The strongest National League in the World 2012:
The Spanish Primera División is sovereign The strongest League in the World !
The world ranking for the strongest national leagues has been determined annually by the IFFHS since 1991 on the basis of all national (championship, FA Cup) and (inter)continental (confederations & FIFA club competitions) results of the clubs. This principle has proved to be a very sensitive and an objective indicator. In particular, the world ranking 2012 has produced the following:
1st
The negative trend of the English Premier League of 2010 and 2011 continued in 2012. In the same period, the other top leagues have made up the deficit to the Englishmen. The erratic performances of the English top clubs and their poor showing in the UEFA club competitions are the reasons that the English Premier League is only fifth in the world ranking in 2012. But, using the same rules, the English league clearly dominated the world ranking for the 1st decade of the 21st century.
2nd
The Spanish Primera División is for the third consecutive time The strongest League of the World. The Spaniards have even increased, year on year, their number of points gained.
3rd
The leagues from Brazil, Germany, Italy and England are on an equal level, but the Brazilian Série A took 2nd place only by virtue of the participation by SC Corinthians Paulista São Paulo in the Club World Cup. Without these 34 points the German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A would be placed ahead of the Brazilians.
4th
Nevertheless the Brazilian Série A remains clearly South America‘s strongest league, ahead of the Primera División of Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador.
5th
In Europe the leagues from Germany, Italy, England and France occupied the places after Spain. The Dutch Eredivisie improved by a place, in comparision with 2011 (now 8th place in the world ranking).
6th
In East Europe the Ukraine has the strongest league, while the Russian league has fallen behind following the poor international results of their clubs. In South-East Europe the leading leagues of Romania, Turkey and Greece are virtually on a par.
7th
The Korean league (K-League) has a clear lead ahead of the leagues of Japan and Saudi Arabia, and is the strongest leagues in Asia. The Iranian league follows but by some margin. The Saudi Professional League has now qualified for the promotion to the second-highest group of performance (1.1.2013).
8th
Following good results in the CAF club competitions, Sudan has the strongest league in Africa, ahead of the leagues from Tunisia, Mali and Morocco, that 2011 was the best-placed African league in the annual world ranking. By a small margin the leagues from Nigeria, Ghana, Angola and Zimbabwe follow, while the Egyptian league without national competitions fell to 91st place.
9th
In the CONCACAF area the Mexican Primera División is the strongest league, while the MLS (USA) is again the No..2 in this region, ahead of Costa Rica and Guatemala.
10th
The league of the to AFC changed Australia has more improved in the annual world ranking (now 52. place). The New Zealand league again failed to gain a place among the "Top 100".
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The classification of the best leagues of the world is made objectively without any outside influence of any sort. We follow the criteria that the level of performance of a league is reflected by the best classified teams of that league who in turn usually represent their country in international club competitions. If one looks at the football power-houses of the world, one notices that regularly 4 or 5 clubs of their leagues are always competing in continental competitions. By adding the points won in all competitions by the five best placed clubs of each league, we have the points for the country which in turn helps to establish a fair classification. It is important to note that only the yearly classification is representative, since all competitions move along the whole season and over twelve months, we have an objective view of the best. This system has been used since 1991, and it is recognized today as the most precise in rating the leagues of the world.
