Spain the best league in the world

Spain’s La Liga has remained top of the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) league rankings for a second straight year. La Liga remains ‘the best league in the world’ just ahead of England’s Barclays Premier League.

The biggest mover in the rating for 2011 is Portugal’s Liga Sagres which leapfrogs into fourth place in the rankings, just behind Brazil’s Campeonato Brasileirao.   

La Liga's Barcelona, the best in the world

The world ranking for the strongest national leagues has been determined annually by the IFFHS since 1991. It is done on the basis of all national (league and cup), continental and inter-continental (Fifa club competitions) results of clubs. League ratings are then calculated by adding together the total points – determined by wins, losses and draws – of the top five teams in each league and multiplying them by their Fifa coefficients.

Whilst this system is by no means definitive it is proof of the current superiority of the Spanish and English top divisions.

The 2011 world ranking also raised the following pointers: 

1 - The Spanish Primera División remains the strongest national league in the world. La Liga had a lead of 53 points over the English Premier League for 2010; and in 2011 this lead increased to 91 points. The point margin between Spain and England to the rest of the world has also increased. 

2 - The strongest league in South America remains the Brazilian Série A, ahead of the Argentinian Primera División. The Chilean Primera División improved vastly in 2011 and is now the third-highest ranked South American league, even managing a place amongst the Top 10 in the world. 

3 - A great improvement has been recorded by the Portuguese league, catapulting the Liga Sagres into 4th position in the 2011 world ranking, narrowly ahead of the French Ligue 1. The Portuguese league improved a total of 96.5 points from 2010. A severe drop was recorded by the Italian Serie A, achieving 148 fewer points than in 2010 and falling from position 3 to 7. The German Bundesliga also suffered a drop when compared to 2010 (52 points less). It must be noted, however, that between the 3rd and the 7th positions in the 2011 World Ranking there is only a 16 points difference. 

4 - While the Dutch Eredivisie has proved to be particularly constant – placing 9th again with almost the same number of points – the national leagues of Russia, Paraguay, Romania and Switzerland showed an improvement in performance and are catching up. The leagues of these four latter countries have all cracked the world’s Top 20. 

5 - Asia’s strongest league is South Korea’s K-League, which recorded a sensational improvement for 2011 (118.5 points more than 2010). It is ahead of the constant J-League (Japan) and the Saudi Professional League, which displaced the Iran Pro League for Asia’s 4th place. The reinvigorated Uzbekistan Professional Football League is now 5th in Asia. The South Korean K-League meanwhile is 18th in the world ranking. 

6 - Last year’s political unrest and social changes in North Africa also had an effect on the performances of the region’s clubs and leagues. The Egyptian league registered a loss of 113 points compared to 2010 and dropped from top spot to second position in Africa. Similar happened to Algeria (falling from position 2 to 4) and Tunisia (from position 3 to 5). In comparison, the Nigerian Premier League managed to greatly improve its position. The greatest improvement though was recorded by Morocco’s Championnat National Botola (124.5 points more than 2010). With this, Morocco now has the strongest league in Africa. 

7 - Although the Mexican Primera División has continued to lose strength (achieving 61 fewer points than in 2010), it is still the strongest league in the Concacaf region. America’s MLS has improved ten places in the annual world ranking compared to 2010 and has recorded an improvement of 72.5 points. It remains second in Concacaf. The Costa Rican league has also gained strength and is now third in the region ahead of Guatemala’s top-flight. 

8 - In Oceania, New Zealand maintains the strongest league ahead of Tahiti and Fiji. 

IFFHS World League Rankings

1. Spain 1.194 points

2. England 1.103

3. Brazil 889.0

4. Portugal 886.0

5. France 883.0

6. Germany 880.0

7. Italy 873.0

8. Argentina 840.0

9. Holland 791.5

10. Chile 741.5