25 Best Football Clubs of 2011

Yeah, I ranked Barcelona No. 1. Who else could it be?

Barcelona wasn't just great in 2011. Leo Messi and company were historic.

After adding another La Liga title and the Champions League to their resume this year, the Catalans were rightfully regarded as one of the best teams of all time. Three and a half years after Pep Guardiola took over as manager, Barcelona has no equal.

And that's why they're No. 1.

But who's No. 2? And furthermore, who's No. 25?

That's the point of this list: world football's 25 best clubs of 2011. In selecting this list, I gave extra weight to teams that won silverware in 2011.

But, at the same time, I considered some teams who missed out on silverware but had strong seasons overall, as you'll see. And, in one case I selected a team that had a great 2011, but was also a feel-good story.

In other words, this ranking is more about which teams had the best year in 2011—not a ranking of who would beat whom.

Think you know who's on the list?

Here it is…

25. Chelsea

Chelsea didn't win any silverware in 2011, but the London-based club had an excellent year.

The Blues finished second in the English Premier League and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

And, in December, Chelsea handed big-spending Manchester City its first loss of the season.

Chelsea's players and bosses will expect more, and that's part of what makes the club one of Europe's heavyweights.

24. Peñarol

South American clubs don't get enough respect from fans of European football. I'm as guilty as anyone of that.

But here's a shout-out to the quality of South American football.

Peñarol, a Uruguayan club that won no silverware in 2011, ranks No. 24 on my list.

The Uruguayans finished second in the prestigious Copa Libertadores (for my money, one of the most consistently entertaining tournaments in the world). Meanwhile, they finished third in their domestic league.

Like Chelsea, Peñarol won't be satisfied with that. But, it was a good year nonetheless.

23. LA Galaxy

The Los Angeles Galaxy had a dream season in 2011, probably their last with English superstar David Beckham on the squad.

The Galaxy finished the regular season with the best record in Major League Soccer, the top league in the United States, and took home their third MLS Cup.

They also advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, which is the American version of the FA Cup.

With Beckham likely gone, 2012 might see changes for Los Angeles. But 2011 was one of their best years yet.

22. CD Guadalajara

I'll admit it— I have a soft spot for Chivas.

The famous old club from Guadalajara didn't win any silverware in 2011, but they did finish first in the Mexican Primera Division's 2011 Apertura.

They were upset in the first round of the playoffs, but that didn't take away from their brilliant season.

Why? They beat Barcelona—admittedly, in what was for Barca a preseason friendly—and, astoundingly. The final score was 4-1.

21. Celtic

In Scotland, there's Celtic and there's Rangers. The two Glasgow-based clubs have been dominating the country for years, and 2011 was no different.

Celtic won the Scottish Cup, beating Motherwell 3-0 in the final. The victory served as a happy ending to what was a mostly unpleasant season for manager Neil Lennon.

The first-year manager experienced heavy pressure to close the gap on Rangers. He did it, but the pressure remained until the cup win gave Celtic's board a reason to keep Lennon around.

That reason— The club's first silverware since 2009.

20. Rangers

Here is the biggest reason Celtic hadn't won any silverware since 2009— Rangers and their former manager Walter Smith.

Smith returned in 2007 to the club he had previously managed from 1991-98. He quickly brought back success, winning the league title in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and the Scottish Cup in 2008 and 2009.

The 2011 campaign was Smith's last with Rangers (for now). His assistant, Ally McCoist took over before the start of the 2011-12 season.

He has Rangers right back in first place.

19. Shakhtar Donetsk

Don't be a Western European snob. There's some good football being played in Eastern Europe.

Shakhtar Donetsk served as a good example in 2011. After winning the Ukrainian Premier League in 2010-11, Shakhtar advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League—beating out Arsenal for first place out of Group H with 15 points—before bowing out to eventual winner Barcelona.

The Ukrainian league is on winter break until March. When it starts again, Shakhtar will be one point behind league-leading Dynamo Kiev.

18. UANL

UANL? That's short for (Tigres de la) Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon.

You could just call them Tigres, or you could call them the champions of Mexico's Primera Division.

Seeded fourth in the Liguilla, the Mexican league's playoff, Tigres beat Pachuca, Queretaro and Santos Laguna on the way to the 2011 Apertura title— their first in 29 years.

