Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Wihdat went up seven spots to 131st and Faisali took a giant leap of 68 spots to 267th in the latest top 400 club ranking of the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) issued on Thursday.

Wihdat improved their standings before the end of 2011 with giants leaps of 123 spots and another 88 spots, putting them at third Arab spot and top Arab team among Asian clubs.

In the latest ranking, Wihdat are now 9th among Arab and Asian clubs. The team which who won all four major local titles last season, in a repeat of their historic feat of the 2008/09 season, have not been as impressive this season. They are now third in the League behind Faisali and Ramtha and have been eliminated from the Jordan Cup quarters.

This season, they won the Cup Winner’s Cup but conceded the Jordan Football Association Shield to Faisali.

Regionally, Wihdat bowed out of the semifinals of the 2011 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup losing the chance to appear in the final of the second-tier Asian club competition, which was won by Faisali in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun in 2007.

In the upcoming AFC Cup edition, Faisali will play in Group A alongside Kuwait’s Qadissieh, Syria’s Ittihad and Oman’s Suweiq, while Wihdat will play in Group D against India’s Salgaocar, Oman’s Ouroba, and either UAE’s Al Shabab Al Arabi or Uzbekistan’s Neftchi.

In the latest IFFHS ranking, Spain’s FC Barcelona top the list followed by Real Madrid, Argentina’s CA Velez Sarsfield, England’s Manchester United and Manchester City, Brazil’s FC Santos, Chile’s Universidad de Chile Santiago and Universidad Católica Santiago, Portugal’s Sport Lisboa Benfica and Germany’s FC Schalke.

In Arab teams, Morocco’s Fes took top Arab spot at 75th place followed by Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca (77), Tunisia’s Esperance (81), Qatar’s Sadd (89), Egypt’s Ahli Cairo (105), Saudi Arabia’s Hilal (110), Sudan’s Hilal Umdurman (120), Egypt’s Zamalek (125), Wihdat (131) and Tunisia’s Club Africain (151).

South Korea’s CB Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are top Asian club at 44th place, followed by Suwon Samsung Blue-Wings FC (47), Qatar’s Sadd (89), Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi (100), South Korea’s FC Seoul (107), Iran’s Sepahan Isfahan (107), Saudi Arabia’s Hilal (110), Japan’s Nagoya Grampus (124), Wihdat (131) and Japan’s Cerezo (135).

Initiated in 1991, the Club World Ranking is a classification showing the level of the clubs and the level of international performance for each country. Competitions not organised by a continental confederation, or any intercontinental events not recognised by FIFA, are not taken into consideration.


* Jordan Times