Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side, Enyimba of Aba have surprisingly been ranked above three top European teams in latest global statistics of the world’s best soccer clubs, megasportsarena.com reports.
The Peoples Elephant, who recently lost out on a chance of playing in the group stage of the CAF Champions League for the second year running, are rated above Girondins-Bordeaux of France, RSC Anderlecht of Belgium and AS Torino of Italy in the latest figures.
This is according to International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), which cited Enyimba as 352nd in its publication of the world clubs’ rankings for 2020 on Thursday but, while the Aba side pooled in 50.5 points to rank among the top 400, the only Nigerian side that made the list dropped 89 places from 263rd in 2019.
Based on IFFHS’ weighted points per game methodology, Enyimba remained rated globally, in spite of finishing finished second last season in the NPFL, and they now ranked above six-time French champions, Bordeaux (354th) and Belgium’s record champions Anderlecht (362nd).
The two-time African champions are also ahead of Torino (372nd), New York City of USA (372nd) and Odion Jude Ighalo’s Shanghai Shenhua of China (384th); but current European champions, Bayern Munich are the top ranked club in the world.
The Bavarians are followed by Palmeiras of Brazil, Paris-Saint Germaine of France, Inter Milan of Italy and Manchester City of England in that order, while Africa’s top five are Al Ahly of Egypt (31st), Zamalek of Egypt (54th), Esperance of Tunisia (97th), Pyramids of Egypt (103rd) and RSB Berkane of Algeria (125th).
It is also interesting to note that the NPFL also received commendable mention, as the Nigerian top-flight league, which was last season on by Plateau United of Jos after been called off hastily and prematurely due to effects of the coronavirus pandemic, now ranks as 77th in the world, but it drops 20 positions compared to last year’s chart.
