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

World Club Rankings - Top 25 Clubs - 1974

I’m not sure if 1974 is more fairly seen as a blip in the 1970s dominance of the Dutch or the year marking the rise of the Bundesliga and Bayern Munich. Both are probably fair to some degree. After three straight years as European champions and WCR Team of the Year, Ajax failed to win its domestic league and fell to CSKA Sofia in the second round of the Champions Cup. Falling so early opened the door for several teams, obviously, but only one of them could manage to walk through. The semifinals saw upstarts Bayern Munich defeat Ujpest Dozsa and Atletico de Madrid advance against Celtic, who were finishing the greatest run of seasons in its history. The final was a scoreless draw deep into extra time, when Atletico took a 1-0 lead on a 114’ goal by Luis Aragones. Things looked dark for Bayern, but a miracle occurred when Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck tied the game up at the 119’ minute mark to send the championship into a replay. Two days later, in front of a half-empty Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Bayern Munich dominated Atletico de Madrid to take its first ever Champions Cup, defeating the Spaniards 4-0 on braces by Uli Hoeness and Gerd Muller.

The Germans in the west weren’t the only ones celebrating in 1974. East German club FC Magdeberg brought home the Cup Winners Cup after defeating AC Milan 2-0 in the final. Although they couldn’t maintain their run of Champions Cup titles, the Netherlands did manage a consolation prize as Feyenoord ended the British domination of the UEFA Cup by defeating Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in aggregate in the final round.

While one dynasty was ending, another one on the other side of the world was still going strong. Independiente took its third consecutive Copa Libertadores title, defeating Sao Paulo, as a Brazilian club returned to the final. After splitting home and away matches, the two clubs faced on in a playoff in Santiago, Chile, where Independiente scored a 1-0 victory and the title.

In other continental action, Municipal (Guatamala) took the Copa de Campeones, defeating Transvaal (Suriname) 4-2 (agg.) in the final and CARA Brazzaville (Congo) defeated Ghazl Al-Mehalla (Egypt) 6-3 (agg.) in the final of the African Cup of Champions. The list of domestic champions in the top leagues in the world included Feyenoord, Bayern Munich, Celtic, Lazio (for the first time) and San Lorenzo. Below are the Top 25 clubs in the world for 1974:

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs – 1974

1. Bayern Munich (FRG) – Champions Cup-Winner; First ever ranking.
2. Celtic (Sco) – CC-SF; Fifth consecutive Top 5.
3. Feyenoord (Ned) – UEFA Cup-Winner; Fifth consecutive Top 10.
4. Ujpest Dozsa (Hun) – CC-SF; Highest ever ranking.
5. Penarol (Uru) – Copa Libertadores-Semifinalist.
6. Atletico de Madrid (Esp) – CC-RU.
7. Twente (Ned) – UEFA-3R.
8. Independiente (Arg) – Copa Libertadores-Winner.
9. Borussia Monchengladbach (FRG) – Cup Winners Cup-SF; First ever ranking.
10. Ajax (Ned) – CC-2R; sixth consecutive Top 10.
11. San Lorenzo (Arg)
12. Lazio (Ita) – UEFA-2R.
13. Barcelona (Esp) – UEFA-1R.
14. Juventus (Ita) – CC-1R.
15. PSV Eindhoven (Ned)
16. Rosario Central (Arg) – CL-1R.
17. Hibernian (Sco) – UEFA-2R; Last ever ranking.
18. Sporting CP (Por) – CWC-SF.
19. Olympiakos (Gre) – CC-1R.
20. Rangers (Sco) – CWC-2R.
21. Fortuna Dusseldorf (FRG) – UEFA-3R; First ever ranking.
22. Velez Sarsfield (Arg)
23. Leeds United (Eng) – UEFA-3R; Sixth consecutive Top 25.
24. Benfica (Por) – CC-2R; Fourteenth consecutive Top 25.
25. Eintracht Frankfurt (FRG)

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

Copa Libertadores Finals - History in the Making

Wednesday night, Fluminense hosts Liga Deportiva Universitaria (LDU) Quto in the second leg of the finals of the Copa Libertadores. Last week, in the first leg of the final in Quito, Ecuador, LDU Quito saw goals from four different scorers in the first half and held on to score a 4-2 victory. Regardless of what happens on Wednesday night, a little history will be made.

