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The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. The IFFHS was based in
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...
for some time but, in 2010, relocated to
Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
, Germany, and then in 2014 to
Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
. From its early stages to 2002, the IFFHS concentrated on publishing the quarterly magazines ''Fußball-Weltzeitschrift'', ''Libero spezial deutsch'' and ''Libero international''. When these had to be discontinued for reasons which were not officially told, the organisation published its material in a series of multi-lingual books in co-operation with sponsors.Rafa Jiménez, ''IFFHS: La calculadora del fútbol''. ''
Don Balón ''Don Balón'' is a Spanish weekly sports magazine specializing in Spanish and international football. The magazine was published in Barcelona between 1975 and 2011. It was distributed on five continents. Since 2011 ''Don Balón'' has been a full ...
'' (1656), 9/15 July 2007, p. 50 (in Spanish).
The statistical organisation has now confined its publishing activities to its website. IFFHS has no affiliation with FIFA, but FIFA has cited awards and records conducted by IFFHS on their website. In 2008, Karl Lennartz, a sports historian and professor at the
University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...
, Germany, called the organisation "obscure", describing it as a one-man show of its founder Alfredo Pöge. IFFHS rankings and their significance have been a matter of criticism and the largest German news agency,
Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is avai ...
, refuse to publish them. Furthermore, German ''
die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...
'' stated that the IFFHS rankings serves merely for publicity, although ''
Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...
'',
Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
, '' Kicker-Sportmagazin'',
German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...
(DFB), and former president of the Association of West German Sports Journalists (german: Verbandes Westdeutscher Sportjournalisten — VWS) Heribert Faßbender have referenced IFFHS.


The World's Best Club

Since 1991, the entity has produced a monthly Club World Ranking. The ranking takes into consideration the results of twelve months of continental and intercontinental competitions, national league matches (including play-offs) and the most important national cup (excluding points won before the round of 16). All countries are rated at four levels based upon the national league performance—clubs in the highest level leagues receive 4 points for each match won, 2 for a draw and 0 for a defeat. Level 2 is assigned 3 pts. (win), 1.5 (draw) and 0 (lost), and so on with the next lower levels. In continental competitions, all clubs receive the same number of points at all stages regardless of the performance level of their leagues. However, the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
and the
Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
yield more points than
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
and
Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...
, respectively. The point assignment system is still lower for the AFC, CAF,
CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
and OFC continental tournaments. Competitions between two continents are evaluated depending upon their importance. Competitions not organised by a continental confederation, or any intercontinental events not recognized by
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
, are not taken into consideration.


Men's winners


Continental Men's Clubs of the Century (1901–2000)

In 2009, the IFFHS released the results of a statistical study series which determined the best
continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
al clubs of the 20th century. The ranking did not consider the performance of the teams in national football tournaments (except in the Oceania's club ranking due to limited editions held under OFC club competitions), the performance in the intercontinental or worldwide club competitions or those submitted in the IFFHS Club World Ranking, available since 1991. Based on this study, which assigned a weighted score criteria applied for each competition analysed, the below six clubs were named as "continental clubs of the century" by the IFFHS between 10 September and 13 October 2009. These clubs were awarded with a golden trophy and a certificate during the ''World Football Gala'' celebrated at
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
, London, on 11 May 2010.


The Best Man Club of the Decade

In 2012, the IFFHS recognised Barcelona as the ''World's Best Club Team of the Decade'' for the first decade of the 21st century (2001–2010). In 2021, Barcelona were recognised as the world's best club also for the second decade (2011–2020).


Women's winners


The World's Strongest National League


Men's league


The Strongest National League of the Decade


Women's league


The World's Best Player


Men's winners

''From
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
until
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
,
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
continued this distinction named "
FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representativ ...
"; this award was later replaced by the
FIFA Ballon d'Or The FIFA Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball") was an annual association football award presented to the world's best men's player from 2010 to 2015. Awarded jointly by FIFA and ''France Football'', the prize was a merger of the FIFA World Player of the Ye ...
in
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, and
The Best FIFA Men's Player The Best FIFA Men's Player is an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, since 2016, to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. The award was formerly known ...
in
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
. The award was reinstated in 2020.''


