Wihdat, Faisali drop out of top 10 Arab, Asian teams

Wihdat stayed at 210th spot while Faisali went up to 229th place in the latest top 400 club ranking of the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS). Both teams have been relatively idle after the local agenda ended. Wihdat moved to the 2012 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup quarters after beating Kuwait’s Kathima 2-1. They will play Kuwait Club in the two-leg quarters set for September 18 and 25. Faisali were eliminated from the AFC Cup first round, however, they had a good season locally capped by winning their record 32nd Jordan Professional League title as well as the Jordan Cup and the Jordan Football Association Shield. Team are now readying up to start the 2012/13 season later this month. Last season, Wihdat only managed to retain the Cup Winner’s Cup, after winning all four local titles in the preceding season, in a repeat of their historic feat of the 2008/09 season. In the latest IFFHS rankings Spain’s FC Barcelona top the list, followed by Chile’s Universidad de Chile Santiago, Spain’s Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, Germany’s Bayern Munich, Argentina’s Boca Juniors Buenos Aires, England’s Chelsea FC, Paraguay’s Club Libertad Asuncion, Argentina’s CA Velez Sarsfield, Spain’s Athletic Bilbao and Brazil’s Vasco da Gama Rio de Janeiro. Wihdat are out of the top 10 Arab clubs led by Tunisia’s Esperance at 62nd place, followed by Morocco’s Fes (90), Sudan’s Hilal Umdurman (91), Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca (99), Saudi Arabia’s Hilal (117), Egypt’s Zamalek (125), Egypt’s CA Tigre (125), Saudi Arabia’s Ittihad (133), Tunisia’s Club Africain (145) and the UAE’s Al Jazeera Abu Dhabi (152). Wihdat also dropped out of the Asian top 10 which saw many changes as East Asian teams continued to dominate. South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai Horangi FC are top Asian team at 68th spot, followed by South Korea’s CB Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (70), Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol (71), South Korea’s Suwon Samsung Blue-Wings FC (85), Japan’s Nagoya Grampus (94), Iran’s Esteghlal (106) and Isfahan (112), Saudi Arabia’s Hilal (117), and South Korea’s Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma FC (109) and FC Pohang Steelers (124). 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.