IFFHS World Rankings: Chelsea Top, United 19th – Find Out Where Your Team Is Ranked

Chelsea have been ranked as the best team in the world with run-away Premier League leaders Manchester United way down in 19th, according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.

The IFFHS are an organisation that are recognised and supported by, but not affiliated with, FIFA and results from their latest rankings were published online today by the Daily Mail and they make for some amusing reading.

Their latest Club World Rankings, which take into account results between March 1 2012 and February 28 2013, have produced some hilarious and down-right bizarre results. Before we give you the rankings, here’s how they are complied with in the first place.

The rankings are calculated by awarding points based on results from national league matches, continental and intercontinental competitions and the most important national cup competition, with results before the last 16 phase ignored.

A draw in a national league game is awarded 2 points with a win worth 4, Champions League draws are worth 7 points and a win is 14 points, while Club World Cup semi-finals are worth the same and winning the cup outright is worth 21 points.

The Rankings

Chelsea are ranked as the best team in the world with Atletico Madrid second while German giants Bayern Munich sit third. Corinthians are fourth and Barcelona make the top 5 but Manchester United only just make the top 20, while Premier League champions Manchester City are below the likes of Basel, Levante and Genk down in 56th position!

Other notable English sides are Liverpool (25th), Tottenham (37th) and Arsenal (50th). Here is a breakdown of the top 20 plus other Premier League sides who make the top 100:

1. Chelsea (307)
2. Atletico Madrid (304)
3. Bayern Munich (292)
4. Corinthians (287)
5. Barcelona (283)
6. Boca Juniors (281)
7. Real Madrid (277)
8. Juventus (241)
9. Inter Milan (234)
10. Sao Paulo (230)
11. Universidad de Chile Santiago (223)
12. Fluminense (222)
13. Basel (220)
14. Fenerbahce (216)
= Lazio
16. Dortmund (215)
17. Lyon (214)
18. PSG (210)
19. Manchester United (205)
= Club Libertad Asuncion
= Celtic

Other English sides in the top 100

25. Liverpool (200)
37. Tottenham (186)
50. Arsenal (169)
56. Man City (161)
65. Newcastle (152)

The rankings are truly bizarre, it has to be said. How on earth did the IFFHS think this was a viable ranking system?! Chelsea won the Champions League, so you could make an argument for them being top I suppose, but to have United down in 19th and the Premier League champions in 56th is ridiculous.

There is obviously too much weight given to European competition and every domestic league is given equal status, which is also crazy. The Premier League is far more difficult than say the Swiss league, but Basel are still ranked 13th due to their excellent domestic form.

Most ‘ranking’ systems are useless anyway. You just need to look at FIFA’s own world rankings to know that!

What do you make of the rankings? Get involved in the comments section below.