For weeks, we've been promising you a revamp of the rankings. Now that the eighth-finals of the UEFA Champions League have been completed and those numbers have been factored into the calculations, those changes are here. The changes are noticeable all over the rankings, from near the top to the bottom.

It's January, and in the footballing world January means only one thing. The winter transfer window, where player names are bandied about as potential new players and the ones we love to hate are bound and gagged in hopes that someone will take them off our hands.

For the next twenty one days, rumors will abound.

File this one under the category: most likely to attract choice commentary from Seattle Sounders supporters.

As the Sounders-less MLS First Kick fast approaches, we here at Stumptown Footy are spooling up the statistical analysis drives in preparation for the 2012 campaign. Lacking much in the way of hard data so far, with just one preseason match under our belt, we've decided to start with the schedule.

West Brom's Peter Odemwingie was last season's Fantasy Premier League surprise star. 15 goals scored. 9 assists. 28 bonus points. Super. But the Nigerian has only scored 4 goals this season and had one of the 'misses of the year' ... Continue reading →

Filthy lucre: The ruble, the new green

Fabio Capello is reportedly in Moscow after his skiing holiday in Switzerland. The big drop is he's meeting with Anzhi Makhachkala officials who are looking for a replacement for their coach Yuri Krasnozhan.

The Russian coach is an acolyte of Alan Soziyev, the former director general of the club, who departed the club after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement.

I came close to not even bothering to do the rankings this week. If you read them, you will find that they are a bit convoluted, but there is a reason for that. Champions League data for the first knockout round isn't entered until after the round is complete. For that reason, you won't see a bump in the rankings for clubs like Barcelona and APOEL in the rankings until next week's rankings.

Welcome to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal edition of the rankings. This is the list that our predictions will be based on tomorrow. We've had some interesting movement in the past week. The big mover was Sporting Braga, who moved into the Top Ten for the first time all season after taking advantage of draws by Porto and Benfica to jump into first place in Portugal's Liga Sagres.

We're halfway through the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League at this point. In four matches, the home clubs managed to score a grand total of zero, count them, zero goals. Of the six away goals that were scored, Real Madrid scored three of them. The home clubs will all face a big advantage this week.

It's that time of the year. We've reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League and it's time to award Super Bonus Points to clubs that made it this far. Super Bonus Points are the largest rankings modification that we make and the results will be obvious below, especially when you see a club that is in fifth place in its domestic league sitting at sixth place in the overall rankings.

Does this promise to be a great week for football or what? In the middle of the week, we have the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, with top-ranked Real Madrid taking on third-ranked Bayern Munich on Tuesday and Chelsea hosting Barcelona on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday is the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final between Mexican clubs Santos Laguna and Monterrey.

Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix pay football. Hat tip to Adam Spangler via Bruce McGuire.

Here's a guest post from Shaz Rahman, who wonders how England might set up now they've got a squad.

Now that we know the 23 man squad for Euro 2012 we can start speculating how England will lineup against France in the first group game.

Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix pay football. Hat tip to Adam Spangler via Bruce McGuire.

Here's a guest post from Shaz Rahman, who wonders how England might set up now they've got a squad.

Now that we know the 23 man squad for Euro 2012 we can start speculating how England will lineup against France in the first group game.