The strongest National League of the World 2001 (By IFFHS)

[jamisont]

The strongest National League of the World 2001 (By IFFHS)

points
1. España 1.267,0
2. England 1.176,0
3. Italia 1.013,0
4. Deutschland 976,0
5. Argentina 964,0
6. Brasil 942,0
7. France 799,0
8. Portugal 765,0
9. Nederland 713,5
10. Hellas 691,5
11. Scotland 687,5
12. Colombia 669,0
13. México 658,5
14. Belgique 641,0
15. Türkiye 603,0
16. Ceská Republika 561,0
17. Perú 541,5
18. Uruguay 540,0
19. Ecuador 498,0
20. Croatia 487,5
21. Israel 479,0
22. Chile 472,5
23. Russia 469,0
24. Schweiz 447,5
25. Danmark 444,5
26. Österreich 425,0
27. Jugoslavija 422,0
28. Guatemala 419,0
29. Bulgaria 415,0
30. Slovensko 408,0
31. Polska 397,5
32. Nippon 379,5
Paraguay 379,5
34. Tunesie 375,0
35. Ukraina 372,0
36. South Africa 368,5
37. România 368,0
38. Norge 348,0
39. Magyarország 340,5
40. Egypt 336,5
41. Uzbekistan 336,0
42. Costa Rica 332,0
43. Bolivia 331,0
44. Sverige 329,5
45. Honduras 324,0
46. Suomi 322,0
47. Cameroun 287,0
48. Slovenija 286,0
49. Australia 284,0
50. China 278,5
51. Ghana
---------------------------
52. Korea (S)
---------------------------
53. Venezuela
54. Algeria
55. USA
56. Saudi Arabia
57. Cote-d'Ivoire
58. Maroc

[Alex_1]

Okay... but Ukraine that low while Ecuador so high? Scotland at 11? Not really agreeing.

[jamisont]

I dont agree with them at all.
Heck I dont even know what Hellas(Greece?), Suomi, Magyarország, Sverige are...
Well scotland have 2 good teams, Rangers and Celtic.

[Elninho]

Their ranking method is suspect:


"The classification of the best leagues of the world is made objectively without any out side influence of any sort. We follow the criteria that the level of performance of a league is reflected by the best classified teams of that league who in turn usually represent their country in international club competitions. If one looks at the football power-houses of the world, one notices that regularly 4 or 5 clubs of their leagues are always competing in con tinental competitions. By adding the points won in all competitions by the five best placed clubs of each league, we have the points for the country which in turn helps to establish a fair classification. It is important to note that only the yearly classification is representative, since all competitions move along the whole season and over twelve months, we have an objective view of the best. This system has been used since 1991, and it is recognized today as the most precise in rating the leagues of the world."

The ranking simply takes the top 5 teams and adds up the total points earned in all competitions during the calendar year.

That means the following are unfairly favored:

1) Long domestic league schedules - more matches means more points earned.
2) Multiple domestic cup competitions (i.e. England's FA and Worthington Cups) - same as above.
3) 2-3 dominant teams - because the points earned by teams outside the top 5 don't matter, dominant teams that rack up a lot of points in domestic competitions gain unfairly.
4) Large leagues - a 20-team league is represented as "better" than a 10-team league because only the records of the top 25% count, as opposed to the top 50%. You can't compare the record of a mid-table team to one in the top 25% of a league!
5) Extra domestic tournaments - in Mexico, there's a round-robin Pre-Pre-Libertadores tournament which is used to select the teams to participate in the Pre-Libertadores playoffs against Venezuelan clubs. That's basically free points for Mexico.
6) Confederations in which international club competitions require playing many matches (i.e. group stages of Champions League and Libertadores). Again, more matches = more points, and group stages always mean more matches than straight knockout tournaments.

Overall competitiveness of a league is disfavored: for example, given that this ranking is for 2001, we note that all the points earned by DC United, Kansas City, and Metrostars in international competition - which was fairly substantial, given that these were 3 of the 5 teams that did compete in meaningful international tournaments - did not count toward MLS's point total at all.

[Elninho]

It really starts to lose credibility with:

1) Scottish league in 11th place? Sure, if you completely ignore the bottom half of the league.

2) Guatemala second-best in CONCACAF? They only play the longest league schedule in CONCACAF. In 2001, every single one of their clubs in international competitions was knocked out by MLS opponents!

3) Poland and Switzerland ahead of Ukraine and Norway???

4) Australia ahead of South Korea, the USA, and Saudi Arabia? Tell me when an Australian club actually beats an opponent that's not from some tiny South Pacific island.

5) China ahead of South Korea and Saudi Arabia? Would anyone like to count Asian club trophies? Between them, South Korea and Saudi Arabia have won almost all of them.

[entropy]

Originally posted by jamisont
I dont agree with them at all.
Heck I dont even know what Hellas(Greece?), Suomi, Magyarország, Sverige are...
Well scotland have 2 good teams, Rangers and Celtic.


Hellas=Greece
Suomi=Finland
Magyarorszag=Hungary
Sverige=Sweden

[minorthreat]

Originally posted by Elninho
3) Poland and Switzerland ahead of Ukraine and Norway???Yes. The Norwegian league has a sharp drop off in quality after Rosenborg Trondheim and perhaps Viking Stavanger, not to mention the fact that it's totally dominated by one team. As for Ukraine, sure, Dynamo Kiev is a massive club, and I'll maybe give you Shakhtar Donetsk, but we're talking about entire leagues here.

[usscouse]

Originally posted by jamisont
The strongest National League of the World 2001 (By IFFHS)

points
1. España 1.267,0
2. England 1.176,0
3. Italia 1.013,0
4. Deutschland 976,0
5. Argentina 964,0
6. Brasil 942,0
7. France 799,0
8. Portugal 765,0
9. Nederland 713,5
10. Hellas 691,5
11. Scotland 687,5
12. Colombia 669,0
13. México 658,5
14. Belgique 641,0
15. Türkiye 603,0
16. Ceská Republika 561,0
17. Perú 541,5
18. Uruguay 540,0
19. Ecuador 498,0
20. Croatia 487,5
21. Israel 479,0
22. Chile 472,5
23. Russia 469,0
24. Schweiz 447,5
25. Danmark 444,5
26. Österreich 425,0
27. Jugoslavija 422,0
28. Guatemala 419,0
29. Bulgaria 415,0
30. Slovensko 408,0
31. Polska 397,5
32. Nippon 379,5
Paraguay 379,5
34. Tunesie 375,0
35. Ukraina 372,0
36. South Africa 368,5
37. România 368,0
38. Norge 348,0
39. Magyarország 340,5
40. Egypt 336,5
41. Uzbekistan 336,0
42. Costa Rica 332,0
43. Bolivia 331,0
44. Sverige 329,5
45. Honduras 324,0
46. Suomi 322,0
47. Cameroun 287,0
48. Slovenija 286,0
49. Australia 284,0
50. China 278,5
51. Ghana
---------------------------
52. Korea (S)
---------------------------
53. Venezuela
54. Algeria
55. USA
56. Saudi Arabia
57. Cote-d'Ivoire
58. Maroc
This looks pretty fair to me..!

People who say Scotland only has 2 teams are talking though their hats. Scotland has 2 outstanding teams and the rest keep them in 11th place.

Oh. for the ones who drooled through their geography class. Sverige is Sweden..!:)

[DominicFromCanada]

As I can see the Uzbekistan league is better than the Allsvenskan...