WCR Top 25 - September 5, 2023

Once again, the top of the rankings went pretty much unscathed and remained intact.  The only movement in the Top Ten saw Napoli and Inter Milan flip-flop each other, and with only one WCR point between them, that could be happening all season.

The primary excitement came out of the English clubs in the lower half of the table.  Tottenham and Aston Villa both had big jumps in the rankings due to very good performances during the week, while one of Villa’s victims, Brighton, took a bit of a tumble.  Meanwhile, Chelsea returned to the rankings and West Ham United are making their debut in the WCR Top 25, with the two English clubs replacing Real Sociedad and PSV Eindhoven.

With the new additions to the rankings, England has set a new record by placing eleven clubs in the rankings at the same time.  To put that in perspective, they have as many clubs in the WCR Top 25 as La Liga (3), Italian Serie A (4), the German Bundesliga (3) and Ligue 1 (1) have combined.  The only other representatives in the rankings are two from Liga Portugal and one from the Brazilian Serie A.

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) (100 pts) (4 first place votes) (LW 1) - They are still the best club in the world, it is hard to deny, but even despite their 2-1 victory at Sheffield United this weekend, there seems to be something significant missing in their attack since Kevin DeBruyne went down to injury.  Fortunately for City, the schedule is a little light at the moment and they will be at home to face Fulham on Saturday, hoping to avoid the point-dropping fate Arsenal faced against the same club this past weekend.

2.  Bayern Munich (Ger) (93 pts) (LW 2) - Augsburg put up a good fight for much of the game against Bayern, but after Harry Kane hit a penalty shot for his first of two goals to put Bayern up 2-0 at the 40th minute mark, the result seemed like a foregone conclusion, and it was, finishing with a 3-1 victory for the defending Bundesliga champions.  The Bavarians will head out of town to face Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday in their next Bundesliga battle.

3.  Liverpool (Eng) (90 pts) (LW 3) - Things looked bleak for the Reds 80 minutes into their match at St. James’ Park, down both a goal and a man, but two goals by Darwin Nunez gave Liverpool a surprise 2-1 victory over Newcastle United in a match that goes to show why a club that didn’t qualify for the Champions League is ranked so highly by WCR.  Next Sunday will be another tough opponent for Liverpool, though they will be at Anfield when they take on Aston Villa.

4. Real Madrid (Esp) (90 pts) (LW 4) -A late Jude Bellingham goal, his fourth in three matches this season, gave Real Madrid a narrow 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo, which means they opened their La Liga season with nine points in three away matches.  They finally return home for their first match at the Bernabeu this season against Getafe on Saturday.

5. Arsenal (Eng) (82 points) (LW 5) - Arsenal gave up a very quick goal to Fulham on Saturday and then scored two late goals to pick up another win, or so it looked.  The short-handed Fulham club ended up scoring a tying goal, breaking hearts all over North London - or at least the ones wearing red.  Next up for the Gunners will be a much tougher matchup, at least theoretically, as Manchester United will pay them a visit at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

6.  Napoli (Ita) (78 pts) (LW 7) -  This match seemed like a routine Napoli victory.  Good defending and timely shots gave the defending Serie A champions a 2-0 victory against Sassuolo on Sunday night.  This weekend’s match should prove to be more of a test as Napoli hosts the defending Serie A runners-up, Lazio, on Saturday.

7.   Inter Milan (Ita) (77 pts) (LW 6) - It was pretty much all over after thirty minutes in Cagliari this weekend when Inter Milan scored their second goal in what would ultimately be a 2-0 victory for the defending Champions League runners-up.  Inter’s will return home on Sunday to host Fiorenina.

8. Barcelona (Esp) (69 points) (LW 8) - It will be difficult to top Barcelona’s match with Villarreal for excitement and goals.  Barca started quickly with two goals and looked like they were ready to hit cruise control.  Maybe they did, but they soon ran into a Villarreal goal, then another and then another.  The Catalans managed to find two more goals after going down and winning the match 4-3.  We’ll see if the next on lives up to this on Sunday night when Barcelona travels to face Osasuna in their next La Liga match. 

9.  Manchester United (Eng) (63 pts) (LW 9) - The tough start to the Red Devils’ season appeared to be getting even worse as United spotted Nottingham Forest two goals within four minutes at Old Trafford on Saturday, but they clawed their way back to score a 3-2 victory when it was all said and done.  Still it looks a little bleak at the moment for a club that has to travel to Emirates on Sunday to take on Arsenal.

10.  Atlético Madrid (Esp) (62 pts) (LW 10) - Talk about scoring early and often, Atletico had a field day at Rayo Vallecano on Monday night, scoring a touchdown AND an extra point in a 7-0 victory over their capital city rivals.  We will see if they will be brought back down to earth on Sunday when they host Sevilla in their final La Liga match before the international break.

11.  Newcastle United (Eng) (54 pts)  (LW 13))

12.  Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (52 pts) (LW 11

13.  Porto (Por) (51 pts) (LW 14)

14 .RB Leipzig (Ger) (49 pts) (LW 12) 

15. AC Milan (Ita) (47 pts) (LW 15) 

16. Benfica (Por) (38 pts) (LW 16)

17.  Paris St. Germain (Fra) (35 pts) (LW 17)

18.  Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (29 pts) (LW 22)

19.  Palmeiras (Bra) (26 pts) (LW 19)

20. Aston Villa (Eng) (25 pts) (LW 25)

21. Brentford (Eng) (22 pts) (LW 20)

22. Brighton (Eng) (20 pts) (LW 18)

23.  Juventus (Ita) (16 pts) (LW 21)

24. West Ham United (Eng) (10 pts) (LW NR)

25.  Chelsea (Eng) (9 pts) (LW NR)

Also receiving points:  Sporting CP (Por) (8), PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (7), Real Sociedad (Esp) (7), Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (3), RB Salzburg (Aut) (1).