After winning the first leg of the final 1-0 on the road at Santos Laguna, Tigres won 3-1 at Estadio Universitario behind goals from Hector Mancilla, Danilinho and Alan Pulido.

The win capped a wild three-game run for Tigres that included two red cards, a semifinal decided by a single own goal and an altercation in the final that saw two players sent off.

17. FC Basel

FC Basel of Switzerland is the feel-good team of 2011.

You already know all about FC Basel's famous win over Manchester United in the group stages of this season's Champions League. Thanks to that win, they advanced to the knockout stages for the first time.

Basel also won the Swiss Super League, Swiss Cup and Uhrencup in 2010-11, their final season under manager Thorsten Fink.

Under current manager Heiko Vogel, the Swiss have continued to play good football and seem to have uncovered a future star in Xherdan Shaqiri.

I'll be interested to watch how they progress in 2012.

16. Boca Juniors

Boca Juniors returned to the summit of Argentinean football in 2011, winning their first title since 2008— the 2011 Apertura.

The Buenos Aires-based club did it with style, too, taking the 19-game Apertura by a whopping 12 points over Racing Club de Avellaneda.

Boca Juniors also were a feel-good story. Club legend Juan Roman Riquelme returned in 2011 and helped Boca clinch with two games to spare.

15. Corinthians

Let's stay in South America for No. 15.

Corinthians won the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, the top professional league in Brazil, in 2011. Along the way, they out-performed other Brazilian giants like Cruzeiro, Santos, Internacional and Vasco Da Gama.

Corinthians suffered relegation just four years ago, the season after selling star players Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez. But earlier this month they celebrated their fifth title.

The title-clinching day was bittersweet, however, as Corinthians also mourned the death of Brazilian legend Socrates.

14. Schalke 04

Schalke? Yep, believe it.

The Little German Club That Could kept on huffing and puffing all the way to the semifinals of last season's Champions League, memorably beating Inter Milan 7-3 over two legs in the quarterfinals.

Spanish forward Raul reinvigorated his career, finishing the 2010-11 season with 19 goals in all competitions. Schalke, meanwhile, took the DFB-Pokal, the top cup competition in Germany.

The Gelsenkirchen-based club finished just 14th in the Bundesliga, perhaps because of the difficulties of managing multiple competitions. Through 17 matches this season, though, they're in third place, three points behind league-leading Bayern Munich.

13. Zenit St. Petersburg

Zenit didn't win anything in 2011, but that had more to do with the crazy nature of the Russian football calendar than anything.

Zenit won the Russian Premier League in 2010, beating out CSKA Moscow by six points. In 2011, the Russian league schedule changed, though, and didn't crown a champion. The current season started last March and will conclude in 2012 as Russia attempts to move in line with the standard European schedule.

No matter, though. Zenit are leading the league right now anyway with 61 points through 30 matches.

Under Italian manager Luciano Spalletti, Zenit continued their progress in the Champions League, advancing from the group stage this season.

12. FC Twente

FC Twente finished second in the Netherlands' Eredivisie, narrowly missing out on defending their title.

But, while they finished two points behind Ajax in the league, Michel Preud'homme's team won the KNVB Cup.

In the final, Twente erased a 2-0 deficit to beat—you guessed it—Ajax.

11. Ajax

Ajax and Twente both had success in 2011, but I gave the edge to Ajax for their league triumph.

The Netherlands' most famous team won its 30th league championship in May, edging Twente by two points in the Eredivisie table.

10. Inter Milan

The last few months of 2011 weren't great for Inter. The Milanese club started poorly in Italy's Serie A, and manager Gian Piero Gasperini was fired.

Claudio Ranieri succeeded him and got Inter back to where it was for most of 2011— winning.

Under Leonardo (a former player and manager of arch-rival AC Milan), Inter won the 2011 Coppa Italia and finished second in Serie A (behind AC Milan).

Inter's worst moment of 2011 came in the Champions League quarterfinal loss to Schalke. But one of its best moments—Dejan Stankovic's outrageous goal from the halfway line—came from the same tie

9. Lille

Lille lived in dreamland in 2011.

With a young, talented roster that featured names like Gervinho (who's now at Arsenal), Eden Hazard (who's now one of Europe's hottest transfer prospects) and Moussa Sow (who scored 25 of his team's 68 league goals), Lille won its first Ligue 1 title since 1954.

