Top 25 Clubs in the World

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – www.worldclubrankings.com

1.  Manchester United  (Eng) (1) – United went to Portugal at midweek and settled for a 1-1 draw with Benfica in the Champions League.  In the Premier League, Manyoo didn’t settle at all, hurting Chelsea early and often in its 3-1 victory.  Coming Up:  On Tuesday, Manchester United goes to work in the Carling Cup when it takes on Leeds United.  In league play, United will take on Stoke City on Saturday.

2.  Barcelona  (Esp) (2) – Barça scored an uncharacteristic second straight draw when its Champions League match with Milan ended with a 2-2 deadlock.  In the Primera Division, Barcelona fared much better, blasting Osasuna by a 8-0 score.  Coming Up:  Barcelona has two league matches this week and both promise to be good.  On Wednesday, it heads south to take on Valencia.  Next weekend, Barça will host Atlético Madrid.

3.  Bayern Munich  (Ger) (3) – Bayern became the highest ranking club to win its opening Champions League match, defeating Villarreal 2-0 in Spain.  Domestically, Bayern took care of Schalke 04 by the same 2-0 score.  Coming Up:  Bayern Munich will be off until Saturday when it hosts Bayer Leverkusen.

4.  AC Milan  (Ita) (5) – As mentioned above, Milan walked away with a 2-2 draw against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, which has to be a pleasing result.  A much less pleasing result was its 1-3 defeat at the hands of Napoli.  Coming Up:  Like Spain, Italy also has two matchdays this week.  Milan will host #24 Udinese on Wednesday and then play host again on Saturday to Cesena.

5.  Real Madrid  (Esp) (4) – Nobody was surprised to see Real Madrid go to Croatia and walk away with a 1-0 victory against Dinamo Zagreb in its Champions League debut.  On the contrary, everybody must have been surprised to see Los Blancos fall 0-1 to Levante in league play.  Coming Up:  Real Madrid’s schedule this week should be a little easier than Barça’s, taking on Racing Santander at midweek and hosting Rayo Vallecano over the weekend.

6.  Manchester City  (Eng) (6) – It was two disappointing draws in two matches for City this week, drawing 1-1 at home against Napoli in its Champions League match and letting Fulham come from behind to finish 2-2 in its Premier League match.  Coming Up:  Mansee’s Carling Cup season gets under way at home on Wednesday against Birmingham City.  In Premier League action, Man City will host Everton on Saturday.

7.  Porto  (Por) (8) – Porto won its opening Champions League match at home, defeating Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1.  In Liga Sagres action, Porto suffered a rare draw, finishing 0-0 with Feirense.  Coming Up:  Porto is off until Friday when it will host Benfica in both clubs’ most important match of this young season.

8.  Lyon  (Fra) (16) – Lyon enters the top ten in a week in which it drew 0-0 with Ajax in Amsterdam in its Champions League debut but defeated rival Marseille 2-0 to take over the lead in the young Ligue Un season.  Coming Up:  France also has a two-matchday week and Lyon will take on Caen on Wednesday before hosting Bordeaux this weekend.

9.  Chelsea  (Eng) (9) – Chelsea opened its Champions League campaign with a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen but then crashed and burned at Old Trafford, falling 1-3 to Manchester United.  Coming Up:  Chelsea will host fellow Londoners Fulham on Wednesday in an early round Carling Cup match before hosting Swansea City on Saturday in a Premier League matchup.

10.  Werder Bremen  (Ger) (10) – Surprising Werder Bremen is still in second place in the German Bundesliga despite drawing 1-1 with Nürnberg over the weekend.  Coming Up:  On Sunday, Bremen will host recently-promoted Hertha BSC.

11.  Shakhtar Donetsk  (Ukr) (11) – Shakhtar fell 1-2 to Porto in Portugal in its opening Champions League match.  Domestically, Shakhtar defeated Vorskla 1-0 to maintain its narrow lead in the Ukranian Premier League.  Coming Up:  On Wednesday, Shakhtar Donetsk takes on another Shakhtar, this one from Sverdlovsk, in a Ukranian Cup match.  On Saturday, Shakhtar plays in what may turn out to be its biggest match of the season when it goes to Kiev to take on Dynamo.

12.  Olympiakos  (Gre) (12) – Olympiakos’s Champions League got off to a dubious start this week when it fell at home 0-1 to Marseille.  Domestically, Olympiakos debuted much better, defeating Xanthi 2-1.  Coming Up:  The club from Piraeus is off until Saturday when it is scheduled to take on Ergotelis.

13.  Montpellier  (Fra) (7) – A 2-2 draw with Brest dropped Montpellier out of the top spot in France’s Ligue Un and out of the top ten of our rankings.  Coming Up:  Montpellier’s two league opponents this week will be Ajaccio on Wednesday and Paris St.-Germain on Saturday.

