Eurosport place Arsenal top of European Power Rankings (but get it wrong)

By Aries

According to Eurosport’s Champions League European Power Ranking, Arsenal are the best team in Europe.

Manchester United have swapped places with Arsenal and are now third behind Internazionale.

The ranking takes into account domestic and European results but is also adjusted by weighting a team’s performance according to the relative difficulty of its domestic league.

The Premier League along with Spain and Italy enjoy the highest coefficient.

League coefficients:
England, Spain, Italy = 5
Germany, Portugal, France = 4.5
Others = 4

Arsenal’s ranking has improved due to the recent victorious performances against Newcastle and Manchester City.


Manchester United slipped behind as they could only draw at Tottenham.

Liverpool on the other hand who have slipped recently to 18th have climbed two places courtesy of their win against Sunderland. Chelsea 6th and Everton 10th have not moved.

Europe's other big teams are also beginning to wake up, with Bayern Munich and Milan rising three places each.

EUROSPORT’S EUROPEAN POWER RANKINGS (last week's position in brackets)

1 (3) Arsenal - 25.13
2 (2) Internazionale - 25.12
3 (1) Manchester United - 24.93
4 (4) Barcelona - 22.35
5 (5) Real Madrid - 21.21
6 (6) Chelsea - 20.80
7 (8) Porto - 20.17
8 (7) Roma - 19.88
9 (9) Villarreal - 19.53
10 (10) Everton - 19.47
11 (12) Fenerbahce - 19.43
12 (11) Atletico Madrid - 19.30
13 (16) Bayern Munich - 19.08
14 (17) Milan - 19.08
15 (14) Panathinaikos - 19.05
16 (18) Liverpool - 18.96
17 (13) Hamburg - 18.92
18 (15) Bordeaux - 18.88
19 (20) Rangers - 18.14
20 (19) Olympiacos - 17.80

How it works

Eurosport take into account a combination of both domestic and Champions League performances, factoring in the relative difficulty of each team's league, to find out who is the best team in Europe.

Scores are based on points per game in domestic league and European games.

Domestic points per game are multiplied by the league coefficient - either 4, 4.5 or 5 - with teams in stronger leagues getting more credit as indicated above.

Champions League victories are counted as three points for a win and multiplied by a coefficient of 5.

UEFA Cup victories are counted as three points for a win and mulitplied by a coefficient of 4.

Domestic and European totals are then added together. If a side has played in both Champions League and UEFA Cup, its European total is an average of the two scores.

Eurosport have miscalculated Arsenal’s ranking

Arsenal are reported by Eurosport to have a coefficient of 25.13 placing them first.

Eurosport calculate it as follows:

60 points from 25 Premier League games = 2.40 points per game. Multiplied by league coefficient of five : 2.40 x 5 = 12.00

21 points from 8 Champions League games (including qualifying) give an average of 2.63 points per game. Multiplied by European coefficient of five – 13.13

Total score = 12.00 + 13.13 = 25.13

However according to my calculations this should be 23.88 placing Arsenal third not first!

This is because Arsenal’s points gained in the Champion’s League (inclusive of the two victorious qualifying games) are 19 and not 21.They arise from the fact that Arsenal have 6 wins and not 7 as Eurosport assume.

Arsenal’s victories are:

Sparta Prague twice,
Steaua twice,
Sevilla at home and
Slavia Prague at home.

There is the away defeat at Sevilla and the away draw at Slavia Prague.

This makes 19 points from 8 games.


Ed: We have contacted Eurosport on the matter but their reply was not sufficient to explain the miscalculation indicated above. We are now waiting for their latest response….