They also took the Coupe de France, a first since 1955.

Now they just have to figure out how to hold onto Hazard and Sow.

8. Santos

Santos, the legendary Brazilian club of Pele, won the 2011 Copa Libertadores and advanced to the final of the Club World Cup before running into Barcelona (more on them later).

But, perhaps more importantly, Santos managed to hang on to Brazilian wonder-kid Neymar for another year.

Considering the lure and money that European clubs can offer, that alone is enough for consideration for this list.

7. Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund had its best year since 1997, when it won the Champions League.

Under the guidance of master manager Jurgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund ran away with the 2011 Bundesliga title, finishing seven points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and ten ahead of Bayern Munich.

Like some of the other clubs on this list, Borussia Dortmund now faces a fight to hold on to some of its best players. Nuri Sahin departed for Real Madrid in the summer, and now Mario Götze is attracting attention from Europe's top clubs.

6. Manchester City

That picture might be the strongest testament to how good Manchester City was in 2011.

The "other" team in Manchester won the 2010-11 FA Cup, grabbing their first silverware in decades.

Captain Carlos Tevez lifted the trophy at Wembley in May, and he's hardly played for the club since then.

Tevez and manager Roberto Mancini had a falling out, but the club hasn't missed a beat. Thanks to an infusion of money from new ownership, City has a squad that's as deep as any in Europe.

The Sky Blues currently lead the Premier League and are the favorites to win the title next May.

5. AC Milan

By the world's standards, AC Milan had a great 2011.

By the club's own standards, AC Milan had an average 2011.

The Rossoneri won the Scudetto in 2011, finishing six points ahead of arch-rival Inter Milan. They also took the Supercoppa Italiana (pictured), beating Inter in August.

In the Champions League, AC Milan lost to Tottenham Hotspur in the round of 16.

And in the Coppa Italia, AC Milan lost to Palermo in the semifinals.

So, yeah, a good year for most clubs. But for Milan, 2011 was just OK.

4. Porto

Under first-year manager Andre Villas-Boas (anyone heard of him these days?), Porto made a glorious run in 2011.

Porto won the Portuguese League, UEFA Europa League and Portuguese Cup, all in the same year.

Forward Radamel Falcao (now with Atletico Madrid) scored 38 goals in all competitions. Hulk scored 36 and added 21 assists.

It added up to a year none of them will ever forget.

3. Real Madrid

Of all the trophies Barcelona could win in 2011, the only one they didn't win (this is not an exaggeration) was the Copa del Rey, Spain's best cup competition.

Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey in 2011. They beat—of course—Barcelona in the final, 1-0 after extra time, thanks to a 103rd minute goal from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Speaking of Ronaldo—in their 26-year-old Portuguese superstar Real Madrid has the second-best player in the world. When he's at his best, Ronaldo can lift Real to heights few teams can match.

But despite that dramatic win over Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, Real still finished 2011 second-best in Spain.

2. Manchester United

Could a 2011 Manchester United beat a 2011 Real Madrid?

We might never know. Real Madrid lost to Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League semifinals, and Manchester United bowed out of the 2011-12 competition in the group stage.

But Manchester United finished runner-up to Barcelona in the 2010-11 Champions League, making the English club the de jure second-best team in Europe.

In addition, United won the English Premier League again—their 12th in 19 years—and advanced to the semifinals of the FA Cup.

To me, that sounds like Manchester United had a better 2011 than Real Madrid.

1. Barcelona

There can be no debate: Barcelona had the best 2011 of any club in the world.

The Spanish giants won just about everything they could in 2011—La Liga, the Champions League and the Supercopa de España.

But their best moments might have come in December.

In the Dec. 10 edition of El Clasico, Barcelona embarrassed Real Madrid 3-1 after Real had supposedly closed the gap between the clubs.

And on Dec. 18, Barcelona demolished Santos 4-0 in the final of the Club World Cup, showing the world that Santos and Neymar have a long way to go before they can claim to be on the same level as Barcelona and Lionel Messi.

Messi?

Yeah, he finished 2010-11 with 53 goals in all competitions and already has 29 this season. He's the two-time defending FIFA World Player of the Year/Ballon d'Or winner, and this year he's a finalist along with teammate Xavi Hernandez.

All in all, Barcelona is the best team in the world; Messi is the best player in the world; and all together, they had the best year of any club in the world.