The top 10 football clubs in the world in 2010
1) FC Barcelona
Not a hard one this. The Blaugranas have mesmerised almost every opponent they have played against in the last few years. The team looked pretty tasty under Frank Rijkaard’s management but have moved on to even greater things with Pep Guardiola at the helm. In 2009 they won every single tournament in which they competed including the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup. The players that don the famous shirt are names to salivate over – Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta – which makes Barcelona the team that everybody measures themselves against.2) Chelsea
No doubt this selection will rub some people up the wrong way but when you look at their performances in England and Europe their case gets stronger. Premier League champions in three of the last six years, they have also won the FA Cup three times in four years. On the continental stage Chelsea may not have lifted the European Cup yet but they have reached five semi-finals in the last seven years, making it to the final in 2008 when they were a penalty kick and a coat of paint away from glory. 3) Manchester United
They are the team that everyone – in England, at least – loves to hate. Partly its due to their perceived arrogance but mainly its because of their remarkable knack of winning trophies. They combated the emergence of Jose Mourinho’s Roman Abramovich funded Chelsea by winning three Premier League titles between 2007-09, beating their arch-rivals in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final for good measure. While the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo has blunted United slightly and see them lose their domestic crown, their ability to make the best of their resources means they remain a threat on all fronts.4) Inter Milan
The reigning European Champions have enjoyed a renaissance over the past decade. A European giant that continually flattered to deceive finally broke their Scudetto drought after being awarded the title thanks to the Calciopoli scandal that engulfed Italian football in 2006. While they may have won that year’s Serie A by default, they won the next four fair and square. Jose Mourinho arrived as manager in 2008 with a brief to win the UEFA Champions League and he duly obliged in May 2010 before jetting off to rescue another fallen giant, Real Madrid.z`z`5) Real Madrid
The nine-time European Cup winners polarise football fans’ opinions more than most clubs. The glamour is undeniable but arrogance and posturing coupled with the famous galactico era has left a sour taste in the mouth of many. Still, they never fail to finish in the top two of Spain’s La Liga and when they are beaten to the title it is by FC Barcelona which is no disgrace. They have faltered on the European stage of late and were even relegated to being second seeds in the draw for the group stages of the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League. But with new manager Jose Mourinho at the helm there is every chance of that status being changed, 6) Internacional
Internacional are by no means the first name that would come to mind when you thought of Brazilian football clubs. Most would consider Flamengo, Santos, Corinthians, Vasco da Gama and fair few more before you arrived at the second club from Porto Alegre (Ronaldinho’s Gremio tops that list). But Inter are the reigning Copa Libertadores champions, adding a second title in August to the one they won in 2006. That same year they also won the FIFA Club World Cup coincidentally beating Ronaldinho’s FC Barcelona in the final. Could they repeat the double in 2010.7) Bayern Munich
The ‘Manchester United of the Bundesliga’, the Bavarian giants are not terribly popular among neutral supporters in their own country. But there is no denying their status as the must decorated team in Germany with an incredible 22 league titles to their name to go with four European Cups. Their run to the 2010 UEFA Champions League final may have relied on some good fortune and questionable refereeing but the attacking threats of Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller were as potent as anyone in Europe. They have suffered a sketchy start to the new 2010/11 season but are heavily favoured to win domestically and to reach the business end of competition in Europe.8)Olympique Lyonnais
Lyon have had a remarkable decade. They had never won Ligue 1 until 2002 and then they did it seven years in a row. During that period they steadily progressed in the UEFA Champions League, gaining the enviable habit of knocking out Real Madrid along the way. Their appearance in the semi-final of last year’s tournament was the first in their history and while their pre-eminence in France is diminishing they remain a continental force. 9) Al Ahly
The Egyptian champions might not have the same cache as a FC Barcelona or Manchester United in Europe but in Africa they are big news. They were named as the continent’s ‘Club of the Twentieth Century’ and claimed their sixth Egyptian Premier League title in a row in May 2010. Added to that, Al Ahly have won three of the last five CAF Champions League titles to continue their dominance in Africa through to the twenty-first century.10) AC Milan
Deciding whether to include the Rossoneri on a list of the best teams around was a difficult one especially as they have not won their domestic championship since 2004. However, much of their demise was a result of the Calciopoli scandal and in the meantime they still lifted their seventh European Cup in 2007 beating Liverpool in the final. 2009/10 saw a more respectable third place finish in Serie A and an expensively assembled strike force of Ronaldinho, Robinho, Alexandre Pato and Zlatan Ibrahimovic could be set to fire them to former glories.
