International Federation of Football History & Statistics


The International Federation of Football History & Statistics is an organization that chronicles the history and records of association football.
It was founded on 27 March 1984 in Leipzig by Alfredo Pöge with the blessings of general secretary of the FIFA at the time, Helmut Käser. The IFFHS was based at Al-Muroor Street 147, Abu Dhabi for some time but, in 2010, relocated to Bonn, Germany.
During its early stages, and until 2002, the IFFHS concentrated on publishing the quarterly magazines Fußball-Weltzeitschrift, Libero spezial deutsch and Libero international. When these had to be discontinued for reasons which were not officially told, the organization published its material in a series of multi-lingual books in co-operation with sponsors. The statistical organization has now confined its publishing activities to its website, receiving support from FIFA, organization that recognise the IFFHS and its work although the latter has no affiliation with the football's governing body.

Club World Ranking

Since 1991, the entity has produced a monthly Club World Ranking.
The ranking takes into consideration the results of twelve months of continental and intercontinental competitions, national league matches and the most important national cup.
All countries are rated at four levels based upon the national league performance—clubs in the highest level leagues receive 4 points for each match won, 2 for a draw and 0 for a defeat. Level 2 is assigned 3 pts., 1.5 and 0, and so on with the next lower levels.
In continental competitions, all clubs receive the same number of points at all stages regardless of the performance level of their leagues. However, the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores yield more points than UEFA Europa League and Copa Sudamericana, respectively. The point assignment system is still lower for the AFC, CAF, CONCACAF and OFC continental tournaments. Competitions between two continents are evaluated depending upon their importance. Competitions not organized by a continental confederation, or any intercontinental events not recognized by FIFA, are not taken into consideration.

Criteria

CompetitionPoints for a winPoints for a draw
National Leagues in Level 14.002.00
National Leagues in Level 23.001.50
National Leagues in Level 32.001.00
National Leagues in Level 41.000.50

CompetitionPoints for a winPoints for a draw
UEFA Champions League14.07.0
UEFA Europa League12.06.0
Copa Libertadores14.07.0
Copa Sudamericana12.06.0
CAF Champions League9.04.5
CAF Cup7.03.5
AFC Champions League9.04.5
AFC Cup7.03.5
CONCACAF Champions League9.04.5
OFC Champions League5.02.5
FIFA Club World Cup 14.07.0
FIFA Club World Cup 21.010.5

Current ranking

Last updated: 21 January 2020
Pos.TeamConfederationPoints
1 LiverpoolUEFA316.0
2 BarcelonaUEFA293.0
3 Manchester CityUEFA284.0
4 FlamengoCONMEBOL275.0
5 CelticUEFA269.0
6 ValenciaUEFA268.0
7 AjaxUEFA249.5
8 ChelseaUEFA249.0
9 Paris Saint-GermainUEFA243.0
10 Wolverhampton WanderersUEFA236.0

The World's Club Team of the Year

The following table shows the clubs that finished top of the ranking for each year since 1991:
The IFFHS recognised these clubs as The World's Club Team of the Year and were awarded with a golden trophy and a certificate during the World Football Gala.

The World's Club Team of the Decade

In 2012, the IFFHS recognised Barcelona as the World's Best Club Team of the Decade for the first decade of the 21st century.

Continental Clubs of the 20th century

In 2009, the IFFHS released the results of a statistical study which determined the best continental clubs of the 20th century. The ranking did not consider the performance of the teams in national football tournaments, the performance in the intercontinental or worldwide club competitions or those submitted in the IFFHS Club World Ranking, available since 1991.
Based on this statistical study series, the below six clubs were named as "continental clubs of the century" by the IFFHS between 10 September and 13 October 2009. These clubs were awarded with a golden trophy and a certificate during the World Football Gala celebrated at Fulham, London, on 11 May 2010.
RegionTeam
Europe Real Madrid
South America Peñarol
Africa Asante Kotoko
Asia Al-Hilal
CONCACAF Saprissa
Oceania South Melbourne

IFFHS Top 200 European clubs of the 20th century

IFFHS Strongest National League in the World

YearLeagueFull ranking
1991Italy
1992Italy
1993Italy
1994Italy
1995Italy
1996Italy
1997Germany
1998Italy
1999Italy
2000Spain
2001Spain
2002Spain
2003Italy
2004Spain
2005England
2006Italy
2007England
2008England
2009England
2010Spain
2001–2010England
2011Spain
2012Spain
2013Spain
2014Spain
2015Spain
2016Spain
2017Spain
2018Spain
2019England

