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current continental club rankings (1959-64): benfica holds on to the lead

Picturepride of sweden
with strong emphasis on the three tournaments in europe's 63/64 season, here is the ranking based only on the last 15 competitions played internationally.

30. red star belgrade (yug)    25,3
29. olympique lyon (fra)    25,6
28. ifk norrköping (swe)    26,8
27. dundee fc (sco)    27,6
26. rapid wien (aut)    27,6
25. juventus turin (ita)    28,0
24. austria wien (aut)    28,3
23. psv eindhoven (ned)    28,7
22. 1.fc köln (ger)    33,3
21. feyenoord rotterdam (ned)    34,0

the new dutch wave is underlined by the presence of two clubs in the top 30; austria also is represented by two clubs from wien, while norrköping enters the ranking after reaching the round of 16 in the european cup two seasons in a row. red star dropped 15 spots after a season without european football, and lyon took stade de reim's place to represent french football in the ranking. juventus is back in the ranking after dropping out last season, while köln is in for the first time after their best european season to date, and their fifth consecutive one.

Picturetaking the old place of the young boys
20. galatasaray istanbul (tur)    34,6
19. mtk budapest (hun)    35,4
18. ujpesti dosza (hun)    36,3
17. glasgow rangers (sco)    38,2
16. atlético madrid (spa)    41,1
15. dinamo zagreb (yug)    41,5
14. partizan belgrade (yug)    43,1
13. fc zürich (swi)    43,5
12. borussia dortmund (ger)    43,5
11. as roma (ita)    43,6

four out of these ten clubs are from two eastern european countries, hungary and yugoslavia. adding to that red star and one team in the top ten, that's a healthy 20% of all clubs. galatasaray climbed four spots to make the top 20, ujpesti lost one, while the rangers lost another six. atlético fell out of the top ten, as did dinamo zagreb, while partizan made up 16 spots to be number 2 in eastern europe. fc zürich came out of no where and placed right behind dortmund, both having made the european cup semifinals. roma gained a spot but remained out of the top ten, placing 3rd amongst the italian clubs.

Picturefrom no where to 3rd: ec winners inter
10. real zaragoza (spa)    45,6
9. sporting lisbon (por)    49,7
8. tottenham hotspur (eng)    49,7
7. fc barcelona (spa)    57,5
6. dukla praha (czs)    58,1
5. valencia cf (spa)    69,8
4. ac milan (ita)    85,3
3. internazionale (ita)    95,0
2. real madrid (spa)    106,3
1. benfica lisbon (por)    106,9

as almost always, four spanish teams are in the top ten, but for the first time, valencia is number two nationally - and deserved that spot after reaching the fairs cup final for a third time, having one the previous two; zaragoza beat them this time around and made the top ten, while cup winner's cup sporting made it two lisbon clubs in the top ten. that's not much against milan, now europe's football capital with the last two european cups and inter slightly ahead of milan. real clawed themselves back one spot for reaching the european cup final, but marginally lost out to benfica, who had been eliminated in the round of 16. dukla is sixth, the second highest ranking ever for an eastern european club, while the spurs keep their top ten status - only club from central europe to be amongst the very best. 8 southerns show the domination of italy, spain and portugal.

current league rankings (1959-64): switzerland back in the top ten

Picture
this is what the power balance of the european leagues were like in 1964.

20. luxembourg    52,2
19. romania    55,0
18. bulgaria    62,5
17. turkey    63,8
16. east germany    68,4
15. austria    72,8
14. denmark    73,7
13. belgium    88,4
12. france    92,6
11. netherlands    95,4

luxembourg is back in the top 20, replacing the irish. the austrians lost spots for the third consecutive year, while the belgians dropped out of the top ten to land on 13th. netherlands gains a place and is therefore on a 3-year up, achieving their best ever place in europe. next step should be the top ten.

10. switzerland    109,8
9. hungary    111,6
8. czechoslovakia    120,6
7. scotland    142,5
6. yugoslavia    149,5
5. england    151,5
4. germany    174,4
3. portugal    194,3
2. italy    294,9
1. spain    332,2

what a turnaround for the swiss, who had dropped 7 spots to 15th and now are back in the top ten. hungary is confortable at 9th, for the third season in a row, while germany made the biggest difference by soaring from 7th to 4th, kicking yugoslavia out of the top 5 and leaving england in their worst ever position in this ranking. this came in the same season germany professionalized football and founded the bundesliga. italy still trail spain, but diminished their deficit from 65,6 points last year to 37,3 this year.

current national club rankings (1959-64): rangers have seven titles in five years

Pictureswiss champs
another season ended, and here are the top 30 based purely on domestic performance, which of course depends on the leagues strength at the time. this time, and from now on, any domestic 1964 titles will be mentioned, together with a total amount of titles in the last five seasons in brackets.

