Top soccer leagues in the world as ranked by Opta

One of the soccer fans' favorite things to debate is how strong one league is compared to another. A club winning La Liga, such as Real Madrid this season, is not the same task as one of the three clubs battling it out in the Premier League. Given the differences in the quality of the […]

One of the soccer fans’ favorite things to debate is how strong one league is compared to another. A club winning La Liga, such as Real Madrid this season, is not the same task as one of the three clubs battling it out in the Premier League. Given the differences in the quality of the opposition and the fact that these are domestic leagues, it is nearly impossible to directly compare leagues.

One way to compare the two is to use Opta’s power rankings. Opta, a British sports analytics firm, assigns an ability score to each team worldwide. On this scale, the top team in the world, Manchester City, has an ability score of 100. By contrast, the worst team in the world has an ability score of zero. Clubs earn points on their Elo rating by beating teams ranking higher than them. Consequently, losing to teams with a lower rating deducts more points from a side’s ability score.

It is a vastly technical process that the number wizards at Opta have been practicing for some time. While there will never be a perfect way to analyze clubs and leagues across competitions, this is perhaps the best holistic approach.

The top 30 men’s soccer leagues in the world

The following ratings are the average club rating for every team in a domestic league as of April 3, 2024. These numbers constantly change with the world’s leagues in action. With continental competition, for example, these numbers change often.

RANK	LEAGUE	AVERAGE CLUB RATING
1	Premier League	87.59
2	La Liga	84.8
3	Serie A	84.7
4	Bundesliga	84.3
5	Ligue 1	83.6
6	Primeira Liga	77.47
7	English Championship	76.38
8	Superligaen	76.12
9	La Liga 2 (Segunda)	75.48
10	Brasileirao	75.31
11	Liga MX	75.16
12	Russian Premier League	75.15
13	Major League Soccer	75.1
14	Swiss Super League	74.81
15	Eredivisie	74.79
16	Turkish Super Lig	74.54
17	Argentine Primera	74.53
18	2. Bundesliga	74.39
19	Austrian Bundesliga	74.21
20	HNL Croatia	74.03
21	K League	73.49
22	J League	73.39
23	Eliteserien	72.99
24	Allsvenskan	72.18
25	Cyprus First Division	72.08
26	Saudi Pro League	72.01
27	Czech First League	71.81
28	Greek Super League	70.76
29	Scottish Premiership	70.25
30	Ekstraklasa	69.41

If you need any indication of how fast these rankings can change, look no further than two weeks prior. Again, these rankings apply specifically to April 3, 2024. On March 26, 2024, Major League Soccer cracked the top 10. Now, it is no longer the highest-rated league in North America. Instead, that honor belongs to Liga MX.

Since those rankings from just a few weeks ago, Liga MX sides have had strong results against Major League Soccer in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Averages ranked among the top soccer leagues in the world

Looking at the above chart, certain teams from those leagues prop up each of those leagues. The Eredivisie is one example. PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord rank in the top 40 clubs in the world. However, those two clubs are dragged down by Vitesse, Excelsior and Volendam. None of those clubs creep into the top 900 clubs in the world. Consequently, the league’s average ranks it as No. 15 in the world.

On the other hand, having a compact league can help the rankings. Major League Soccer shows that, as the highest-ranking team is the Columbus Crew, at No. 145. Twenty-five of MLS’s 29 teams are inside the top 500 clubs in the world That greatly helps the league’s positioning on average.

That said, here are the top clubs from each of those divisions to get a grasp on where they fall. The league rank on the left side is where the average falls. As a result, the best club’s rating will not follow numerical order.

League Rank	League	Best rated club	Best club’s rating
1	Premier League	Manchester City	100
2	La Liga	Real Madrid	97.5
3	Serie A	Inter Milan	97.3
4	Bundesliga	Bayer Leverkusen	94
5	Ligue 1	PSG	95.2
6	Primeira Liga	Sporting CP	89.7
7	Championship	Leeds	83.6
8	Superligaen	Kobenhavn	82.6
9	Segunda Division	Eibar	78.5
10	Brasileirao	Palmeiras	80.6
11	Liga MX	Club America	83.1
12	Russian Premier League	Zenit	82.8
13	MLS	Columbus Crew	79.6
14	Swiss Super League	Young Boys	80.8
15	Eredivisie	PSV Eindhoven	88.6
16	Turkish Super Lig	Fenerbahce	86
17	Argentine Primera	River Plate	80.8
18	2. Bundesliga	St. Pauli	80.4
19	Austrian Bundesliga	RB Salzburg	86.3
20	HNL (Croatia)	Dinamo Zagreb	82
21	K League	Ulsan	78
22	J League	Vissel Kobe	78.4
23	Eliteserien	Bodo/Glimt	82.6
24	Allsvenskan	Malmo FF	77.8
25	Cyprus First division	APOEL	79.7
26	Saudi Pro League	Al Hilal	86.4
27	Czech	Slavia Praha	83.7
28	Greek Super League	PAOK	81.3
29	Scottish Premiership	Rangers	83.1
30	Ekstraklasa	Rakow Czestochowa	79.1

Looking at the ‘best of the worst’ clubs in each league

It would also be fair to see the bottom half of these extremes to even out.

Rank	League	Worst rated club	Worst club’s rating
1	Premier League	Sheffield United	79.3
2	La Liga	Almeria	76.5
3	Serie A	Salernitana	76.5
4	Bundesliga	Darmstadt 98	76.6
5	Ligue 1	Metz	76.8
6	Primeira Liga	Portimonense	70.9
7	Championship	Rotherham United	69.6
8	Superligaen	Hvidovre	69.5
9	Segunda Division	Villarreal II	71.3
10	Brasileirao	Criciuma	72.7
11	Liga MX	Juarez	69.6
12	Russian Premier League	Sochi	71.2
13	MLS	Toronto FC	69.6
14	Swiss Super League	Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy	69.6
15	Eredivisie	Volendam	66.5
16	Turkish Super Lig	Istanbulspor	66.7
17	Argentine Primera	Tigre	70.1
18	2. Bundesliga	Hansa Rostock	70.2
19	Austrian Bundesliga	Austria Lustenau	67.1
20	HNL (Croatia)	Rudes	65.5
21	K League	Suwon	68.6
22	J League	Sagan Tosu	69.8
23	Eliteserien	Sandefjord	68.7
24	Allsvenskan	Halmstad	68.5
25	Cyprus First division	AE Zakakiou	63.6
26	Saudi Pro League	Al Hazm	65.7
27	Czech	Ceske Budejovice	65.4
28	Greek Super League	Kifisia	63.5
29	Scottish Premiership	Livingston	62.6
30	Ekstraklasa	Lks Lodz	67.4

PHOTOS: IMAGO.