IFFHS World's Best National Coach

IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper

IFFHS World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer

This award is given to the player who scores the most goals in a league season in any of the top 60 leagues in the world.
YearPlayerClub
1997 Hakan Şükür Galatasaray
1998 Iván Kaviedes Emelec
1999 Mário Jardel Porto
2000 Mário Jardel Porto
2001 José Alfredo Castillo Oriente Petrolero
2002 Joaquín Botero Club Bolívar
2003 José Cardozo Toluca
2004 Patricio Galaz Cobreloa
2005 Araújo Gamba Osaka
2006 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Ajax
2007 Trésor Mputu Mazembe
2008 Lucas Barrios Colo-Colo
2009 Marc Janko Red Bull Salzburg
2010 Luis Suárez Ajax
2011 Aleksandrs Čekulajevs Narva Trans
2012 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2013 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2014 Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suárez Real Madrid and Liverpool
2015 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2016 Luis Suárez Barcelona
2017 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2018 Lionel Messi and Jonas Barcelona and Benfica
2019 Baghdad Bounedjah Al Sadd

This award is given to the player who scores the most international goals for both their club and country combined in a calendar year. This includes the player's continental competition, as well as goals scored for their respective national team.
YearPlayerClub
1991 Jean-Pierre Papin Marseille
1992 Dennis Bergkamp Ajax
1993 Saeed Al-Owairan Al Shabab
1994 Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona
1995 Jürgen Klinsmann Tottenham Hotspur
Bayern Munich
1996 Ali Daei Persepolis
Al Sadd
1997 Ronaldo Barcelona
Inter Milan
1998 Jasem Al-Huwaidi Al-Salmiya SC
1999 Raúl Real Madrid
2000 Rivaldo Barcelona
2001 Hani Al-Dhabit Dhofar
2002 Ruud van Nistelrooy Manchester United
2003 Thierry Henry Arsenal
2004 Ali Daei Persepolis
2005 Adriano Inter Milan
2006 Humberto Suazo Colo-Colo
2007 Trésor Mputu TP Mazembe
2008 Rico Al-Muharraq
2009 Shinji Okazaki Shimizu S-Pulse
2010 Bader Al-Mutawa Qadsia SC
2011 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2012 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2013 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2014 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2015 Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich
2016 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2017 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2018 Baghdad Bounedjah Al Sadd
2019 Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus

YearPlayerClub
1997 Hakan Şükür Galatasaray
1998 Masashi Nakayama Júbilo Iwata
1999 Mário Jardel Porto
2000 Hamzah Idris Al Ittihad
2001 Romário Vasco da Gama
2002 Mário Jardel Sporting CP
2003 José Cardozo Toluca
2004 Shuhrat Mirkholdirshoev Navbahor Namangan

The IFFHS World's Best Playmaker is a footballing award which, since 2006, is given annually to the best playmaker of the year, as chosen by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
was the first ever winner of the award, in 2006.
The award is awarded at the end of the year at the World Football Gala: the winning playmaker is awarded a gold trophy. Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Xavi have won the award a record four times each, and Spanish compatriot Andrés Iniesta has won the award two times. Barcelona is the club with the most wins, with ten in total.
YearPlayerClub
2006 Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid
2007 Kaká Milan
2008 Xavi Barcelona
2009 Xavi Barcelona
2010 Xavi Barcelona
2011 Xavi Barcelona
2012 Andrés Iniesta Barcelona
2013 Andrés Iniesta Barcelona
2014 Toni Kroos Bayern Munich
Real Madrid
2015 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2016 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2017 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2018 Luka Modrić Real Madrid
2019 Lionel Messi Barcelona

From 1991 until 2009, FIFA continued this distinction named "FIFA World Player of the Year"; this award was later replaced by the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, and The Best FIFA Men's Player in 2016.
YearPlayerClub
1988 Marco van Basten Milan
1989 Marco van Basten Milan
1990 Lothar Matthäus Inter Milan

In 2017, IFFHS started to nominate a world team of the year.
YearGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
2017 Gianluigi Buffon ' Marcelo '
Sergio Ramos '
Leonardo Bonucci '
Dani Alves '		 Luka Modrić '
Toni Kroos '
Kevin De Bruyne '		 Neymar
Cristiano Ronaldo '
Lionel Messi '

