Every year the IFFHS releases its ranking list of the top football leagues in the world. The Barclays Premier League won the honor for 2008, thanks largely to the fantastic performances in the Champions League from English clubs. This ranking was released in April, but on the eve of the Premier League season, I figured this would be a good time to revisit the list from last year.
Here are the IFFHS Top 15 worldwide domestic leagues:
1- England
2- Italy
3- Argentina
4- Spain
5- Brazil
6- Germany
7- France
8- Mexico
9- Portugal
10- Ukraine
11- Turkey
12- Greece
13- Holland
14- Chile
15- Peru
Of interest to our readers in North America, the US/Canadian top flight, Major League Soccer was ranked the 77th best league in the world by the IFFHS.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Why is Itay 2nd and not spain? they have better players and had 2 teams in Champs league Qfinal last year and 1 in semis the year before also won it! Italy none at the same stages, weird
This would be a hard list to compare. Are they basing it on Champions League? Wouldn’t that put Spain as a better league than Italy?
Parity, then I say Germany should be higher.
I really doubt that the Argentine league is better than the Spanish. You could easily argue that Spain is the top league.
In terms of parity, and the depth of teams, I would almost be inclined to rate the German league above the Italian. While Italy has a few top heavy teams, the drop off to the mid tiers is huge. Both in terms of talent and spending power. Then you have a German team like Bremen who push deep into the Uefa Cup (call this competition a joke, but it really isn’t at the latter stages), yet are fighting to finnish top 10 domestically.
Italy added Eto’o, at the cost of arguably their best players, Kaka and Ibra. Italian football is in a downswing right now…still a top league, but definitely not #2.
Surprising that Argentina shows up #3. Also would have expected to see the Russian league in the top 15.
FYI, here is the IFFHS current world club top 10:
1. FC Barcelona España/4 315,0
Manchester United FC England/4 315,0
3. Club Estudiantes de La Plata Argentina/4 295,0
4. Chelsea FC London England/4 276,0
5. FC Shakhtyor Donetsk Ukraina/3 257,0
6. Liverpool FC England/4 248,0
7. Arsenal FC London England/4 247,0
8. Hamburger SV Deutschland/4 240,0
9. Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto-Alegrense Brasil/4 224,0
10.Cruzeiro EC Belo Horizonte Brasil/4 221,0
Argentina’s clubs are in so much debt, that their season has been postponed indefinitely. Regardless, it is ludicrous to rank Argentina higher than Spain and Germany.
What are Chile and Peru doing there?
Spain should be tied for first w/ the Premier League, in my opinion.
Russia should be in the top 15, for sure.
The rest is more or less accurate.
seems completely bonkers. the MLS may be mediocre, but 77th in the world? And the Bundesliga gets the serious shaft here. I echo what everyone else has said.
It would be nice to know what IFFHS bases the rankings on, what data they use, and how they come up with that list. Seems a little off…
77th ranked league in the world sounds ridiculous!
ridiculous because 77th is too high! shouldn’t even be on the list… If you want to teach kids how to play boring football, watch the MLS.
They hate us for our freedom!
I blame it on France.
MLS- 77th??
I seriously didnt know there were 77 countries that had organized football leagues…
What the heck is the criteria for judgement?
Argentina is a surprise.
The MLS, however, sucks.
MLS 77th?!!! why is it now Lower? 1,589 seems more like it..I could go round up 20 of my friends and then find some homeless people off the street and we could have a better league than MLS..as a matter of fact I can go find 100 people who dont know a thing about the Beautiful game and get them together and we can have a better League than MLS…Boring boring boring soccer..Italy at number 2 is a frigin joke to..its a dieing league…if it wasnt for Jose the Special 1..I dont even think i would watch a game this year…I think Jose can go out and start a league with him and another 100 people and it would be better than MLS..Boring Boring MLS why is it even on tv anymore? why? I’m Amercian and i think this..I have tried many times to watch it I rather watch Tires Spin or bears sleep..thanks you
Totally agree that Spain should be at least 2nd if not equal 1st with England! Seems like they are scraping the bottom of the barel a bit to put Peru in there…
MLS really shouldn’t be classified as a top league! Its like calling the A-League in Australia a top league…77th sounds about right for me although if it were lower I really wouldn’t be that shocked! The only reason I will watch the MLS is for Beckham. Sad I know but hey, there isn’t anything else making me want to watch it.