30. lausanne sports (swi)    25,5 - cup (2)
29. liverpool fc (eng)    26,7 - champions (1)
28. eintracht frankfurt (ger)    26,7
27. celtic glasgow (sco)    26,7
26. kilmarnock (sco)    26,7
25. as roma (ita)    26,7 - cup (1)
24. as monaco (fra)    26,9 (4)
23. rsc anderlecht (bel)    27,1 - champions (2)

22. racing fc (lux)    29,7 - double (5)
21. la chaux-de-fonds (swi)    32,5 - champions (2)

to be fair, racing fc is actually three clubs: union luxembourg and aris bennevoie divide the titles amongst themselves, and spora luxembourg is also part. liverpool appears for the first time.

Picturedouble winners
20. partizan belgrade (yug)    34,3 (3)
19. austria wien (aut)    35,7 (6)
18. dinamo zagreb (yug)    35,8 (2)
17. esbjerg (den)    36,2 - double (4)
16. everton fc (eng)    37,5 (1)
15. real zaragoza (spa)    40,2 - cup (1)
14. tottenham hotspur (eng)    40,7 (3)
13. red star belgrade (yug)    41,4 - double (3)
12. fc porto (por)    44,7
11. dukla praha (czs)    44,7 - champions (5)

esbjerg was 22nd, won the double and went up to 16th. dukla were 16th, won another league and is now close to the top ten. zaragoza won the cup to storm from 28th to 15th.

Pictureitalian number one
10. atlético madrid (spa)    49,7 (2)
9. sporting lisbon (por)    51,2 (2)
8. ac milan (ita)    53,2 (1)
7. 1.fc köln (ger)    55,2 - champions (2)
6. fc barcelona (spa)    62,2 (2)
5. internazionale (ita)    63,8 (1)
4. fc bologna (ita)    70,8 - champions (1)
3. glasgow rangers (sco)    79,0 - double (7)
2. benfica lisbon (por)    96,6 - double (6)
1. real madrid (spa)    159,2 - champions (5)

the rangers have seven titles in five years, ahead of austria wien and benfica on this list! but real rules!

official current ranking (1959-64): milan clubs chase benfica & real

Picturefirst time in the top 30
time for the most important ranking, the official top 30. a combination of domestic achievements and european glory, weighted towards the 1963/64 season but considering the last five.

30. everton fc (eng)    49,4
29. celtic glasgow (sco)    50,0
28. feyenoord rotterdam (ned)    50,9
27. juventus turin (ita)    51,4
26. dundee fc (sco)    52,1
25. rapid wien (aut)    52,7
24. esbjerg fc (den)    54,8
23. fc porto (por)    55,2
22. galatasaray istabul (tur)    57,1
21. austria wien (aut)    64,0

fc porto is the highest new entry, followed by danish dominators esbjerg and celtic glasgow, also making their first appearance in the list. everton dropped three spots to still stay in the top 30, while feyenoord lost 13 spots. while dundee, juventus and austria wien also lost some ground (leaving austrians out of the top 20 for the first time ever!), rapid wien and galatasaray made up four spots each.

Picturetwo titles = 12th
20. borussia dortmund (ger)    65,0
19. fc zürich (swi)    65,9
18. red star belgrade (yug)    66,8
17. valencia fc (spa)    69,8
16. as roma (ita)    70,3
15. fc bologna (ita)    70,8
14. dinamo zagreb (yug)    77,3
13. partizan belgrade (yug)    77,5
12. real zaragoza (spa)    85,8
11. 1.fc köln (ger)    88,5

only two german clubs are in this top 30 edition, the lowest number to date. champions köln made a leap forward to get close to the top 10, while borussia dortmund made their very first appearance in this ranking, due to their european cup success. fc zürich makes sure there is always a swiss club in the top 20, while all three yugoslavian teams maintain high levels, with dinamo zagreb losing their lead to partizan, dropping out of the top ten. italian champions bologna pass coppa italia winners roma to be number 3 in italy, while real zaragoza go one better and enter the top 30 for the first time already in 12th place after winning the fairs cup and the copa generalisimo. that leaves valencia as 5th best spanish team. zürich, by the way, is a new entry to the list, too. seven new entries meant that seven clubs left the top 30: stade de reims is out for the first time, as is fiorentina. nürnberg was top ten two seasons ago and now is out of the list, while cska couldn't stay inside. standard liege and anderlecht's exit means no belgians in the list for the first time since 1961, and ferencvaros completes the list of the falling clubs.

