LFC ranked the best club in Europe

[Malcolm X]

Liverpool FC are top ranked club in Europe

Feb 27 2009 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo

 

LIVERPOOL are officially the top ranked club in Europe.

 

Wednesday night's famous victory in the Bernabeu has sent the Reds to the top of UEFA's ranking system for the first time since 1985.

 

Based on performances in European competition over the past five years, the complicated system awards points for matches won and quality of opposition.

 

The victory in the Bernabeu has seen the Reds overtake Chelsea at the top of the table, with Barcelona third and AC Milan fourth.

 

Liverpool's five year record under Rafa Benitez – who arrived at the club in the summer of 2004 – has been phenomenal.

 

In his five years the Spanish coach has won the Champions League, taken his team to another final, reached last season's semi-final and got to the last 16 in 2006.

 

It's a record of unparalleled consistency in recent times.

 

Even when the Reds won the Champions League in 2005, their ranking for the season put them second behind AC Milan, while their five year record left them in fifth behind Barcelona, AC Milan, Valencia and Real Madrid.

 

This is the first time the Reds have topped the co-efficient rankings since 1985 when the European ban was imposed, effectively asking them to start their ranking points tally from scratch.

 

Liverpool also have the highest ranking for this present season with (18.1775 points) closely followed by Bayern Munich, who handed out a 5-0 demolition at Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night.

 

l UEFA's latest rankings: 1 Liverpool FC (114.077), 2 Chelsea FC (110.077), 3 Barcelona (109.403), 4 AC Milan (109.306), 5 Arsenal (101.077), 6 Sevilla (100.403), 7 Man Utd (99.077), 8 Bayern Munich (93.664), 9 Lyon (90.576), 10 Inter Milan (87.306).

[Des]

The fact that we've overtaken Chelsea just shows what a pile of sweaty ones that ranking system is.

[stressederic]

How the f*** did Chelsea get to the top?

[_00_deathscar]

By getting to the semi finals and finals consistently?

 

It's based on performance over the last 5 years. Trophies don't actually mean anything in this ranking, which is fair, because it's a performance ranking.

[stressederic]

By getting to the semi finals and finals consistently?

 

It's based on performance over the last 5 years. Trophies don't actually mean anything in this ranking, which is fair, because it's a performance ranking.

 

They've got to the finals once. Been knocked out at the Semi Finals stage three times and the last 16 once. In the same time we've been to the finals twice, won the damn thing and knocked Chelsea out of the competition twice. It's insane that they could have been above us.

[Jim D]

How the f*** did Chelsea get to the top?

 

Well they do have a good record in recent years...

 

2008 Final

2007 Semi-Final

2006 Last 16

2005 Semi-Final

2004 Semi-Final

[_00_deathscar]

They've got to the finals once. Been knocked out at the Semi Finals stage three times and the last 16 once. In the same time we've been to the finals twice, won the damn thing and knocked Chelsea out of the competition twice. It's insane that they could have been above us.

 

This is where it fails - it doesn't ACTUALLY take into account how far you went in the competition, but how you did in your games (the two are sort of linked I suppose) - i.e., winning both games over two legs is 'better' than winning one and losing the other, but still progressing (or winning one, drawing the other, and still progressing, or drawing both and still progressing).

 

Technically, you've still progressed, which is all that matters, but this ranking takes into account how many of your games you've won, and against which 'level' (coefficient) opponents.

 

Hence why we had accumulated less points for 2005 than Milan, but more than them in 2007.

[stressederic]

I'd love to sit in on the UEFA and FIFA meetings when they come up with these ranking systems.

[Sion]

I may be way off here but

As we're 4 points ahead of Chelsea in the total 5 year rankings, but only 2 ahead of them this year. Doesn't that mean we were ahead of them before the Real game?

As if we'd just over taken them after that game we'd have to be at least 4 ahead of them this year

Edited February 27, 2009 by Sion

[_00_deathscar]

I'd love to sit in on the UEFA and FIFA meetings when they come up with these ranking systems.

 

I think the UEFA one is somewhat fair. You need SOMETHING to work out team coefficients and going just by trophies would be difficult to do. They've come up with something that isn't TOO bad and works fairly well - it gives a general view of how each team did in Europe over the last 5 seasons. (another point where it fails...UEFA Cup = European Cup according to this...so you could be a runner up in the UEFA Cup but have more points than the winner of the European Cup)

 

The FIFA one is just daft, mostly because it takes into account friendlies.

Edited February 27, 2009 by _00_deathscar

[yuriska]

I may be way off here but

As we're 4 points ahead of Chelsea in the total 5 year rankings, but only 2 ahead of them this year. Doesn't that mean we were ahead of them before the Real game?

As if we'd just over taken them after that game we'd have to be at least 4 ahead of them this year

 

I actually follow these rankings and we've been ahead of them since the group stages. We did lose the lead for a while with the draws against Atletico but not to Chelsea - to Barcelona. However they lost the last game fielding a weakened side and we won against PSV so we regained the lead.

Rankings

There's an excellent site that follows it and you can see from the vantage point of a few years how clubs get their rankings.

I assume this has just come out as Prentice has finally noticed it.

[growler]

its not just about how far you get in the competition, its about how you got there too. A team that wins all their games and gets to the semi will rank higher than a team that wins by scraping through

[Falconhoof]

Are these the rankings that they use to seed teams ?

[allawee]

I'd love to sit in on the UEFA and FIFA meetings when they come up with these ranking systems.

I don't....I think they are real boring with old farts who know nothing about football probably, just statistics.

[Hassony]

I don't....I think they are real boring with old farts who know nothing about football probably, just statistics.

 

[Raj]

Well they do have a good record in recent years...

 

2008 Final

2007 Semi-Final

2006 Last 16

2005 Semi-Final

2004 Semi-Final

 

That's a f***ing brilliant record.

Long may it continue

[_00_deathscar]

Are these the rankings that they use to seed teams ?

 

Yes.

[mm2259]

The title of this thread is very misleading. Should be "LFC ranked the most consistent club in Europe over the last five years" not "LFC ranked the best club in Europe"

[Montse]

Lol Millwall are 109th!

 

[Stevie H]

why the last five years? why not the last seven or eight?

[_00_deathscar]

why the last five years? why not the last seven or eight?

 

Because five is a nice number.

[Stew F]

Because five is a nice number.

and because Everton are 55th

[Chili Palmer]

Where are Middlesbrough on the list?

Edited February 28, 2009 by Chili Palmer

[Frosty Jack]

Where are Middlesbrough on the list?

 

They've jumped to number 1

[Guy_Incognito]

Ah, conker rules.