77th is too low, I admit, but honestly it’s somewhere in the 40th to 50th range. I rate the Mexican League higher than Argentina so, I was shocked to see it rated 5 spots lower.
I have no idea how they come to this list, but whatever means they are using, its nonsense. MLS may be a long way behind the top Euro leagues, but its miles higher than 77th.
This is my ranking, based purely on 23 years of watching football in a number of countries, and with no scientific basis whatsoever-
1. England
2.Spain
3. Italy
4.Germany
5.France
6. Portugal
7.Holland
8.Brazil
9.Turkey
10.Russia
I don’t watch enough from other leagues to judge lower down that this, but I would assume Mexico and the US would come in the next 10 or so, as would Argentina, same for the English second tier (or ‘the championship’ as our coca cola/FA overlords have us call it)
The worst first division team in Mexico is better over the long haul than the best MLS team. MLS is nowhere near the 20th best league in the world. It’s not even close. Japan, Korea, and some of the Arab nations all have stronger leagues than MLS.
I know the sports are huge in all 3 of those countries. But would you saw a strength of the Arab clubs is from big money owners or does it come from a big fan base? I’m assuming some of the Arab clubs have some serious financial backing.
Just from playing the sport here in America, and playing casually at my University, you can see how big the sport is in Korea and Arab nations.
Not quite following where you got your list from: Isn’t this the current list for 2009 and this puts MLS at 55th?
http://www.iffhs.de/?b6e20fa3002f70d00ee2d17f7370eff3702bb1c2bb0e
NB This entire ranking system is fundamentally flawed anyway in that it takes no account of second, third or fourth divisions within individual federations. It is widely recognized for example that the Coca-Cola Championship is the fourth largest supported league in the world (ahead of both Brazil and Argentina for example) and the level of competition there would not be much further behind. And you take Celtic and Rangers out of the SPL and I doubt the rest of the division could succeed in the English third division.
http://www.iffhs.de/?b6e28fa3002f71504e52d17f7370eff3702bb1c2bb11
USA is 77th. It is a problem that they don’t rate lower leagues though because the CONCACAF success of the two USL teams last year would have helped the US rating, while it was punished by the failure of New England to beat a semi-pro team in the qualifying round.
This year the US rating will be hurt by a Canadian team with 5 american roster players losing to a USL team with 11 american roster players. So, yes the system is flawed, but still it gives us the best comparison of top flights we can find.
Is that a complete final ranking? If it is, poor Mexico as they got penalized for Swine Flu and their forced withdrawal from Copa Lib and Copa Sudamericana. I think that is only a partial ranking, but interesting.
Meaningless list … meant to get people in a tizzy.
Not sure if this is a partial or a final list, but there are many other fundamental flaws aside from the fact it does not attempt to factor in lower divisions. Ranking the Brazilian and Argentinian Leagues at 2 and 3 is absolutely ludicrous as everyone knows that practically every good Brazilian and Argentinian player plays in Europe, usually in one of the top five leagues.
And I understand that the creators of this list do not want to seem too Eurocentric, but how on earth could the Saudi Arabian league for instance rank higher than Holland, Portugal, Scotland, Belgium and Russia? Would anyone care to test that assumption with a six-team tournament pitting Rangers, FC Porto, AZ, Standard Liege and Rubin Kazan against whomever in the hell is the top placed Saudi team? Give me a break.
I agree, Italy is a dying league.
People say these things are cyclical…I have my doubts.
We’ve entered an unprecedented era of football. The leagues that have secured big TV Deals (England, the big teams in Spain), will continue to have an advantage.
As both of these leagues continue to draw the most talented players in the world, their profile will continue to go up. The next TV deal will be bigger.
I feel that Italy is caught in a conundrum. Their big teams may be able to survive and stay competitive. But overall, their stuck in no mans land. England and Spain are the top dogs. Italy is in this place where they aren’t really able to compete with English/ big Spanish sides for players, yet lack the excitement and parity of the Bundesliga.
I’ve grown my appreciation for Serie A, and the technical style they employ. But I will say, it doesn’t translate well to TV. And in comparison to the EPL, especially in the eyes of the casual fan, looks dull and subpar.