Coach: Zinedine Zidane '
SeasonGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
2018 Thibaut Courtois ' Marcelo '
Sergio Ramos '
Raphaël Varane '
Diego Godín '		 Luka Modrić '
Eden Hazard '
Antoine Griezmann '		 Kylian Mbappé
Cristiano Ronaldo '
Lionel Messi '

Coach: Didier Deschamps '
SeasonGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
2019 Alisson ' Matthijs de Ligt '
Sergio Ramos '
Virgil van Dijk '
Trent Alexander-Arnold '		 Kevin De Bruyne '
Frenkie de Jong '
Bernardo Silva '		 Sadio Mané
Cristiano Ronaldo '
Lionel Messi '

Coach: Jürgen Klopp

IFFHS World's Best Referee

IFFHS Best European Player 1956–1990

On 24 April 1990, before the 1990 FIFA World Cup, IFFHS gave out an award for the best European player taking into consideration players who were voted in the shortlist of the France Football's Ballon D'Or from 1956 until 1989.
PlayerNationality
1Franz Beckenbauer
2Michel Platini
3Johan Cruyff
4Eusébio
5Gerd Muller
6Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
7Luis Suarez
8Bobby Charlton
9Alfredo Di Stéfano
10Raymond Kopa
11Lev Yashin
-Gianni Rivera
-Kevin Keegan
14John Charles
15Marco Van Basten
16Ferenc Puskás
-Bernd Schuster
-George Best
19Ruud Gullit
20Preben Elkjær

IFFHS World's Best Woman Playmaker

YearPlayerClub
2012 Marta Tyresö FF
2013 Lena Goeßling VfL Wolfsburg
2014 Nadine Keßler VfL Wolfsburg
2015 Carli Lloyd Houston Dash
2016 Dzsenifer Marozsán Lyon
2017 Lieke Martens FC Rosengård
Barcelona
2018 Dzsenifer Marozsán Lyon
2019 Megan Rapinoe Reign FC

YearPlayerClub
2012 Hope Solo Seattle Sounders Women
2013 Hope Solo Seattle Reign
2014 Hope Solo and Almuth Schult Seattle Reign and VfL Wolfsburg
2015 Hope Solo Seattle Reign
2016 Sarah Bouhaddi Lyon
2017 Sarah Bouhaddi Lyon
2018 Sarah Bouhaddi Lyon
2019 Sari van Veenendaal Arsenal
Atlético Madrid

YearClub
2012 Lyon
2013 VfL Wolfsburg
2014 VfL Wolfsburg
2015 Lyon
2016 Lyon
2017 Lyon
2018 Lyon
2019 Lyon

In 2017, IFFHS started to nominate a world team of the year.
YearGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
2017 Sarah Bouhaddi ' Anouk Dekker '
Wendie Renard '
Steph Houghton '
Lucy Bronze '		 Dzsenifer Marozsán '
Carli Lloyd '
Pernille Harder '		 Lieke Martens '
Alex Morgan '
Sam Kerr

Coach: Sarina Wiegman '
SeasonGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
2018 Sarah Bouhaddi ' Amel Majri '
Wendie Renard '
Saki Kumagai '
Lucy Bronze '		 Dzsenifer Marozsán '
Amandine Henry '
Marta '		 Alex Morgan '
Ada Hegerberg '
Pernille Harder '

Coach: Reynald Pedros '
SeasonGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
2019 Sari van Veenendaal ' Crystal Dunn '
Wendie Renard '
Julie Ertz '
Lucy Bronze '		 Dzsenifer Marozsán '
Amandine Henry '
Rose Lavelle '		 Alex Morgan '
Ada Hegerberg '
Megan Rapinoe '

Coach: Jill Ellis

IFFHS World's Best Woman Referee

  • Source:

    IFFHS Female Player of the Century

gave out an award decided by votes which was conducted with the participation of journalists and former players.
PlayerNationalityVotes
1Mia Hamm442
2Michelle Akers411
3Heidi Mohr250
4Carolina Morace230
5Sissi212
6Linda Medalen181
7Liu Ailing165
8Kristine Lilly160
9Heidi Støre141
10Pia Sundhage129

Criticism

Karl Lennartz, a sports historian and professor at the University of Cologne, Germany, called the organization "obscure", describing it as a one-man show of its founder Alfredo Pöge.
The IFFHS rankings and their significance have been a matter of criticism and the largest German news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, refuse to publish them. Furthermore, it has been stated that the rankings of the IFFHS are not official and it’s an award they barely serve merely for publicity.
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