(Note: Sorry that this is later than usual for the week, but the wifi in my current apartment in
Buenos Aires is hit-and-miss and this week, mostly miss. I move this weekend and hopefully, this
will improve.)
In 1991, for the seventh consecutive year, the club that won the Champions League did not finish
on top of the World Club Rankings annual charts.
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First off, I noticed that I forgot to put links to the international cup tournaments and to
prior annual rankings in my post for 1989. If you read that post and noticed those missing, I have
gone back to that post and remedied that. Sorry.
1990 seemed fairly similar to 1989 in the big scheme of things.
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Since we didn't have many significant domestic league matches this week, and I have time to kill
on a train from Amsterdam to Brussels, here is the next edition of our Annual Rankings. This time,
we are up to 1989.
1989 was one of those seasons in which the European Cup winner did not manage to finish atop the
World Club Rankings for the year.
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There were a few continental milestones hit in 1988 with respect to the World Club Rankings annual
rankings. One was a last, one was a first. The last was for CONMEBOL. Argentina's Newell's Old Boys
became the final South American club to date to finish atop the World Club Rankings annual chart.
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This installment of the Annual Rankings brings us to 1987. In the final rankings for 1987, a
European club returns to the top of the rankings, though it was not the European Cup champion. That
title belonged to the runners up in the Portuguese Liga, Porto, who defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 in
the finals in Vienna by scoring two late goals to overcome a 0-1 halftime deficit.
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Next up on our countdown of World Club Ranking seasons in 1986. The 1985-86 season is known, in
part, as the first season of the English Premier League's banishment from European football, which
severely hurt them in the rankings eventually, though English clubs still managed to hold their own
in 1986.
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Of course, 1985 will always be known more for the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 fans lost
their lives and hundreds more were injured shortly before the final of the European Cup, than for
the final itself. In the wake of that tragedy, European powerhouses Liverpool and Juventus played a
controversial match in which the only score was a Michael Platini penalty kick that gave Juventus a
1-0 victory and the championship.
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It's been a week of vacation here at WCR while we enjoyed holiday festivities and prepare the
forty-ninth WCR Annual Top 25. Now that we're back, here we go.
A week or so ago, I set forth the general guidelines for the annual WCR Top 25s. You can click on
that link if you want additional information, but basically, unlike the weekly top 25s, the annual
version is not a snapshot of current form but, rather, looks at the last complete season for each
league and each continental tournament.
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(Note: Due to minimal action among club participants over the past week, the weekly WCR Top 25 will
be passed over for the next installment in the WCR Annual Rankings. The weekly club ranking will
return next week.)
As was demonstrated in 1982, when Uruguay's Penarol became the first South American club to finish
atop the annual rankings, the 1980s were the glory years for South American clubs in the annual
rankings.
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(Note: Since there was only minimal club action this weekend involving the WCR Top 25 Clubs, I am
posting the next in my series of Annual Rankings. I hope you enjoy it – or at least find it
interesting. The WCR Top 25 Clubs list will return next week.)
In the past, I've started off writing about each year by discussing events in the UEFA Champions
Cup tournament.
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In 1981, for the third time in five years, Liverpool took home the Champions Cup trophy. This time
Liverpool won the title by defeating Real Madrid 1-0 in Paris, France on an 82nd minute goal by
Alan Kennedy. As was the case in 1978, however, Liverpool was unable to secure the top spot in the
World Club Rankings in 1981, despite the European Championship, because of a fifth-place showing in
domestic action.
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One in a row wasn't enough for Ajax, Bayern Munich or Liverpool; what makes you think it would be
enough for Nottingham Forest? If your answer was "nothing," then you are correct. The
1980 European Champions Cup saw Nottingham Forest not only reach the final at the Bernabeu in
Madrid, it saw Forest defeat Hamburger in the final 1-0 on the leg of John Robertson, who scored
the match's only goal in the twenty-first minute.
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Liverpool was unable to follow in the footsteps of Ajax and Bayern Munich with a third consecutive
Champions Cup title in 1979 as they fell in the first round of the tournament to fellow English
club Nottingham Forest. Forest carried the national banner valiantly, however, moving past AEK
Athens, Grasshopper Club and FC Cologne on their way to the championship match.
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Following in the footsteps of Ajax and Bayern Munich, Liverpool repeated as European champion in
1978. This time they did it by continuing their dominance over Borussia Monchengladbach, who they
defeated in the 1977 final and the 1978 semifinals, and over Club Brugge, who they defeated in the
1976 UEFA Cup final and again, 1-0, in the European Cup final at Wembley Stadium, with Kenny
Dalglish providing the winning margin in the 65th minute.
