Europa-East: football rankings

     The concept of ranking teams is very foreign to many (associate) football supporters.  The system is widely used in American collegiate sports where most teams (schools) do not play each other during the course of the regular season.  The way football (soccer) is set up, there is no need for a system to arbitrarily compare teams even on the continent-wide level.  Knock-out competitions like the UEFA Champions League serve efficiently to determine club hierarchy of Europe.
     Since the break-up of the Soviet Union its been difficult to compare the growth of football in Eastern Europe.  Occasional meetings in European competitions serves as a poor barometer for such a diverse region.  The two main countries in question are Ukraine and Russia.  For years football fans and analysts compared teams from both countries based on their European campaigns.  In recent years there have been talks of a combined cup or even a league, but at this point these progressive projects remain just that.  The caveat of these types of competitions is the renewed rivalries that were put on hold in the early 90s.  A few years ago a popular Russian TV channel organized a mini tournament between top teams from both countries during the mid-season (pre-season in Russia) campaign in Israel.  The tournament proved popular among the fans and lasted for three seasons.  The tournament was canceled in 2009 due to financial obligations and closeness to the spring European campaign.
     Since the level and popularity of the game is growing in Eastern Europe, I though it would be interesting to create a ranking system for the region.  The rankings will be updated weekly when domestic campaigns resume in the spring.  The ranking also may include teams from Belarus and Moldova, since both of these countries are tied closely to the region and both have made significant progress in Europe this fall.  The rankings will be based on a win-lose ratio.  Since both the Russian and Ukrainian leagues are similar in competitiveness, each win for a team will count equally.


Criteria for the rankings:
First, since ten teams from the region, which I will call Europa-East made it to the group stage of either the Champion League or Europa League, those teams will form the top 10 in the rankings.  FC Shakhtar Donetsk finished first in the group stage of the Champions League with 15 out of 18 points, and are the only team in the UCL play-offs, so they are ranked first.  FC Zenit follows close in second.

The main criteria for the top 25 will be the league standings at the end of 2010.  The ranking will measure top 25 clubs.

The minimum requirement for a club to be ranked is that it has to be at least in the top 12 of it's domestic competition.  Wins in European competitions will not be weighed differently since additional wins on any level will improve a team's standing.  A newly promoted side can also enter the rankings after the lower level competitions are over.  Additional criteria may be added as the season goes on.  More teams from Moldova and Belarus will be added based on a strong domestic form.

Europa-East rankings, pre-season.

1. FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

2. FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)

3. PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)

4. FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)

5. FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)

6. FC Spartak Moskva (RUS)

7. FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)

8. FC Bate Borisov (BEL)

9. FC Locomotiv Moskava (RUS)

10. FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR)

11. FC Karpaty Lviv (UKR)

12. FC Spartak Nalchik (RUS)

13. FC Sheriff Tiraspol (MLD)

14. FC Arsenal Kyiv (UKR)

15. FC Tavriya Simferopol (UKR)

16. FC Rostov Rostov-na-Donu (RUS)

17. FC Tom Tomsk (RUS)

18. FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR)

19. FC Metalurgh Donetsk (UKR)

20. FC Volyn Lutsk (UKR)

21. FC Terek Grozniy (RUS)

22. FC Obolon Kyiv (UKR)

23. FC Zoria Lugansk (UKR)

24. FC Anzhi Makhachkala (RUS)

25. FC Kuban Krasnodar (RUS)

Additional suggestions are welcomed.