It is safe to say that Fluminense is not one of the traditional Brazilian powerhouses. Of the 26 trips made by Brazilians to the finals of the Copa Libertadores prior to this year, Fluminense was responsible for a grand total of zero. They have won a Brazilian championship, but only one and that one took place 24 years ago. It appears extremely unlikely that Fluminense will repeat that feat this year as they currently are in 20th place out of 20 teams in the Brazilian Serie A, scoring only two points in seven matches. The tricolores (Fluminense fans) in Rio de Janiero did get to celebrate a victory in the Copa do Brasil in 2007, but their party should be the biggest they’ve ever had should they manage to come back in the second leg against LDU.

A championship for LDU Quito would be even more historic. Not only has LDU Quito never won the Copa Libertadores; no team from Ecuador has ever taken home the cup. In fact, this is only the third time a team from Ecuador has reached the final, as Barcelona fell in the final twice, to Olimpia in 1990 and Vasco da Gama in 1998. Recently a relative powerhouse in Ecuador, LDU’s championship history is not longstanding. LDU has won the Compeonato Ecuatoriano de Futbol nine times, with five of those championships coming since 1998. If LDU can hold on to its lead against Fluminense on Wednesday, it could be the biggest moment in the history of Ecuadoran club football.

Since both Fluminense and LDU Quito came out of the same group (Group 8), Wednesday night’s game will be the fourth between the teams during the tournament. In the group stage, Fluminense scored a 2-0 victory and a 0-0 draw against LDU on its way to winning the group and becoming the top overall seed in the knockout stage. In coming in second, LDU saw defending Copa Sudamerican champion Arsenal de Sarandi and Libertad eliminated. In the knockout stage, Fluminense has eliminated 1989 champion Atletico Nacional, 2005 champion Sao Paulo and 2007 champion Boca Juniors. LDU eliminated Argentine powers Estudiantes and San Lorenzo (in penalty kicks) before knocking out Club America in the semifinals. Interestingly, if LDU Quito wins, they will have done it by defeating the last-place team in the Mexican Clausura and the current last-place team in the Brasileiro Serie A. That notwithstanding, it will still be a well-deserved championship.

The game is on Wednesday night on Fox Sports Espanol (in the U.S.). I’ll be watching. If you have a chance, you should as well. Whatever happens, you will witness history.

Weekend Football Television Schedule

What the weekend lacks for in quantity, it makes up for in quality as the Euro 2008 tournament draws to a conclusion as Germany takes on either Spain or Russia in the final. As I’ve been saying for weeks now, Go Germany!!! I’ll be watching the game at Estadio RFK in Washington, immediately following United’s hosting of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Both games are being nationally televised on ABC on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, among the other MLS games on television or your computer this weekend, the most anticipated takes place in Foxboro, where the Revolution host FC Toronto. On other networks, GolTV is having an Ecuadorian-heavy weekend, showing three games, yet not the LDU Quito match against Espoli. You’ll have to wait until midweek to see LDU Quito against Fluminense in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final, where Liga currently holds a 4-2 lead. ESPN 360 is showing matches from Japan and China this weekend as well.

No clubs from the most recent WCR Top 25 are on television, but a few of them are playing in South America. The sexiest of these contests is a matchup between Sao Paulo and Cruzeiro on Sunday afternoon. If you have any information regarding television or internet resources for these games, please feel free to share your info in the comments section. Have a good weekend!!!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

4:30 am – Tianjin at Shaanxi (ESPN 360)
6:00 am – Kashima at Nagoya (ESPN 360)
4:30 pm – El Nacional at Deportivo Azogues (GolTV)
7:30 pm – Colorado Rapids at Columbus Crew (FSC)
7:30 pm – FC Toronto at New England Revolution (MLS Direct Kick)
8:00 pm – Real Salt Lake at Kansas City Wizards (MLS Direct Kick)
8:30 pm – San Jose Earthquakes at Chicago Fire (MLS Direct Kick)
10:30 pm – New York Red Bulls at Chivas USA (HDNet)

Sunday, June 29, 2008

10:45 am – Macara at Deportivo Quito (GolTV)
12 noon – Los Angeles Galaxy at D.C. United (ABC)
1:00 pm – Barcelona at Universidad Catolica (GolTV)
2:30 pm – Euro 2008 Championship Game (ABC)
9:00 pm – FC Dallas at Chivas de Guadalajara (TeleFutura)

Non-Televised Games Involving WCR Top 25 Clubs:

Sun., 1 pm – Espoli at (15) LDU Quito
Sun., 3 pm – (6) Flamengo at SPORT
Sun., 3 pm – Sao Paulo at (18) Cruzeiro
Sun., 5 pm – Internacional at (10) Gremio