Picturebiggest movers within the top ten
10. tottenham hotspur (eng)    90,4
9. atletico madrid (spa)    90,8
8. sporting lisbon (por)    100,9
7. dulka praha (czs)    102,8
6. glasgow rangers (sco)    117,2
5. fc barcelona (spa)    119,7
4. ac milan (ita)    138,5
3. internazionale milan (ita)    158,7
2. benfica lisbon (por)    203,5
1. real madrid (spa)    266,1

lack of consistency or excess of competitiveness. english football is only represented with two clubs in the top 30, the best one still hanging on in the top ten list. the spurs dropped spots for the second year in a row but still are england's best representatives. atletico dropped to their worst spot since 1961, being passed by the second lisbon club. dukla climbed another place in an impressive time for them, now behind the rangers, who are sixth in the list for the third consecutive season. fc barcelona has never dropped this low, since they haven't won the european cup - unlike the three clubs ahead of them, who won the last four titles. inter, the current champions, even jumped from 11th to 3rd to be
the only new face in the top ten. this meant that all european champions were in the top 4 at the time; and although real madrid hadn't one of those trophies since 1960, they were still in command of the ranking, never relinquishing their spot on top. they even pulled away from benfica this time around.
by the way: at this point in time, the top ten clubs came from only 7 different cities; two each from madrid, milan and lisbon.

official all-time club ranking (up to 1964): spurs put england back in the top ten

Picturehighest new entry
the pure sum of points from all 9 seasons in the european cup era. these are the "traditional" clubs of the time. 36 more points than last year were needed to make the cut. vasas budapest, agf aarhus (who lost their danish domination to esbjerg) and 1.fc nürnberg dropped out of this prestigious lot of clubs.

30. rsc anderlecht (bel)    312
29. as roma (ita)    325
28. standard liege (bel)    327
27. eintracht frankfurt (ger)    328
26. austria wien (aut)    342
25. hamburger sv (ger)    350
24. cska sofia (bul)    359
23. wolverhampton wanderers (eng)    370
22. 1.fc köln (ger)    393
21. borussia dortmund (ger)    394

so there they are: four german clubs, the best on this ranking, are outside of the top 20 but still show that there were some quality clubs holding up the national torch. hamburg were leading the pack last season, but slipped to third, right behind köln, a new entry in the list, and borussia dortmund, leading the german champions by just one little point. frankfurt sat tight in 4th, while last season's second best german club, nürnberg, were out of the list altogether. roma entered it for the first time, enjoying the success of italian football, while anderlecht made a comeback (they had been in the inaugural 1960 edition), making it two belgian clubs amongst europe's finest. cska sofia and the wolves both slipped from the top 20, the the english team still managed to maintain their status of national number 3 in the european cup era.

Picturestrong in both official rankings
20. juventus turin (ita)    405
19. young boys bern (swi)    433
18. manchester united (eng)    438
17. dinamo zagreb (yug)    455
16. sporting lisbon (por)    472
15. ac fiorentina (ita)    480
14. athletic bilbao (spa)    490
13. rapid wien (aut)    490
12. partizan belgrade (yug)    495
11. dukla praha (czs)    507

both athletic bilbao and fiorentina dropped out of the top ten after four and two seasons, respectively, without any domestic or european impact. bilbao was 3rd in 1961! the young boys from bern, formerly as high as 7th in this list, now seem to be on the way out of the top 20. sporting is definitely on the way in, already climbing to 16th in only their second year on this particular list. only dukla praha also climbed as much, a total of five spots, putting them on verge of the top ten and becoming number 2 of the eastern european clubs. it is interesting to see that out of the 7 german-speaking clubs, the best two were not german clubs. rapid wien had almost 100 points over germany's best, bvb, and were eight spots up the road.

Pictureput england back into the top ten
10. tottenham hotspur (eng)    523
9. stade de reims (fra)    580
8. internazionale (ita)    610
7. red star belgrade (yug)    643
6. atletico madrid (spa)    681
5. glasgow rangers (sco)    762
4. ac milan (ita)    888
3. benfica lisbon (por)    1000
2. fc barcelona (spa)    1381
1. real madrid (spa)    2543

the top six didn't change at all, and the top 3 remain unchanged since 1962. inter jumped from 22nd to 8th due to european cup glory, while tottenham become the first english club since manchester united 1960 to make the all-time top ten list. stade de reims dropped again after their little revival last season, letting yugoslav red stars move back one spot towards their 5th place, which they had held until 1962.

special ranking - title count after nine seasons: cska has best league record, vaduz rules in cups!

there are actually six european clubs who managed to win more than 9 titles in 9 seasons. check it out!

12 titles: real madrid (6 leagues, 1 cup, 5 european cups, 0 secondary european cups)
11 titles: benfica lisbon (5,4,2,0)
10 titles: fk partizani (albania: 6,4,0,0); olympiacos piraeus (4,6,0,0); cska sofia (8,2,0,0); glasgow rangers (6,4,0,0)
8 titles: hb tórshavn (faroe islands: 3,5,0,0); kr reykjavik (iceland: 4,4,0,0); anorthosis famagusta (cyprus: 5,3,0,0), red star belgrade (5,3,0,0)
7 titles: fc vaduz (liechtenstein: 0,7,0,0); linfield (northern ireland: 4,3,0,0); dukla praha (6,1,0,0); fc barcelona (2,3,0,2)
six other clubs have 6 titles each, fifteen have won 5 trophies.