The World's Best Man Player of the Century (1901–2000)


Women's winners


The World's Best Woman Player of the Century (1901–2000)

IFFHS gave out an award decided by votes which was conducted with the participation of journalists and former players (no further details given).


The World's Best Youth (U20) Player

The award was introduced in 2021.


Men's winners


Women's winners


The World's Best Playmaker


Men's winners

The IFFHS World's Best Playmaker is a footballing award which, since 2006, is given annually to the best
playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...
of the year, as chosen by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The award is awarded at the end of the year at the ''World Football Gala'': the winning playmaker is awarded a gold trophy. Argentina's
Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...
and Spain's
Xavi Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely con ...
have won the award a record four times each (Xavi four consecutive times), and Spanish compatriot
Andrés Iniesta Andrés Iniesta Luján (; born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and is the captain of J1 League club Vissel Kobe. Considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Iniesta has spent most of hi ...
has won the award two times.
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
is the club with the most wins, with ten in total.
Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...
was named the Best Playmaker since 2006 and the Best Playmaker of the Decade 2011–2020.


Women's winners

Dzsenifer Marozsán Dzsenifer Marozsán (; born 18 April 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for French club Olympique Lyonnais, as well as the Germany national team. She previously played for 1. FC Saarbrücken and 1. FFC Frankfurt in t ...
was named the Best Playmaker of the Decade 2011–2020.


The World's Best Goalkeeper


Men's winners


Women's winners


The World's Best Top Goal Scorer

This award is given annually since 2020, and retroactively from 2011 to 2019, to the world's top goalscorer in the calendar year.


Men's winners


All-time World's Best Goal Scorer ranking

:Bold indicates players currently active.


Women's winners

The women's award was introduced in 2021.


The World's Best International Goal Scorer

This award is given annually since 1991 to the world's top international goalscorer in the calendar year.


Men's winners


Women's winners

The women's award was introduced in 2021.


The World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer

This award is given annually since 1997 to the player who scores the most goals in a league season (in a calendar year since 2020) in any of the top 60 leagues in the world (as ranked by IFFHS for that given year).


Men's winners


All-time World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer ranking

:Bold indicates players currently active.


Women's winners

The women's award was introduced in 2021.


The World's Most Effective Top Division Goal Scorer

This award was given annually from 1997 to 2004 to the player with the best goal ratio (goals/matches played) in a league season in any of the top 60 leagues in the world (as ranked by IFFHS for that given year).


Men's winners


The World Team


Men's winners

In 2017, IFFHS started to nominate a world team of the year.


All-time Men's Dream Team (2021)


Women's winners

In 2017, IFFHS started to nominate a world team of the year.


All-time Women's Dream Team (2021)


The World Youth (U20) Team

The award was introduced in 2020.


Men's winners


Women's winners


The World's Best Club Coach


Men's winners


Women's winners


The World's Best National Coach


Men's winners


Women's winners


The World's Best Referee


Men's winners

Felix Brych Felix Brych (born 3 August 1975) is a German football referee. He referees for SV Am Hart München of the Bavarian Football Association. He is a former FIFA referee and was ranked as a UEFA elite category referee. Refereeing career Brych started ...
was awarded the prize for Men's Referee of the Decade 2011–20.


Women's winners

Bibiana Steinhaus Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb (born 24 March 1979) is a German Association football, football referee. She referees for MTV Engelbostel-Schulenburg of the Lower Saxony Football Association, but since October 2020 only as video assistant referee. She wa ...
was awarded the prize for Women's Referee of the Decade 2011–20.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:International Federation of Football History and Statistics Association football organizations Sports organizations established in 1984 1984 establishments in Germany Association football websites + History of association football