Posts Tagged ‘Scottish Premier League’

From our freinds at World Club Rankings

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World – Liverpool Goes Top Edition

We have a new number one in the World Club Rankings, but it’s probably not who it should be. Who is number one? Liverpool. Who should be? I think it’s pretty clear to most people that Barcelona should be. So, why aren’t they? Several weeks ago, I went into some detail about how the rankings are generated. I short, it’s a combination of how a club is doing domestically along with how those clubs’ domestic leagues have performed in recent continental championship tournaments, e.g., the UEFA Champions League. The problem for Barcelona is that the English Premiership has a pretty overwhelming lead with respect to the domestic league coefficients. Scoring six of the last eight Champions League semifinal spots and having three different clubs appear in the Champions League finals over the past two years will give you such an overwhelming domestic league coefficient advantage.

What does this mean for Barcelona? Will they never be able to take over the number one spot? Actually, they can, but they will have to earn it on the field – even more so than they already have. Right now, the system sees Barcelona as the leader of a domestic league and a qualifier for the Champions League knockout stage. Meanwhile, Liverpool is first place in a better league and also a qualifier for the Champions League knockout stage. Because of bonus points given for advancement in continental competition, Barcelona likely will advance past the top club in England if it advances further than that club in the Champions League. It is also possible if a club advances to the top of the Premiership with a significantly below average goal differential, but that is unlikely to happen between now and the Champions League knockout stages.

These league rankings also explain why we have two Scottish Premier League clubs in the rankings despite the fact that there soon will be none left in European competition. Celtic and Rangers’ dominance in the league allow them to jump over clubs from better leagues and the SPL is benefitting from successes in recent competitions, despite doing so poorly this season. Coefficients will be adjusted after the group stage ends, so we can see how that affects the SPL. It certainly won’t help it.

I didn’t get much of a chance to talk much about last week’s matches. Or this week’s matches. Or anything at all, really. I guess I’ll do that in the course of the WCR Top 25, below.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – December 1, 2008

Read more World Club Rankings: EPL Team There’s a New No 1 ! Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea

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