IFFHS is the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, which regularly conducts analyzes on various topics, but its results can hardly be called objective and always cause controversy. On January 19, the federation published another ranking, in which it made up the top 80 leagues in the world, which is really amazing.
Russia is the last
It should be said in advance that the point distribution scheme is still an unknown quantity, but for some reason the RPL scored only 223 points. And this is catastrophically small in comparison with the leader of the list (we’ll talk about him later), which has 1181 points.
In the 2021 ranking, the RPL took 36th place, and now it has returned to the last place, making it inferior not only to the best leagues in Europe, but also to all kinds of exotic leagues – Nigeria. , Zambia, United Arab Emirates, Nicaragua, Thailand and others.
It’s stupid to argue about demotion from the Russian league, but it’s not that fast! Perhaps the rating system is based on the performance of clubs in international tournaments, and since the RPL clubs have not played anywhere, their place can be understood. But these are just guesses.
Brazil is the leader
Winning the Champions League is rightly considered the main dream of every football player on the planet, and over the past 19 years, clubs from only four countries have consistently reached the final of the tournament: France, Spain, England and Germany. However, neither of these leagues finished first on the IFFHS list, losing it to Brazil.
The Brazilian championship is really strong against the background of non-Europeans, but its representatives cannot oppose the Old World at the World Cup between clubs. The total score between European and Brazilian clubs in terms of victories in this tournament is 14:4 in favor of the Old World. The Brazilian championship is objectively weaker than the Bundesliga, La Liga, the Premier League and some others.
What other surprises?
It would seem that against the background of the last place of Russia and the leadership of Brazil, there is nothing to surprise, but IFFHS was able to do it. Argentina’s ninth place is no longer so impressive, but it is difficult to pass Paraguay’s tenth row. Ecuador and Colombia follow. They are above Turkey, Denmark, Croatia and a few others, whose clubs often make noise in European competitions.
The Belgian championship has made great strides recently and is deservedly called one of the most progressive in Europe, but according to the rating it is worse than the Egyptian one.
The position of the United States was also surprising. MLS has also been progressing at a gigantic rate in recent years, competing on equal terms in the CONCACAF Champions League, but this, according to IFFHS, does not make it stronger than the championships of Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Tanzania, Sudan and others.
Positions of the CIS countries
Russia’s 80th place is a shock. And what about other leagues in the post-Soviet space?
41. Azerbaijan
46. Latvia
51. Lithuania
55.Armenian
57. Uzbekistan
58. Estonian
65.georgia
70. Moldova
73. Ukraine
78. Belarus
