Ranking the 10 Best Soccer Clubs of All Time
By most accounts, soccer is the most popular sport on the planet.
You can argue for others (in vain), but it's difficult to deny the global reach of the game and the feverish fanbases it produces.
With over a century of professional football in the books, there is a complex and nuanced debate to be had about the best club to have ever existed. History, context, silverware, difficulty of opponents, standard of competition, star players and youth development all need to be considered when creating a case for the cream of the crop.
With that in mind, we've ranked the 10 best club sides in the game's rich history.
Disagree with the order or think some teams were cruelly overlooked? Leave your selection in the comments.
10. Palmeiras
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Brazil is synonymous with glorious soccer. O Jogo Bonito (The Beautiful Game) is more than a way to describe a style of play; it's actually a way of life.
In the club ranks, a handful of teams could have burst into this top 10. Santos, Flamengo and São Paulo all had a solid case.
But it's Palmeiras that sneaks in here thanks to its record-setting 12 Série A titles, 26 Campeonato Paulista trophies (second-most in league history) and three Copa Libertadores wins.
The club also boasts an impressive list of Brazil national team alumni, including Cafu, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos.
In the here and now, though, Palmeiras' academy is increasingly a hotbed for talent. Endrick made a big-money move to Real Madrid in 2024, and Estevão Willian is heading to Chelsea ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
While selling young stars isn't exactly a promising sign, the Verdão are perhaps preparing to use the money made from the sale of their assets to ensure their lengthy history of success continues.
9. Boca Juniors
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Boca Juniors is one of the most successful teams in Argentine football history.
The club from Buenos Aires, the nation's capital, has claimed 52 domestic titles, including 35 top-flight trophies. Add on 18 international titles, including six Copa Libertadores trophies (the second-most in the competition), and it's clear the club's trophy cabinet is fit to burst.
Fans of River Plate might dispute this ranking, as the club leads Boca in the Primera Division trophy tally by three.
But since Boca have two more Copa Libertadores trophies and can lay claim to bringing a certain Diego Maradona to international prominence, River have to see their hated cross-town rivals place in the top 10 at their expense.
8. Ajax
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Ajax is arguably the club that turned soccer into an art form.
The biggest team in the Netherlands was lauded in the 1960s and 1970s for a style of play that was almost fluid, with players popping up in various positions around the pitch, dominating and bamboozling opponents.
There is evidence of this philosophy being developed elsewhere, but it was truly streamlined and popularized by the Eredivisie side and manager Rinus Michels.
"Total Football" became the blueprint for the game we know today, with managers taking the scheme's guiding principles and applying them to their systems. Its DNA can be seen in the way Arrigo Sacchi, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Arne Slot and other top tacticians went on to set up their sides.
For Ajax, that aesthetic brand of football also contributed to De Godenzonen's significant success. That includes 36 top-flight titles, an additional 29 domestic honors and four European Cup trophies, notably including a back-to-back-to-back stretch from 1970-71 to 1972-73.
The Ajax academy is also responsible for some elite talent. Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids and Wesley Sneijder all honed their skills in the youth ranks. Meanwhile, players such as Marco van Basten and Edwin van der Sar joined the club at a young age and went on to stamp their names in the football history books.
7. AC Milan
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Both major sides in the Italian city of Milan can make a case for a place in the top 10, but Internazionale narrowly loses out.
Instead, AC Milan squeeze in by virtue of its seven European Cup wins, which is more than double that of Inter's haul (three). The Rossoneri have also kept things close domestically—Milan have 19 Scudetti compared to Inter's 20.
Milan have been led by some of the finest managers ever to grace a dugout, including Nereo Rocco, Arrigo Sacchi, Fabio Capello and Carlo Ancelotti. Those four men are responsible for all of the club's seven European Cups, as well as eight of their Serie A titles.
They've also had six Ballon d'Or winners, the joint-second-most of any club. Gianni Rivera, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten (three times), George Weah, Andriy Shevchenko and Kaká all grabbed the greatest individual prize in world football.
The club's academy is also responsible for developing three of the best center-backs the game has seen in Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini.
That's an impressive hall of fame on an individual basis. In terms of the club as a whole, Milan's name is peppered throughout the book of football history.
6. Manchester United
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Manchester United was perhaps the best team in the world at the height of football's global explosion in the 1990s and early 2000s, mainly thanks to the work of one man: Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Scot earned 13 top-flight titles in his 27 years at the club, and he took the Red Devils to a memorable treble of the Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 1999.
Ferguson claimed another European Cup in 2008, and he also brought a further four FA Cups. That's in addition to four League Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup, among a clutch of other trophies.
His time at Old Trafford was the most successful period in the club's history. It helped define United for an era, and that remarkable haul even helped to maintain their clout in recent lean years.
While the Ferguson years brought the longest period of success, the Red Devils have been no strangers to silverware since their formation in 1878, especially under Sir Matt Busby in the 1950s and 1960s.
They’ve also seen some incredible players, including Ballon d'Or winners Denis Law, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as top stars like Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and Wayne Rooney.
That all makes the club a comfortable selection in the top 10, although United fans will undoubtedly believe a higher placing is deserved.