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In the quarterfinals of the 1977 Champions Cup, Soviet club Dynamo Kiev defeated Bayern Munich 2-1
in aggregate, ending Bayern's three-year run as European champions. Another West German club made
it to the European Cup final, but Borussia Monchengladbach fell 3-1 in the final to Liverpool in
Rome, Italy.
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Not to be outdone by Ajax, Bayern Munich matched the run of the Dutch club by taking its third
consecutive Champions Cup title in 1976. This time around, the game took place in Glasgow,
Scotland, and Bayern defeated St. Etienne 1-0 on a second-half goal by Franz Roth. Once again,
Bayern Munich failed to win the Bundesliga and failed to finish on top in the WCR rankings, though
they did come closer in 1976, finishing third in both.
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Dynasties continued to dominate, as dynasties are apt to do, in 1975. Even though it seems odd to
say that the Champions Cup, with a final between two teams from two of the top leagues in the
world, was anti-climactic – so I won't – but the final did pit the ninth-place team
from England against the tenth-place team in the Bundesliga.
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I'm not sure if 1974 is more fairly seen as a blip in the 1970s dominance of the Dutch or the year
marking the rise of the Bundesliga and Bayern Munich. Both are probably fair to some degree. After
three straight years as European champions and WCR Team of the Year, Ajax failed to win its
domestic league and fell to CSKA Sofia in the second round of the Champions Cup.
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In 1973, Ajax cemented its position as one of the all-time great clubs in European history by
becoming the first club since Real Madrid in 1956-1960 to pull a three-peat of the European
Champions Cup. It also became the first team to win the (not quite as coveted) World Club Rankings
Team of the Year for three consecutive years.
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1972 saw Total Football become entrenched in Europe as Ajax tried to become the first club to
repeat as continental champions since Inter Milan pulled the trick in 1964 & 1965 by facing that
team in the finals. Two second-half goals by Johan Cruyff were all that were necessary, actually
the first one was all that was necessary, as Ajax defeated Internazionale 2-0.
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Feyenoord won the Champions Cup in 1970, but was unable to secure the top spot in its domestic league and was, therefore, unable to claim the top spot in the WCR Top 25, settling for second. In 1971, Feyenoord was able to win its domestic title, but still had to settle for second in the WCR rankings, sitting behind fellow Dutch team Ajax
Ajax ran wild on the Dutch domestic league despite finishing second.
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1970 was the year that the Dutch began their domination of the early part of the decade in European
action. The Champions Cup came to Holland for the first of four consecutive seasons as Feyenoord
defeated Celtic 2-1. It wasn't quite enough to deliver Feyenoord the distinction of being the WCR
Team of the year since they managed to finish only second , behind Ajax, in domestic action.
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Now that the weekly rankings have come to an end for the season, it's time to publish more of the
annual rankings that have been an occasional fixture on this site.
After seeing United Kingdom powerhouses in the making Celtic and Manchester United take the
Champions Cup titles in 1967 and 1968, the European Championship went back to the mainland in 1969.
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Just as 1967 saw the rise to prominence of a European champion whose fan base remains strong to
this day – Celtic – so did 1968. Despite falling in the Premiership to its cross-town
rivals, English upstart Manchester United took advantage of home field advantage, playing before
100,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, to win its first European Champions Cup.
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It's been a few months since I posted an annual Top 25. The primary reason for this is because I'm
saving them for the summer when the Weekly Top 25s (and the Weekly Television Schedule for the most
part) go into hiatus. Now seems like a good time for an update, however.
1967 was the year that one of the world's most popular teams became such as Celtic defeated Inter
Milan 2-1 in the Champions Cup final to win the European championship and, incidentally, end
Internazionale's two-year run as the best team in the world.
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1966 saw old champions knock long-time defending champions out of the throne to return to their
rightful spots. In the Copa Libertadores, Penarol knocked off River Plate in the finals to replace
two-time defending champion Independiente and become the first club with three titles. Likewise, in
Europe, Real Madrid knocked out two-time defending champion (and current number one)Internazionale
in the semis on its way to winning an unprecedented sixth Champions Cup.
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Now seems like a good time to enter Volume 5 of what will be 48 volumes sometime next week and
likely 49 volumes by the time this is completed. This edition is the first truly WORLD club
rankings because, unlike 1960-1963, South American teams are added.
As you may have noticed, the primary entries on this blog are weekly Top 25s, but the formulas used
were created primarily to determine annual rankings.
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If you've come here looking for this weekend's schedule for the Top 25, as advertised by our
generous friends at Soccer Source, click here. If you've come here looking for the most recent
World Club Rankings Top 25 list, click here. If you've come here looking for the home of the
greatest half smoke on the planet, click here.
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