14.  Inter Milan  (Ita) (13) – Nothing good happened for Internazionale this week.  First, it was shocked at home in a 0-1 loss to Turkey’s Trabzonspor in the Champions League.  Then, at home, it had to settle for a scoreless draw against AS Roma.  Coming Up:  The opponents are easier for Inter this week, facing Novara on Tuesday and Bologna on Saturday, but both matches are away matches, so who knows?

15.  Benfica  (Por) (14) – I think Benfica surprised some people by holding Manchester City to a 1-1 draw in its first Champions League away match.  Domestically, Benfica defeated Académica 4-1 to draw even on points with Liga Sagres leader Porto.  Coming Up:  Only one match for Benfica this week, but it’s a huge one, facing Porto in the clubs’ first Liga Sagres match of the season.

16.  Valencia  (Esp) (15) – Valencia was held to a scoreless draw at Genk in its Champions League match of the week but fared better against Sporting Gijón, scoring a 1-0 victory, to take the early lead in Spain’s Primera Division.  Coming Up:  This week will be a huge test for Valencia, hosting defending European champions Barcelona on Wednesday before facing Sevilla in an away match this weekend.

17.  Dynamo Kyiv  (Ukr) (17) – In Europa League action, Dynamo held on to a 1-1 draw with Stoke City in its first group stage match.  Domestically, DK beat Chornomorets 2-1 to keep pace with Ukranian Premier League leader Shakhtar Donetsk.  Coming Up:  Dynamo jumps into the Ukranian Cup competition on Wednesday against Kremin.  Domestically, the match of the season is scheduled to take place Saturday when Dynamo host Shakhtar in a battle of the two clubs tied at the top of the Premier League table.

18.  Borussia Monchengladbach  (Ger) (19) – Monchengladbach continued its hot start to the Bundesliga season by defeating hapless Hamburg 1-0 on HSV’s home soil.  Coming Up:  Monchengladbach is off until Saturday when it will host Nürnberg.

19.  Arsenal  (Eng) (18) – Get ready to say goodbye to the Gunners in the rankings next week because when last season’s numbers are purged for the Premier League, there’s no way a seventeenth-place club will even come close to making the list.  Arsenal’s disappointments continued this week.  Although a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund is acceptable in Champions League play, a 3-4 loss to Blackburn Rovers is not acceptable under any conditions.  At least not in North London.  Coming Up:  Arsenal will host Shrewsbury Town in a Tuesday Carling Cup match.  We’ll see if they’re up to the task.  On Saturday, Arsenal will host Bolton Wanderers in a return to its already badly damaged Premier League campaign.

20.  Napoli  (Ita) (20) – All-in-all, not a bad week for the southern Italian club.  First it went to England and walked away with a point from a 1-1 draw with Manchester City in Champions League play.  It followed that up with a 3-1 drubbing of AC Milan in its Serie A match.  Coming Up:  This week’s opponents for Napoli appear to be a little less daunting with an away match at Chievo at midweek and a home match against Fiorentina on the weekend.

21.  Hoffenheim  (Ger) (25) – Hoffenheim is also off to its typical great start in the German Bundesliga, beating Wolfsburg 3-1 at home to remain near the top of the table.  Coming Up:  Hoffenheim returns to action on Sunday when it takes on Cologne.

22.  Fenerbahçe  (Tur) (21) – Fenerbahçe’s season finally got under way this week with an early-week 1-0 victory over Orduspor and a 3-1 weekend win over Gaziantepspor.  Coming Up:  Fenerbahçe has two more Super Lig matches this week, hosting Manisaspor on Tuesday and visiting Kayserispor on Friday.

23.  Toulouse  (Fra) (NR) – Toulouse leapfrogged a number of clubs in the Ligue Un standings with a 3-2 home victory over Bordeaux, allowing the club to enter the Weekly Top 25 for the first time (that I can remember).  Coming Up:  We’ll see if the hot streak continues this week against St.-Étienne on Wednesday and Nancy on Saturday.

24.  Udinese  (Ita) (22) – I’d call this a successful week for Udinese, defeating Stade Rennes 2-1 in its Europa League debut and taking down Fiorentina 2-0 in its Serie A match, both at home.  Coming Up:  Udinese will hit the road this week, however, and we’ll see how it does against AC Milan on Wednesday and Cagliari on Sunday.

25.  Zenit St. Petersburg  (Rus) (23) – Rough start to the Champions League group stage for Zenit, who fell 1-2 to APOEL in Cyprus, although it bounced back to beat Rubin Kazan 3-2 to keep its place atop the Russian Premier League standings.  Coming Up:  Zenit has two matches at home this week, hosting Dinamo Bryansk in a Russian Cup match and Tom Tomsk in a Premier League matchup.