My Top 30 Rankings for European Clubs

Here's my contentious, American style Top 30 in Europe this season. I've tried to base it a bit more off actual, season long, form (ie how the teams have actually looked against top competition) and results than off previous seasons or merely the price of the rosters:


1. Bayern

2. Real Madrid


3 - 5 PSG, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid

The argument can be made about PSG's weaker league schedule but they've been so dominant in their CL matches that it's tough to discount. Barca just seems slightly less intimidating than in the recent past with defensive issues and some questions about how their attackers best mesh together but they're still elite without question. Atletico has been questioned from the beginning of the season as the team most likely to drop down but they just keep getting impressive results.


6 - 8 Manchester City, Chelsea, Juventus

Clearly stack up well with teams above in terms of roster talent (and in terms of playing them near toe to toe in long stretches in actual matches (Juve/Real Madrid, Man City/Bayern etc) but still not quite there.


9 - 13 Dortmund, Arsenal, AS Roma, Napoli, Liverpool

(You can put these 5 in a box and shake them up for 9-13 as the numerous matches between them have made pretty clear)


14 - 20 Shalke, Fiorentina, Tottenham, Manchester United, Athletic Bilbao, Porto, Benfica


21 - 30 Parma, Inter, Leverkussen, Villarreal, Real Sociedad, Everton, Monaco, Galatassaray, Olimpiacos


Of course getting to number 30 is probably pretty debatable and I'm sure I've left off some smaller league sides that are perhaps worthy (Basel, Salzburg, Zenit, Shaktar etc). Maybe also sides from bigger leagues around the EL/CL spots (Lille, Sevilla, Valencia etc) and Bundesliga sides like Wolfsburg but there's seemingly been so many extremely hot and cold runs by teams in those positions that I couldn't really pick one.