The Football Ranking covers all clubs and national teams worldwide, based on their performance in official international championships since the beginning of the sport. See the points system for each tournament in its respective article. Additionally, there are rankings for leagues, players, coaches, cities and women's national teams.
Club Rankings[]
In the FIFA Club Rankings, clubs are ranked based on their performance in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, all international championships organized by each continental confederation (detailed on their respective articles), as well as some national championships.
Historical Background[]
International club championships began only in the 1950s in Europe with the creation of the UEFA Champions League. After that, new international championships began to emerge around the world in the following decades.
Since international club tournaments started relatively recently compared to the emergence of the first national tournaments in 1871 in England, there is a rule that distributes points proportionally to the performance of clubs in the major national championships worldwide, prior to the introduction of international championships.
National Championships Points System[]
To make the ranking even more accurate, the points system includes historical performance in national championships. So, according to this rule, there are 8 national championships in total counting points for the ranking. This system works as follows:
Clubs from the 6 best countries in the League Rankings earn points based on their final standing in their national championships (until 1955 in Europe and 1959 in South America). The countries are ranked based on the 2020 League Ranking (the year of the ranking publication — except for Australia, where the year they left the OFC is used, which is 2005), and the 6th-placed country is the first to double the points of the 7th-placed country.
- Top 3 countries (England, Italy, and Spain) earn more points:
- 25 points to the national champion
- 12 points to the runner-up
- 6 points to the 3rd place
- 3 points to the 4th place
- 1 point to the 5th place
- Next 3 countries (Argentina, Brazil, and Germany) earn:
- 12 points to the national champion
- 6 points to the runner-up
- 3 points to the 3rd place
- 1 point to the 4th place
Other countries (clubs from the 1st-placed country in each continent that has doubled the points of the 2nd-placed country in the League Rankings also earn points according to this rule). This is the case only of Mexico and Australia.
- Mexico:
- 5 points to the national champion
- 2 points to the runner-up
- 1 point to the 3rd place
- Australia:
- 1 point to the national champion
See more details about this rule here.
National Team Rankings[]
In the FIFA Men's National Team Rankings, national teams earn points solely in the most important tournament, the FIFA World Cup.
Women's National Team Rankings[]
In the FIFA Women's National Team Rankings, national teams earn points in the most important tournaments: the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Women's Olympic Football Tournament.
Other Rankings[]
- City Rankings: Adds up the points of all clubs from a city and shows the best football cities in the world.
- Coach Rankings: Shows the best coaches in the world ever, based on their ranking in the IFFHS World's Best National/Club Coach from 1996 to 2009 and in The Best FIFA Football Coach from 2010 onwards.
- League Rankings: Adds up the points of all clubs from a country and shows the best football leagues in the world.
- Player Rankings: Shows the best players in the world ever, based on their ranking in the Ballon d'Or from 1956 to 1990 and in The Best FIFA Men's Player from 1991 onwards.