Histora.org newsletter May 24th, 2002 The greatest sporting event on the planet, the World Cup, is almost upon us. The 32 squads are arriving in Korea and Japan, most of them struggling to get fit and heal their injured in time for their openers, the first of which will feature defending champions France taking on Senegal on May 31st. All of the stars have just completed grueling seasons with their respective clubs, a season which saw Real Madrid win their 9th European championship, the Spanish giant's third in five years. Dutch club Feyenoord captured the U.E.F.A. Cup, hopefully providing some consolation to a nation disappointed not to have qualified for the big show. The Copa Libertadores will resume once the World Cup has completed, the semi-finals going forward in mid-July. Real Madrid coasted through the group stages of the Champions League, but encountered much fiercer resistance in the quarter finals courtesy of the defending champions, Bayern Munich : =================================================================== Quarter-Finals Semi-Finals Final -------------- ----------- ----- (Esp) Real Madrid (2 - 0) (1 - 2) Real Madrid (Ger) Bayern Munich (1 - 1) (2 - 0) Real Madrid (Gre) Panathinaikos (1 - 3) (1 - 0) Barcelona (Esp) Barcelona (2 - 1) Real Madrid (Eng) Manchester United (3 - 2) (2 - 0) Manchester United (Esp) Deportivo La Coruna (1 - 1) (2 - 2) Bayer Leverkusen (Eng) Liverpool (2 - 4) (1 - 0) Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) Bayer Leverkusen =================================================================== It can not be denied that Real Madrid are the greatest European club of all time, with 9 Champions Cup and Champions League titles to their credit. AC Milan have the second most, having won the title five times, here are all the European Champions: Year Champion Runner-Up ---- -------- --------- 1956 (Esp) Real Madrid 4-3 (Fra) Stade de Reims 1957 (Esp) Real Madrid 2-0 (Ita) Fiorentina 1958 (Esp) Real Madrid 3-2 (Ita) AC Milan 1959 (Esp) Real Madrid 2-0 (Fra) Stade de Reims 1960 (Esp) Real Madrid 7-3 (FRG) Eintracht Frankfurt 1961 (Por) Benfica Lisbon 3-2 (Esp) Barcelona 1962 (Por) Benfica Lisbon 5-3 (Esp) Real Madrid 1963 (Ita) AC Milan 2-1 (Por) Benfica Lisbon 1964 (Ita) Internazionale Milan 3-1 (Esp) Real Madrid 1965 (Ita) Internazionale Milan 1-0 (Por) Benfica Lisbon 1966 (Esp) Real Madrid 2-1 (Yug) Partizan Belgrade 1967 (Sco) Celtic Glasgow 2-1 (Ita) Internazionale Milan 1968 (Eng) Manchester United 4-1 (Por) Benfica Lisbon 1969 (Ita) AC Milan 4-1 (Ned) Ajax Amsterdam 1970 (Ned) Feyenoord Rotterdam 2-1 (Sco) Celtic Glasgow 1971 (Ned) Ajax Amsterdam 2-0 (Gre) Panathinaikos Athens 1972 (Ned) Ajax Amsterdam 2-0 (Ita) Internazionale Milan 1973 (Ned) Ajax Amsterdam 1-0 (Ita) Juventus Turin 1974 (FRG) Bayern Munich 1-1, 4-0 (Esp) Atletico Madrid 1975 (FRG) Bayern Munich 2-0 (Eng) Leeds United 1976 (FRG) Bayern Munich 1-0 (Fra) AS Saint-Etienne 1977 (Eng) Liverpool 3-1 (FRG) Borussia Monchengladbach 1978 (Eng) Liverpool 1-0 (Bel) FC Brugge 1979 (Eng) Nottingham Forest 1-0 (Swe) Malmo FF 1980 (Eng) Nottingham