EUROPEAN CLUBS ALL-TIME PERFORMANCE RANKING

1956–present

 

 

1.

In this ranking the European football clubs are not sorted by "match-points" (wins, draws, losses), but by "performance-points" conventionally assigned to the won titles of the main UEFA cups, to the positions reached in the final rounds (final, semifinal) and to quarter finals (QF, including the years 1992-94, in which, the quarter finals were replaced by a group phase) (a).

The ranking by performance-points does not replace the more widespread ones by match-points (see in this website: "ALL TIME TABLES - 2/3 POINTS"), rather it integrates them, providing other data from a historical-statistical point of view: to establish a first comparison, which shows significant fluctuations between the two rankings, see Table 4: it offers a synthesis between the ranking by match-points and that by performance-points and the different performance levels achieved by the various clubs, from victory to the round of 16.

This ranking allows us to identify the clubs that finished at least once in the top 8 of each tournament (the years of performances are easily traceable on many websites). These clubs currently represent a little more than 20% of all those who have participated in European cups since 1956.

 

(a) Clubs whose best performance is the round of 16 are not considered in the ranking (however, see Table 4). In 2024 there will be around 140. With a few exceptions these are clubs that have played an average of 1 to 3 rounds of 16.

 

 

 

2.

A regular and progressive system of "performance points" is assigned to the wins and to the final stages (final, semifinal) of the main UEFA cups (see below 1, 2, 3). Every 4 QF 1 point is awarded, without distinction between the different cups: that is, for 12 QF 3 pts are awarded, for 11 QF, 2 pts., and so on. As regards the Intertoto Cup, a secondary cup, and almost a qualifying tournament, only a low score is assigned to the winning club (see below 4). According to their format (single-match final, short tournament), a "bonus" is finally assigned to the UEFA Supercup and to the other international official competitions (Intercontinental Cup/FIFA Club World Cup) (see below 5-6).

It's important to notice that in this scoring system, attributed points do not stack up, therefore a UEFA Champion club gets 12 points for the win, and not 21 points for partecipating to all the tiers of the tournament (3 for semifinal, 6 for final, 12 for win); the 6 points bonus for participating in the final match are given only to the club which disputed it but didn't win, and so on.

 

The total score attributed to each club is calculated on the basis of the performances listed above.

The number of victories in minor, extinct and unofficial competitions (whose main characteristics were the limited geographical area, the participation by invitation and a limited number of participants) is indicated separately (see below 7). No points are assigned to these cups.

 

The "performance points" are calculated as follows:

 

 

1

European Cup / UEFA Champions League (1)

2

Cup Winners' Cup,

UEFA Cup/Europa League (2)

3

Conference

League (3)

4

Intertoto Cup (4)

5

UEFA

Supercup

(5)

6

Intercontinental

Cup/ FIFA Club

World Cup (6)

7

non-official cups:

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Mitropa Cup, etc. (7)

win

12

8

6

1

3

3

–

final

  6

4

3

–

–

–

–

semifinal

  3

2

1

–

–

–

–

QF

  1 pt. every 4 QF

  1 pt. every 4 QF

  1 pt. every 4 QF

–

–

–

–

 

(1) European Champions Clubs' Cup (1956-1992)/UEFA Champions League (1993–present).

(2) Cup Winners' Cup (1961-1999); UEFA Cup (1971-2009)/UEFA Europa League (2010–present).

(3) Conference League (2022>).

(4) UEFA Intertoto Cup (1995-2008), was a summer football competition for clubs that had not qualified for one of the major UEFA cups.

(5) UEFA Supercup (1973–present)

(6) Intercontinental Cup (1960-2004), FIFA Club World Cup (2005–present).

(7) Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1955-1971), is usually recognised as the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, but UEFA declared in 2005 that «the Fairs Cup is not considered a UEFA competition, and hence clubs' records in the Fairs Cup are not considered part of their European record». Furthermore, a regular entry method for this competiton was defined only in the last years (1968-1971). Mitropa Cup (1951, 1955-1978): the period 1927-1940 and the period 1980-1992 (when the competition was reserved for second division clubs) are not taken into account.  Latin Cup (1949-1957), Grasshoppers Cup (1952-1957), Cup of the Alps (1960-1987), International Football Cup (or Rappan Cup, 1961-1967), Balkans Cup (1961-1994), Anglo-Italian League Cup (1969-1976), Anglo-Italian Cup (1970-1996), Intertoto Cup "E. Thommen" (1979-1982). The Balkans Cup is limited to 1989, as in the following years the competition was reserved to second division clubs.

 

 

 

3. Tables key

 

The names of the clubs are the current ones, but in a simplified form, that is omitting the historical names, club name changes and the most common official acronyms of the football clubs (e.g.: FC, AS, SV, FK, etc.). For more complete information on these details, on extinct clubs and corporate changes, see on this website: "EUROPEAN COMPETITIONS BY CLUBS / Clubs codes & history".

 

 

TABLE 1. Ranking by "performance-points" 1956–present

 

      col. N: national football federation

       col. P: best performance reached by the club: w = wins; i = Intertoto cup wins; f = finals; e = semifinals

 

      col. 1-13: number of performances in the following tournaments:

      CC = Champions cups

      UC = main UEFA cups (Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League)

      Conf = Conference League

      QF = quarter finals (CC, UC, Conf all together)     

      ITC = Intertoto Cup

      SC = UEFA Supercup

      FC = Intercontinental Cup/FIFA Club World Cup

     

      TOT P.pts: sum of the "performance points" calculated on the basis of the col. 1-13 (UEFA     +       FIFA cups)

      Y:  other non-official cups (indicated only for clubs  included in previous columns)

 

 

TABLE 2. Ranking by number of main performances 1956–present

This ranking presents a summary of the number of years in which a club has achieved a significant performance by placing in the top four. Victories in the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup/FIFA Club World Cup are not taken into account, as they were achieved in the same season in which victory in another UEFA competition had already occurred.

 

TABLE 3. Ranking by "performance-points" 1956-1999   

 

TABLE 4. Performance-points/match-points (1956-2024): a graphic comparison

 

TABLES 5–6. Ranking by "performance points" and by number of main performances in the period of the first 70 years of the European cups (1956-2025).