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. RANKLEAGUEAVERAGE CLUB RATING1Premier League87.592La Liga84.83Serie A84.74Bundesliga84.35Ligue 183.66Primeira Liga77.477English Championship76.388Superligaen76.129La Liga 2 (Segunda)75.4810Brasileirao75.3111Liga MX75.1612Russian Premier League75.1513Major League Soccer75.114Swiss Super League74.8115Eredivisie74.7916Turkish Super Lig74.5417Argentine Primera74.53182. Bundesliga74.3919Austrian Bundesliga74.2120HNL Croatia74.0321K League73.4922J League73.3923Eliteserien72.9924Allsvenskan72.1825Cyprus First Division72.0826Saudi Pro League72.0127Czech First League71.8128Greek Super League70.7629Scottish Premiership70.2530Ekstraklasa69.41 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 RankLeagueBest rated clubBest club’s rating1Premier LeagueManchester City1002La LigaReal Madrid97.53Serie AInter Milan97.34BundesligaBayer Leverkusen945Ligue 1PSG95.26Primeira LigaSporting CP89.77ChampionshipLeeds83.68SuperligaenKobenhavn82.69Segunda DivisionEibar78.510BrasileiraoPalmeiras80.611Liga MXClub America83.112Russian Premier LeagueZenit82.813MLSColumbus Crew79.614Swiss Super LeagueYoung Boys80.815EredivisiePSV Eindhoven88.616Turkish Super LigFenerbahce8617Argentine PrimeraRiver Plate80.8182. BundesligaSt. Pauli80.419Austrian BundesligaRB Salzburg86.320HNL (Croatia)Dinamo Zagreb8221K LeagueUlsan7822J LeagueVissel Kobe78.423EliteserienBodo/Glimt82.624AllsvenskanMalmo FF77.825Cyprus First divisionAPOEL79.726Saudi Pro LeagueAl Hilal86.427CzechSlavia Praha83.728Greek Super LeaguePAOK81.329Scottish PremiershipRangers83.130EkstraklasaRakow Czestochowa79.1 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. RankLeagueWorst rated clubWorst club’s rating1Premier LeagueSheffield United79.32La LigaAlmeria76.53Serie ASalernitana76.54BundesligaDarmstadt 9876.65Lig