Forest 1-0 (FRG) SV Hamburg 1981 (Eng) Liverpool 1-0 (Esp) Real Madrid 1982 (Eng) Aston Villa 1-0 (FRG) Bayern Munich 1983 (FRG) SV Hamburg 1-0 (Ita) Juventus Turin 1984 (Eng) Liverpool 1-1 (Ita) AS Roma 1985 (Ita) Juventus Turin 1-0 (Eng) Liverpool 1986 (Rom) Steaua Bucharest 0-0 (Esp) Barcelona 1987 (Por) FC Porto 2-1 (FRG) Bayern Munich 1988 (Ned) PSV Eindhoven 0-0 (Por) Benfica Lisbon 1989 (Ita) AC Milan 4-0 (Rom) Steaua Bucharest 1990 (Ita) AC Milan 1-0 (Por) Benfica Lisbon 1991 (Yug) Red Star Belgrade 0-0 (Fra) Olympique Marseille 1992 (Esp) Barcelona 1-0 (Ita) Sampdoria Genoa 1993 (Fra) Olympique Marseille 1-0 (Ita) AC Milan 1994 (Ita) AC Milan 4-0 (Esp) Barcelona 1995 (Ned) Ajax Amsterdam 1-0 (Ita) AC Milan 1996 (Ita) Juventus Turin 1-1 (Ned) Ajax Amsterdam 1997 (Ger) Borussia Dortmund 3-1 (Ita) Juventus Turin 1998 (Esp) Real Madrid 1-0 (Ita) Juventus Turin 1999 (Eng) Manchester United 2-1 (Ger) Bayern Munich 2000 (Esp) Real Madrid 3-0 (Esp) Valencia 2001 (Ger) Bayern Munich 1-1 (Esp) Valencia 2002 (Esp) Real Madrid 2-1 (Ger) Bayer Leverkusen Spain, Italy, Germany, and England are the dominant nations when it comes to club football in Europe, their clubs are always the top contenders for the various Cups. Let us quantify this domination with some numbers. Using a system by which we assign points to the nation of a club who wins a tournament in a given year, half those points to the runner-up, and half of those to the losing semi- finalists, etc, weighted according to the relative difficulty of the tournaments, we can see that these four nations are by far ahead of the rest of the pack (let's call these points "Tournament Points.") Here is the Tournament Point table for the Eurocups, where the Champions Cup (1956-1997) is worth 32 points for the winning nation, the Champions League (1998-2002) gets 48, the Cup Winners' Cup (1961-1999) and the Inter Cities Fairs Cup (1959-1971) both 16, and the U.E.F.A. Cup (1972-2002) is worth 24: (TPts is Tournament Points, 1st is number of titles, 2nd is number of times runners-up) =================================================================== Totals Champion's Cup Winner's U.E.F.A. # Nation TPts 1st 2nd TPts 1st 2nd TPts 1s 2d TPts 1st 2d - ------ ---- --- --- ---- --- --- ---- -- -- ---- --- -- 1 Spain 1306 25 22 742 10 9 222 7 7 342 8 6 2 Italy 1304 26 24 621 9 12 203 7 4 480 10 8 3 Germany 1134 16 18 532 6 7 161 4 4 441 6 7 4 England 1126 27 14 527 9 2 225 8 5 374 10 7 5 The Netherlands 589 11 5 343 6 2 74 1 1 172 4 2 6 France 434 2 9 243 1 4 77 1 2 114 _ 3 7 Portugal 422 4 7 295 3 5 70 1 1 57 _ 1 8 Belgium 383 4 8 138 _ 1 119 3 4 126 1 3 9 Scotland 327 3 4 177 1 1 86 2 2 64 _ 1 10 Yugoslavia 285 2 3 143 1 1 41 _ _ 101 1 2 11 Russia 244 3 1 107 _ _ 105 3 1 32 _ _ 12 Czech Republic 217 1 _ 116 _ _ 53 1 _ 48 _ _ 13 Hungary 208 1 5 92 _ _ 41 _ 2 75 1 3 14 Austria 183 _ 4 98 _ _ 53 _ 3 32 _ 1 15 East Germany 180 1 2 71 _ _ 66 1 2 43 _ _ 16 Sweden 174 2 1 103 _ 1 20 _ _ 51 2 _ 17 Romania 173 1 1 124 1 1 24 _ _ 25 _ _ 18 Switzerland 152 _ _ 89 _ _ 27 _ _ 36 _ _ 19 Greece 148 _ 1 106 _ 1 26 _ _ 16 _ _ 20 Turkey 141 1 _ 86 _ _ 22 _ _ 33 1 _ =================================================================== Spain has had an incredible last few seasons of success in Europe, and have thus just barely overtaken Italy after a decade of being in second place. Germany has also jumped ahead of England for third place. In South America, Boca Juniors will not be taking their third consecutive Copa Libertadores title, as they were stopped in the quarter finals by the great Paraguayan club Olimpia. Joining them in the semi-finals will be Brazilians Sao Caetano and Gremio Porto Alegre, and America Ciudad de Mexico, as Mexican clubs continue to do well since their first entries back in 1998. A similar ranking as the one for the European nations above, awarding 32 points for a Copa Libertadores title: =============================================== # Nation TPts Apps 1st 2nd SF QF TP/Ap - ------ ---- ---- --- --- -- -- ----- 1 Argentina 1032 103 19 7 22 19 10.02 2 Brazil 737 89 11 8 16 17 8.28 3 Uruguay 587 88 8 7 10 15 6.67 4 Colombia 366 79 1 7 12 12 4.63 5 Paraguay 340 84 2 3 11 14 4.05 6 Chile 322 84 1 5 8 12 3.83 7 Ecuador 221 83 _ 2 5 11 2.66 8 Peru 190 82 _ 2 2 10 2.32 9 Bolivia 153 82 _ _ _ 11 1.87 10 Venezuela 113 72 _ _ _ 5 1.57 11 Mexico 44 11 _ 1 2 2 4.00 =============================================== (TPts is Tournament Points, Apps is Apperances, 1st is Titles, 2nd is number of times runners-up, SF is number of times lost in the semis, QF number of times lost in the quarters, and TP/Ap is average number of Tournament Points earner per appearance.) In the European domestic leagues, Celtic Glasgow were the only team in any of the major leagues to retain their title. As Real Madrid were busy winning the Champions League, Valencia won the Spanish League, while Arsenal interrupted Manchester United's run of titles in England. Champions League runners-up Bayer Leverkusen missed out on the German title yet again, barely coming up short to Borussia Dortmund. Juventus won the Italian league, making them the fourth team in four years to win it. Olympique Lyon won their first ever French league title, while Ajax Amsterdam were back on top in The Netherlands, and Racing Club Genk and Sporting Lisbon won the Belgian and Portuguese League titles, respectively. Let us assign Tournament Points as well, making each of these nine leagues worth 12 points per title, 9 for coming in 2nd, 7 for 3rd, 6 for 4th, 5 for 5th, etc, we then see which teams have been the most dominant in their respective leagues (since 1970): ==================================================================== # Club Nat TPts Aps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 = ==== === ==== === = = = = = = = = 1 Ajax Amsterdam Ned 318 33 15 9 6 1 1 1 _ _ 2 Benfica Lisbon Por 316 33 13 12 6 1 _ 1 _ _ 3 Celtic Glasgow Sco 315 33 14 10 5 2 2 _ _ _ 4 Glasgow Rangers Sco 312 33 15 7 5 4 2 _ _ _ 5 FC Porto Por 307 33 13 11 4 3 1 _ _ _ 6 RSC Anderlecht Bel 304 33 12 11 4 4 1 1 _ _ 7 Juventus Turin Ita 299 33 13 10 3 3 1 1 1 1 8 PSV Eindhoven Ned 297 33 12 9 7 2 1 1 _ 1 9 Bayern