5. Liverpool
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Liverpool dominated English football in the 1970s and 1980s, setting the standard for other clubs to follow. That golden period under Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish saw them earn 11 league titles and four European titles.
While there were some fallow years since the turn of the 1990s, the Reds have started to regain some prominence under the guidance of former coach Jurgen Klopp and current manager Arne Slot.
Two Premier League titles, a Champions League trophy, an FA Cup, two League Cups, a Club World Cup triumph and a UEFA Super Cup isn't bad going in the last seven years.
Liverpool is tied with Manchester United for the most English top-flight titles with 20, but the Reds’ six European Cup trophies (tied for third-most in the competition's history) put them ahead of their rivals in the overall "best club" stakes.
The Merseysiders' history is a case study in boom and bust, with periods of remarkable success followed by decline and a need to rebuild. But that resilience just adds to Liverpool lore, with the club as determined and resolute as the city it represents.
There's a reason why "You'll Never Walk Alone" has established itself as the Reds' guiding principle.
4. Juventus
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Even with two league titles having been stripped as a result of the Calciopoli scandal, Juventus still hold the honor of having won the most Serie A titles in the league's storied existence.
A tally of 36 Scudetti is seriously impressive, considering the team in second, Internazionale, has won 20.
On top of that, the Old Lady of Italian football has picked up two European Cups and holds the record for the most Coppa Italia titles with 15. Inter and AS Roma are tied for second with nine each.
The youth ranks brought through club legends in Alessandro Del Piero and Claudio Marchisio, while they also had perhaps the greatest goalkeeper of all time in Gianluigi Buffon on the payroll for the best part of 17 years.
Juventus are joint-third on the list of clubs with the most Ballon d'Or winners with six players: Omar Sívori, Paolo Rossi, Michel Platini (three times), Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane and Pavel Nedvěd.
If there was any doubt about the club's popularity, a 2019 study shared by Statista found that Juve have twice the supporter base than the second-highest club Inter, and more than both the Milan sides combined.
3. Bayern Munich
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Hear "German football," think Bayern Munich.
The Bavarians have won the Bundesliga an incredible 33 times, which is 28 times more than the joint-second most successful teams, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
That domestic dominance is practically unparalleled throughout Europe's top leagues. Add that to the club's six European Cup titles—good for joint-third in the tournament's history—and the case for Bayern's inclusion in the top three best-ever football clubs is exceedingly strong.
The lack of consistent competition in the German top flight is perhaps the only knock against Bayern, but you can't argue with results.
Twenty DFB-Pokal titles is unsurprisingly another record, a whopping 14 more than Werder Bremen in second.
Bayern also have multiple Ballon d'Or winners in their history books, with Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge picking up the golden orb twice each, while Gerd Müller has to be content with just the one.
Unfortunately for Die Roten, the records of two Spanish sides are too much to contend with in these rankings.
2. Barcelona
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It must be galling to have won 28 league titles and five European Cup trophies and still not be ranked as the best soccer club of all time. Seeing the team that took the top spot will rub even more salt in that wound.
Barcelona is perhaps the model for what all elite football clubs should be. It has a clear footballing philosophy that's established from the academy to the first team; a well-regarded youth setup with a direct channel to the senior squad; and a fanbase that is as passionate and loyal as any in world football.
On the subject of that youth setup, consider the talent that has progressed from La Masia to the Camp Nou: Thiago Alcantara, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Xavi, Iniesta, Jordi Alba.
Oh, and some guy named Lionel Messi.
That's not even to mention the next generation of players who could soon be placed in the world-class category, including Pedri, Gavi and Lamine Yamal.
Then consider the talents the Blaugrana have managed to bring in, such as Hristo Stoichkov, Johan Cruyff, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho—all of whom won the Ballon d'Or.
Barcelona has lifted the most Copa Del Rey trophies in history with 32, set the record with 15 Spanish Super Cups and the second-most Club World Cup trophies with three.
That's a stunning collection of silverware for any club. But it's not enough to top their longtime rivals.
1. Real Madrid
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Real Madrid's success has been built in a slightly different way than Barcelona's home-grown approach—at least in the 21st century.
Instead of nurturing talent to become world-beaters, Los Blancos simply splash the cash and hoard a collection of superstars.
But even before the start of the club's Galacticos era, which saw them bring in players such as Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, Luis Figo, David Beckham, Fabio Cannavaro and Ruud van Nistelrooy in the early 2000s, Real were one of the most glittering clubs on the planet.
From 1930 to 1999, they lifted 27 La Liga titles—one fewer than Barcelona's all-time total, no less—17 Copas del Rey and seven European Cups, in addition to a host of other silverware.
But those star signings took them to a whole other level, and later additions of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos brought them to a level of unprecedented success.
Real's 15 European Cup titles are more than double the next most successful team (Milan, seven), while their 36 La Liga trophies have them comfortably ahead of Barcelona domestically.
The club can boast the most players to win the Ballon d'Or with eight, bringing in a total of 12 awards. Club legend Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed five of them.
Meanwhile, Forbes has listed Los Blancos as the most valuable soccer club in the world.
It's not like they need any more validation for greatness, but Real Madrid top our ranking of the best clubs in world football history.
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