WCR Top 25 - November 28, 2023

Coming out of the last international break of the year, we had another exciting week of football that ultimately led to very few changes in our weekly rankings.  The highly anticipated Manchester City / Liverpool match ended in a 1-1 draw, as did the Inter Milan / Juventus at the other end of the weekend.  The latter remained in the top two spots in their domestic league, while City and the Reds both dropped below Arsenal in the Premier League table.

Once again, the top of the rankings look very similar to the previous week’s edition.  The only change in the top nine of the WCR Top 25 Football Clubs in the World was a flip flop between Arsenal and Inter Milan, with Arsenal taking over the fifth spot to make it three English clubs in the top five.  The tenth spot is notable, however, as German Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen make their debut above the fold, becoming the fourth German club to reach the top ten at some point during the season while being one of four German clubs in the top thirteen, which no other country can claim at the moment.

In the bottom half of the rankings, we had three clubs move three notches, one of them moving up and two moving down by that amount.  RB Leipzig dropped out of the top ten to the thirteenth spot following a surprise loss to Wolfsburg that leaves Leipzig sitting in fifth place in the Bundesliga table.  Meanwhile Newcastle United and Real Sociedad switched places from fourteenth to seventeenth places in the rankings.  Newcastle’s move was due to their 4-1 defeat of Chelsea over the weekend.  As for Sociedad, it is probably just a correction in the rankings in a week following a five-spot jump up in the rankings the week before.  Only 1.5 WCR points separate the two clubs, so clearly all clubs between the two spots are in volatile chart positions.

Despite Chelsea’s huge loss at St. James’ Park, they remain in our rankings, this time in the final spot.  In fact, we do not have a new club in the rankings this week.  Next week’s rankings could be interesting as we have Champions League and Europa League matches taking place at midweek and a ton of inter-ranking matches over the weekend, including Newcastle / Manchester United, Inter Milan / Napoli, Barcelona / Atlético Madrid and, though not technically between ranked clubs, Feyenoord / PSV Eindhoven.  It should be a fantastic Sunday all around the world!

All of the rankings are below.  If you don’t like the list, please feel free to check out our methodology page, which includes links to all of the source data we are using. 

1.  Manchester City (Eng) (125 pts) (5 first place votes) (LW 1) - Manchester City dropped down into second place following its second straight Premier League draw, this time 1-1 at home against Liverpool in a match that saw Erling Haaland become the quickest player in Premier League history to reach 50 goals.  On Tuesday night, City will host RB Leipzig in a battle of clubs that have already qualified for the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League.  Sunday, City will host the previous club to be ousted from the Premier League top spot, Tottenham, in its fourth straight match against ranked opposition.

2.  Bayern Munich (Ger) (119 pts) (LW 2) - Another match, another Harry Kane goal, and that was  all that was needed (or received) as Bayern returned to action in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win over Köln.  Bayern will have two matches at home this week, hosting Copenhagen in Champions League action on Wednesday night before hosting Union Berlin on Sunday in their next Bundesliga match.

3.  Real Madrid (Esp) (116 pts) (LW 3) -Real Madrid beat Cádiz 3-0 to continue their roll and take a trip to the top of the La Liga table, following Girona’s draw against Athletic Bilbao.  Having already clinched a spot in the Champions League knockout rounds, Real Madrid could secure the top spot of Group C with a draw or win against Napoli on Wednesday.  On Saturday night, Real Madrid will host nineteenth-place Granada as it tries to make its spot on top of the La Liga table a bit more permanent.

4. Liverpool (Eng) (109 pts) (LW 4) - Sure they dropped two points and fell from second place to third place in the Premier League, but it’s hard to complain about any type of positive result at Etihad Stadium like Liverpool picked up in its 1-1 draw at Manchester City.  On Thursday night, the Reds can punch their ticket to the knockout round of the Europa League with a result against LASK at home.  Liverpool will remain at Anfield to take on Fulham on Sunday in its next domestic league match.