Munich Ger 289 33 15 7 3 3 _ 1 1 _ 10 Real Madrid Esp 288 33 14 6 3 4 2 2 _ 1 11 Barcelona Esp 280 33 8 11 5 6 2 1 _ _ 12 FC Brugge Bel 280 33 10 11 3 3 2 3 _ _ 13 Liverpool Eng 278 33 11 8 4 3 3 2 1 1 14 Sporting Lisbon Por 261 33 6 5 14 6 2 _ _ _ 15 Feyenoord Rotterdam Ned 245 33 5 10 7 6 _ 2 _ 1 16 Aberdeen Sco 217 33 3 10 3 7 1 3 2 2 17 AC Milan Ita 205 31 7 3 6 4 2 3 2 _ 18 Internazionale Milan Ita 202 33 3 4 5 9 5 2 1 2 19 Standard Liege Bel 199 33 4 4 8 2 3 6 1 2 20 Manchester United Eng 192 32 7 5 4 3 _ 2 _ 4 21 FC Nantes Fra 185 33 6 6 2 1 3 2 5 _ 22 Atletico Madrid Esp 179 31 4 3 7 4 2 4 1 1 23 Arsenal Eng 179 33 5 4 2 5 4 2 3 1 24 AS Monaco Fra 168 29 5 3 6 4 1 2 _ _ 25 Boavista Porto Por 156 33 1 3 2 10 3 2 4 2 26 Dundee United Sco 155 32 1 _ 7 9 3 2 3 3 27 Olympique Marseille Fra 154 27 7 5 1 2 _ 1 _ _ 28 Girondins Bordeaux Fra 150 32 4 3 2 6 2 3 1 _ 29 Borussia Monchengladbach Ger 146 31 5 2 3 3 2 2 3 _ 30 AS Roma Ita 144 33 2 4 3 _ 5 3 7 2 31 SV Hamburg Ger 139 33 3 5 1 2 4 3 2 _ 32 Valencia Esp 132 32 2 3 2 5 3 2 4 _ 33 Heart of Midlothian Sco 130 29 _ 3 3 3 6 6 2 1 34 Paris Saint-Germain Fra 127 32 2 5 3 2 2 _ 3 1 35 Hibernian Edinburgh Sco 125 31 _ 2 5 2 5 4 4 2 36 FC Twente '65 Enschede Ned 124 32 _ 1 6 4 4 5 1 2 37 FC Cologne Ger 124 31 1 4 2 4 5 2 1 1 38 Athletic Bilbao Esp 122 33 2 2 4 2 4 1 2 3 39 AS Saint-Etienne Fra 122 27 5 2 2 2 1 1 3 _ 40 Napoli Ita 121 30 2 3 4 1 2 3 3 1 41 Vitoria Guimaraes Por 120 33 _ _ 2 5 6 8 3 _ 42 VfB Stuttgart Ger 116 31 2 1 2 5 2 3 3 3 43 Leeds United Eng 116 25 2 3 2 3 6 _ _ _ 44 Borussia Dortmund Ger 113 29 3 1 2 5 1 2 3 1 45 FC Kaiserslautern Ger 110 32 2 1 2 3 3 2 4 4 46 Torino Ita 109 28 1 4 1 3 2 3 2 3 47 Real Soc. San Sebastian Esp 109 33 2 2 1 3 2 1 6 5 48 Werder Bremen Ger 109 32 2 4 2 _ 3 1 3 2 49 Lazio Rome Ita 104 26 2 2 4 2 2 1 1 2 50 Fiorentina Ita 95 32 _ 1 3 1 5 5 1 3 51 Everton Eng 93 33 3 1 1 3 _ 2 3 2 52 AJ Auxerre Fra 92 22 1 _ 4 4 1 3 2 2 53 Olympique Lyon Fra 92 27 1 2 4 _ 2 3 2 3 54 Bayer Leverkusen Ger 90 23 _ 4 2 1 2 3 2 3 55 Royal Antwerp Bel 88 30 _ 2 2 1 5 1 5 2 56 Roda JC Kerkrade Ned 86 29 _ 1 _ 3 6 4 1 4 57 OS Belenenses Por 85 29 _ 1 2 _ 4 5 6 2 58 Vitoria Setubal Por 80 28 _ 1 3 1 3 2 5 2 59 Eintracht Frankfurt Ger 79 30 _ _ 4 3 4 _ 1 3 60 KV Mechelen Bel 77 23 1 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 61 RWD Molenbeek Bel 76 28 1 _ 4 3 2 _ 2 1 62 Aston Villa Eng 76 26 1 2 _ 2 1 3 3 4 63 Nottingham Forest Eng 73 23 1 1 4 _ 2 _ 1 4 64 Vitesse Arnhem Ned 72 17 _ _ 1 6 4 2 _ _ ==================================================================== As exciting as domestic and international club football are, they do not compare to the World Cup. The World Cup is truly special, it is a celebration of football, it is where the great teams and players make their mark on history. Here are the previous champions: Year Champion Runner-Up ---- -------- --------- 1930 Uruguay 4-2 Argentina 1934 Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia 1938 Italy 4-2 Hungary 1950 Uruguay 2-1 Brazil 1954 West Germany 3-2 Hungary 1958 Brazil 5-2 Sweden 1962 Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia 1966 England 4-2 West Germany 1970 Brazil 4-1 Italy 1974 West Germany 2-1 The Netherlands 1978 Argentina 3-1 The Netherlands 1982 Italy 3-1 West Germany 1986 Argentina 3-2 West Germany 1990 Germany 1-0 Argentina 1994 Brazil 0-0 Italy 1998 France 3-0 Brazil And the tournament points ranking to date: (32 points for the title, 16 for the runner-up, etc) ================================================================ # Nation TPts Aps 1s 2d SF QF P W D L GF GA - ------ ---- --- -- -- -- -- - - - - -- -- 1 Brazil 206 16 4 2 3 4 77 51 14 12 167 74 2 Germany 186 14 3 3 3 4 76 44 17 15 162 95 3 Italy 162 14 3 2 2 2 64 37 16 11 101 59 4 Argentina 118 12 2 2 _ 3 57 29 10 18 100 69 5 Uruguay 92 9 2 _ 2 1 35 15 8 12 60 48 6 France 70 10 1 _ 3 1 38 19 6 13 74 50 7 England 68 10 1 _ 1 6 44 20 13 11 62 41 8 Sweden 53 9 _ 1 3 2 36 13 9 14 60 56 9 The Netherlands 50 7 _ 2 1 1 31 14 9 8 55 34 10 Hungary 50 9 _ 2 _ 3 32 15 3 14 86 56 11 Czech Republic 47 8 _ 2 _ 2 30 11 5 14 44 45 12 Yugoslavia 39 9 _ _ 2 5 36 17 6 13 62 43 13 Spain 31 10 _ _ 1 3 40 16 10 14 61 48 14 Austria 28 7 _ _ 2 2 27 11 4 12 37 42 15 Russia 28 8 _ _ 1 4 33 16 6 11 60 39 16 Mexico 26 11 _ _ _ 2 37 8 10 19 38 73 17 Belgium 25 10 _ _ 1 _ 31 9 7 15 38 52 18 Poland 24 5 _ _ 2 1 23 11 5 7 35 27 19 Chile 21 7 _ _ 1 1 24 6 6 12 30 40 20 Switzerland 20 7 _ _ _ 3 22 6 3 13 33 51 21 Bulgaria 19 7 _ _ 1 _ 25 3 8 14 22 49 22 Romania 18 7 _ _ _ 2 21 8 5 8 30 32 23 United States 16 6 _ _ 1 _ 17 4 1 12 18 38 24 Scotland 12 8 _ _ _ _ 23 5 6 12 26 44 25 Paraguay 12 5 _ _ _ 1 15 4 5 6 15 25 26 Peru 11 4 _ _ _ 2 15 4 3 8 19 31 27 Portugal 9 2 _ _ 1 _ 8 5 _ 3 17 11 28 Croatia 8 1 _ _ 1 _ 6 4 _ 2 9 4 29 Bolivia 7 3 _ _ _ 1 6 _ 1 5 1 20 30 Cameroon 7 4 _ _ _ 1 14 3 6 5 13 26 31 Northern Ireland 7 3 _ _ _ 1 13 3 5 5 13 23 32 Denmark 6 2 _ _ _ 1 9 5 1 3 19 13 ================================================================ The balance of power at the World Cup is different than in the club scene. Brazil may not be as strong as Argentina in the Copa Libertadores, but they are without question the greatest World Cup nation of all time (though Argentina are quite anxious to catch up to them.) Of the big four European nations for club football, only Germany and Italy have been able to consistently reach the highest levels in national team play while England have seen a good deal of success, including a title in 1966, but have also suffered through bad periods. Spain, on the other hand, has been disappointing in spite of high expectations, but they are yet again one of the favourites to take home the trophy. France broke through in the last World Cup, their record is similar to England's. Only seven nations have ever won a World Cup: Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay from South America, and Germany, Italy, England, and France from Europe. The tally for each continent is even: eight each. It is appropriate that the 17th World Cup should be played in Asia, neutral ground for them. This World Cup promises to be one of the greatest events of all time.