European Club Index

"Who's the best team in Europe?", a question thrown about many a time in a footballing hour. We here at The Captains Armband have decided to introduce an insight to help you answer that question; we call it 'European Club Index'.

How it works?

We have decided to use the 'Hypercube Infostrada Euro Club Index', this index scientifically analyses hundreds of thousands of games from all of the top divisions in all of the European nations; it also includes Europa League and Champions League matches.

The index itself takes into account all games played over an eight year time span, however recent results hold more value than older results. To prove this point the most recent result for a team will hold 20 times the value than a result 3 years ago.

The way the teams perform in the Champions League and Europa League reflects the "dip or rise" in the sporting level in that league. For example, if all Italian teams perform well in European competitions, all Serie A teams will receive a small bonus in their ECI points. The ranking and the predictive power of the ECI make the system even more accurate. So now you know how it works we can tell you who's where.




The team from the Allianz Arena have moved back into the top five after becoming the leaders of Bundesliga going into the month-long winter break. Three points ahead of their nearest challengers Borussia Dortmund, having beaten Lukas Podolskis Cologne 3-0 on Friday night. 

The Bavarian team are up two places to fourth, ahead of Manchester City and Portuguese side FC Porto.

However the biggest movers in the top 25 are Inter Milan, up five places to 14th as a result of a 1-0 win at Cesena on Sunday. After a turbulent beginning to the season, Claudio Ranieri has dramatically improved the form of the Milan club, moving them up to fifth in Serie A.

Picture courtesy of www.goal.com

Parisian outfit PSG moved up five places to 36 after a tough goalless draw at home to Lille on Sunday with their opponents getting the same results dropping one place to 15th. The teens are on of the tightest sections in the index with Russian Champions Zenit St. Petersburg drop three ranks to 18th without even playing.

Six teams from England still remain within the top 13, the Premier League being the most successful league within Europe. The next English team however are back in 39th whilst West Brom are still progressing into the top 100 gaining 7 places to 101 after two stunning goals gave them a win over struggling Blackburn. 

Top 25

1 (1) FC Barcelona - 4302 points.

2 (2) Real Madrid - 4180 points.

3 (3) Manchester United - 3832 points.

4 (6) Bayern Munich - 3458 points.

5 (4) Manchester City - 3451 points.

6 (5) FC Porto - 3447 points.

7 (7) Chelsea - 3438 points.

8 (8) Arsenal - 3290 points.

9 (9) SL Benfica - 3256 points.

10 (10) Valencia CF - 3253 points.

11 (11) AC Milan - 3206 points.

12 (12) Tottenham Hotspur - 3177 points.

13 (13) Liverpool - 3170 points.

14 (19) Inter Milan - 3119 points.

15 (14) Lille OSC - 3108 points.

16 (16) Olympique Lyonnais - 3099 points.

17 (17) Olympique Marseille - 3098 points.

18 (15) Zenit St. Petersburg - 3093 points.

19 (18) Shakhtar Donetsk - 3070 points.

20 (20) PSV Eindhoven - 3053 points.

21 (21) Borussia Dortmund - 3038 points.

22 (22) Bayer Leverkusen - 2970 points.

23 (27) Schalke 04 - 2967 points.

24 (24) Sevilla FC - 2946 points.

25 (25) Ajax - 2944 points.


If you would like to find out more about the methodology of the ECI then click this link: http://www.euroclubindex.com/asp/Methodology.asp

Join us soon as we look over the ratings yet again.