5. Arsenal (Eng) (102 points) (LW 6) - A long-awaited goal, in more ways than one, by Kai Havertz gave the Gunners a 1-0 victory at Brentford and allowed them to leapfrog both City and Liverpool and land on top of the English Premier League table for the time being.  Arsenal will share this with the fans at home in two matches this week - first on Wednesday night, when they can book a spot in the UCL knockout rounds with any positive result against Lens.  They will also be at home on Saturday against Wolverhampton as they try to retain their narrow lead in the tight Premier League battle.

6.  Inter Milan (Ita) (102 pts) (LW 5) - A 1-1 draw away was enough to keep both Inter Milan and Juventus in their respective first and second places in the Italian Serie A.  That was just a first of three away matches against ranked clubs as Internzionale will take on Benfica in Lisbon as they fight Real Sociedad for the top of the UCL’s Group D, and then they will head south to take on last season’s Serie A champions Napoli on Sunday night. 

7.  Barcelona (Esp) (94.5 points) (LW 7) -Barça dropped to fourth place in La Liga’s Prímera Divisíon this weekend by dropping two points at Rayo Vallecano in a 1-1 draw.  That doesn’t bode well for Barcelona as the competition gets much tougher this week, though they do get to play at “home.”  On Tuesday night, they will host Porto, with whom they are currently tied atop Group H of the UCL.  They will face an arguably tougher club on Sunday night at home when they host Atlético Madrid in a battle for third place in La Liga.

8. Atlético Madrid (Esp) (92 pts) (LW 8) - A second-half Antoine Griezmann goal was all Atlético needed to score a 1-0 victory over Mallorca and move past Barça into third place in La Liga.  Atléti will have a tough week ahead, first taking on Feyenoord in the Netherlands, where they will need a victory to clinch a spot in the UCL knockout rounds before traveling to Barcelona to see if they can hold on to that third place spot that they took away from the club they will be facing on Sunday night.

9.  Paris St. Germain (Fra) (81 pts) (LW 9) - Five different goalscorers helped PSG past Monaco by a 5-2 score in a battle of top French clubs.  On Tuesday night, PSG will host Newcastle United, seeking revenge for their earlier loss and trying to secure a spot in the UCL’s knockout rounds from the tournament’s proverbial Group of Death.  On Sunday, PSG will have a lunchtime match at Le Havre in their next Ligue 1 challenge.

10.  Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (74.5 pts) (LW 12) - Leverkusen finished last season with seven consecutive matches without a victory, and have now played eighteen consecutive matches this season without a loss, including their 3-0 victory at Werder Bremen to remain atop the German Bundesliga table.  With a point on Thursday night at Häcken, Leverkusen will clinch first place in Group H of the UEFA Europa League.  On Sunday afternoon, Leverkusen will host Borussia Dortmund in what promises to be one of the most exciting matches of the weekend.

11. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (72 pts) (LW 13)

12. Napoli (Ita) (68 pts) (LW 11)

13. RB Leipzig (Ger) (65 pts) (LW 10)

14. Newcastle United (Eng) (50.5 pts) (LW 17)

15. Juventus (Ita) (50 pts) (LW 15)

16. Porto (Por) (50 pts) (LW 16)

17. Real Sociedad (Esp)  (49 pts) (LW 14)

18. Aston Villa (Eng) (40 pts) (LW 19)

19. AC Milan (Ita) (39 pts) (LW 18)

20. Manchester United (Eng) (31 pts) (LW 21)

21.  Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (21 pts) (LW 20)

22. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (16 pts) (LW 24)

23. Benfica (Por) (15.5 pts) (LW 22)

24. Brighton (Eng) (12 pts) (LW 25)

25. Chelsea (Eng) (8 pts) (LW 23)

Also receiving points:  Sporting CP (Por) (7), Feyenoord (Ned) (7), Brentford (Eng) (4), Girona (Esp) (3), Real Betis (Esp) (1), West Ham United (Eng) (1).