Lyonnais
|
237,0 |
| 8 | Arsenal FC
|
234,0 |
| 9 |  AS Roma
|
229,0 |
| 10 | Estudiantes de La Plata
|
226,0 |
| 11 | ACF Fiorentina
|
222,0 |
| 12 |  São Paulo FC
|
219,0 |
| 13 | FC Internazionale Milano
|
218,0 |
| 14 | Fluminense FC
|
214,0 |
| 15 | Villareal CF
|
205,0 |
| 16 | AC Milan
|
202,0 |
| 17 | Atlético Madrid
|
198,0 |
| 18 | Juventus FC
|
195,0 |
| 19 |  Sporting Clube
|
193,0 |
| 20 | FC Girondins
|
191,0 |
| 21 | Getafe CF
|
188,0 |
| 22 |  Fenerbahçe SK
|
186,5 |
| 23 | CA San Lorenzo de Almagro
|
186,0 |
| 24 |  FC Dynamo Kyiv
|
185,5 |
| 25 |  Rangers FC
|
183,5 |
| Last updated December 3rd, 2008 * Current Standings | ||
Year-end leaders
The following table shows the clubs that finished top of the ranking for each year:
- 1991 - AS Roma
- 1992 - Ajax
- 1993 - Juventus
- 1994 - Paris Saint-Germain
- 1995 - AC Milan
- 1996 - Juventus
- 1997 - FC Barcelona
- 1998 - Internazionale
- 1999 - Manchester United
- 2000 - Real Madrid
- 2001 - Liverpool
- 2002 - Real Madrid
- 2003 - AC Milan
- 2004 - Valencia
- 2005 - Liverpool
- 2006 - Sevilla
- 2007 - Sevilla
Strongest National League
| Top 10 (as of 2007). | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Team | Points |
| 1 | Premier League
|
1.171,0 |
| 2 | La Liga
|
1.074,0 |
| 3 | Serie A
|
1.027,0 |
| 4 | Campeonato Brasileiro
|
954,0 |
| 5 | Primera División Argentina
|
852,0 |
| 6 | Fußball-Bundesliga
|
839,0 |
| 7 | Ligue 1
|
761,5 |
| 8 |  Primera División de México
|
734,0 |
| 9 |  Mustang Cup
|
666,0 |
| 10 | Portuguese Liga
|
643,5 |
| Last updated December 11, 2008 * Current Standings | ||
World's Most Popular Footballer
- 2006 -
Steven Gerrard - 2007 -
Mohamed Aboutrika - 2008 - TBA
Since 2006 IFFHS give an award for the world's most popular football player based on their user votes. Liverpool FC player Steven Gerrard noteched the first title.
In 2007 IFFHS had provided a list of 55 candidates from all six continents. Its total of 2,727,458 casting their votes. The winner was Mohamed Aboutrika, playmaker and goal getter of Al-Ahly and Egypt national football team.[1]
For 2008, the IFFHS has drawn up a list of 100 currently active players from 58 countries in all six football continents from which you can cast your vote for the best-known footballer in the world. The result of the users poll will be announced in January 2009, the intermediate results on October 31th and on November 30th, 2008. Votes may be sent until January 3rd 2009. [2]
Criticism
In a wide range of media there is massive doubt about the significance of IFFHS rankings and elections. German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur abstains from publishing news relating to the IFFHS. Karl Lennartz, a sports historian from Cologne, Germany, calls the organization "obscure", describing it as a one man show of its chairman Alfredo Pöge.[3] There criticism about the eurocentric aspect too. For example, from 1960 to now, europeans and south americans teams had runned for 48 intercontinental cups and FIFA Club World Cups with a advantage to south americans by 25 to 22. Important detail: it always had since the 1st dispute, south americans footballers playing for europeans club But not the contrary. This plain evidence seems not to be taking account by IFFHS.