Every Champions League contender’s highest and lowest UEFA ranking since 2005

And we’re back. The Champions League has returned and Europe’s elite are gearing up for another season of intense warfare.

The familiar heavyweights continue to dominate the upper reaches of UEFA’s ranking system, with Manchester City maintaining a club-record eighth position.

Since their remarkable takeover by Emirati dynamo Sheikh Mansour in 2008, the money-flushed club have accelerated up the club coefficient rankings, but that wasn’t always the case.

And so with that considered, Squawka have taken a look at every Champions League contender’s highest and lowest UEFA ranking since 2005.

Real Madrid

Current ranking: 1st

Highest ranking: 1st (2013 – present)

Lowest ranking: 13th (2008 – 2010)

Despite dominating Europe for the past three seasons, the perennial powerhouse of Los Blancos endured a significant blip between 2005 and 2010, failing to progress further than the round-of-16 for six consecutive seasons.

However, since then the 13-time winners have enforced a stranglehold over the continent and will be looking to win an unprecedented fourth-successive Champions League title this term.

Bayern Munich

Current ranking: 2nd

Highest ranking: 2nd (2012 – 2013, 2015 – 2016, present)  

Lowest ranking: 18th (2006 – 2007)

The Bavarians were the last non-Spanish side to win the Champions League after beating Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in 2013; things have not quite worked out for the joint-third-most decorated European club since then, but new coach Niko Kovac will be looking to place Bayern back on top of the pedestal this season.

Barcelona

Current ranking: 3rd 

Highest ranking: 1st (2008 – 2010, 2011 – 2012) 

Lowest ranking: 4th (2004 – 2005, 2007 – 2008, 2017 – 2018)

The Catalan giants have remained an ever-present in the upper echelons of UEFA’s club ranking system since 2005, winning the competition four times in that period, most famously under the auspices of Pep Guardiola during a dominant European spell between 2009 and 2011.

Atletico Madrid

Current ranking: 4th

Highest ranking: 2nd (2017 – 2018) 

Lowest ranking: 67th (2007 – 2008)

A club once dwarfed by their Madrid neighbours Real (not gaining a UEFA coefficient until 2007), Atletico have emerged from the shadows under the tutelage of Diego Simeone, and flirted with tangible European reward in recent seasons, coming closest in 2014 and 2016 after reaching the final, only to lose to their eternal rivals on both occasions.

Juventus

Current ranking: 5th

Highest ranking: 5th (2005 – 2006, 2016 – present)

Lowest ranking: 43rd (2010 – 2011)

After the Calciopoli scandal, Juve were relegated to Serie B in 2006, and hence their significant plummet in the club coefficient rankings, but since then they have skyrocketed back up the ladder, and this season Massimiliano Allegri has meticulously crafted a purpose-built Champions League winning side.

Paris Saint-Germain

Current ranking: 7th

Highest ranking: 6th (2016 – 2017) 

Lowest ranking: 66th (2007 – 2008)

Domestic dominance is par for the course in the French capital, but the Parisians have struggled in Europe, never reaching a Champions League final, and only making the semi-final once in 1994; Thomas Tuchel will be looking to rectify that statistic this season.

Manchester City

Current ranking: 8th

Highest ranking: 8th (2017 – present)  

Lowest ranking: 93rd (2005 – 2006)

Another team in the mould of PSG, whose owners have hand-picked a manager with the purpose of achieving European success. The club had already won the Premier League under two different managers in the Sheikh Mansour era, so Pep Guardiola knows the pressure is on to triumph in the continent’s elite knockout tournament.

Borussia Dortmund

Current ranking: 12th

Highest ranking: 7th (2016 – 2017) 

Lowest ranking: 120th (2008 – 2009)

Under Jurgen Klopp, the Ruhr district giants came agonisingly close to winning the competition in 2013, but fell short at the hands of Bundesliga rivals Bayern. The club have only won the Champions League once in 1997, when a certain Paul Lambert was running the midfield.

Liverpool

Current ranking: 14th

Highest ranking: 3rd (2006 – 2008) 

Lowest ranking: 42nd (2014 – 2015)

Last season’s finalists have rediscovered their European mojo after a number of years in exile post-2010. Still the most-decorated English club in the competition, Klopp will be looking to harness his inner Bob Paisley and clinch European success on Merseyside.

Manchester United

Current ranking: 16th

Highest ranking: 1st (2010 – 2011) 

Lowest ranking: 20th (2015 – 2016)

Once the apex predators of the UEFA ranking system, the Red Devils are still trying to steady the ship after Sir Alex Ferguson called time on a trophy-laden career at Old Trafford. In Jose Mourinho they have a serial winner who knows how to triumph on the big stage.

Tottenham Hotspur

Current ranking: 21st

Highest ranking: 18th (2010 – 2011) 

Lowest ranking: 55th (2006 – 2007)

Spurs only joined the ranking system in 2006 after a six-year absence from overseas football, but since then the club have slowly built a squad capable of competing in the Champions League, and in Mauricio Pochettino, they have a manager who possesses the requisite attributes to cause an upset in the competition.

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