ARL Football Success Ranking System

The ARL Football Success Ranking System for men’s European club football establishes for certain which clubs are the most successful of each nation and in the whole of Europe.

It is a system of scoring points to clubs based on what trophies and how many have been won.

Different trophies score different points and are based on a ‘glory’ criteria.

Only ‘competitive football’ trophies are considered.

Spanish Football and its ‘La Liga‘ (Jun, 2025)

Real Madrid and Barcelona are the powerhouses of the Spanish football landscape with huge global reputations. They’ve been incredibly successful both home and abroad, but no less than five other clubs have been crowned Spanish champions across a vibrant footballing landscape.

• Spanish football ranks 3rd in the UEFA Association Coefficient for 2025, making it a Tier 1 footballing nation and therefore awarded maximum Success Points for its domestic competitions.

• Spanish clubs have earned 745 success points in total from all international competitions.

Spanish Competitions

Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División – ‘La Liga’ (1929-1936 ; 1940-)

Copa del Rey (1903-1936 ; 1939-)

Copa de la Liga (1983-1986)

Supercopa de Espana (1982-1985 ; 1988-)

Competition Key	Points
SC: Domestic ‘Super Cup’ (RFEF Supercopa de Espana)	2
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	4
IC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup / FIFA Intercontinental	6
LC: League Cup (Copa de la Liga)	8
ECL: UEFA Conference League	8
NC: National Cup (RFEF Copa del Rey)	10
EL: UEFA Cup / Europa League	12
UEFA CWC: UEFA Cup Winners Cup	13
FIFA CWC: Quadrennial FIFA Club World Cup	15
CL: UEFA European Cup / Champions League	17
C: Top Tier League Championship (La Liga)	18

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Scroll down to the bottom to view the table of Spain’s 15 most successful clubs!

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5. Valencia FC

Success points:	223
Earliest trophy won:	RFEF Copa del Rey (CdR), 1941
Latest trophy won:	CdR, 2019
Most successful manager:	Rafa Benitez – 48 points (2001-2004)
Most successful decade:	1940s – 76 points

Founded in 1919 and moving into their Mestella Stadium in 1923, Valencia sat in the background of the Spanish football scene until blowing up shortly after the Civil War, winning their first Copa in 1941. The club followed this up with three La Ligas throughout the 1940s with club all-time top-scorer ‘Mundo‘ scoring 238 goals in his 11 years at Valencia. This set the tone for ambition with mixed results.

The club won two more Copas before relegation the ’80s, including their 3rd La Liga championship under ex Real Madrid legend Alfredo de Stefano in 1970. The uncompromising Rafa Benitez then took command in 2001 and brought unprecedented success to the Murciélagos with two consecutive La Liga crowns plus a UEFA Cup in 2004. Valencia won their eighth Copa del Rey as recently as 2019 by beating the league champions Barcelona in the final.

4. Atletico de Madrid

Success points:	369
Earliest trophy won:	La Liga, 1940
Latest trophy won:	La Liga, 2021
Most successful manager:	Diego Simeone – 80 points (2011-)
Most successful decade:	1960s – 69 points

Three Basque students founded Atletico de Madrid in 1903 in homage to Athletic Bilbao who the three watched win the Copa del Rey in that year. Like Valencia, the Rojiblancos come into their own after the Civil War. With the legendary Ricardo Zamora as manager, the club won their first La Liga in the war’s brutal aftermath and retained the league championship the year after. 

Helenio Herrera, who later became an icon of Inter Milan’s, led Valencia to another two La Ligas at the start of the 1950s. Fine servants of Atletico such as Luis ‘Zapatones’ Aragonés then helped the club win frequent silverware throughout the rest of the century. Aragones played as an attacker and lifted three league crowns and two Copas between 1965-1972, before taking over as manager and winning another La Liga and three cups during no less than six separate stints in charge.

Under the reign of their most successful and long standing manager Simeone (since 2011), Atletico grabbed four UEFA trophies, another Copa del Rey, and two league championships – a remarkable achievement in a nation dominated by the ‘Real-Barca’ duopoly.

3. Athletic Bilbao FC

Success points:	390
Earliest trophy won:	CdR, 1903
Latest trophy won:	CdR, 2024
Most successful manager:	Fred Pentland – 86 points (1922-1925 and 1929-1933)
Most successful decade:	1930s – 94 points

A club with the unique distinction of employing the cantera policy, which limits them to recruiting exclusively from the Greater Basque Region, are a founding member of La Liga. Los Leones (The Lions) featured prominently in early Copa del Rey editions prior to La Liga’s inception in 1928, winning three in a row, from 1914–16, for example.

Athletic have their roots in the late 19th Century with a heavy British influence. Most of their managers were British up until the early ‘30s, including their most successful manager, Fred Pentland. Implementing a pioneering short passing style of play, he led Athletic to two League/Cup ‘doubles’ in 1930 and 1931, and under him the club held the King’s Cup from 1930 until 1933.

Bilbao continued to vie with Barca and Real Madrid (RM) for Spanish dominance until the latter half of the 20th Century which inevitably saw their small recruitment pool handicap them against the rest of La Liga’s ever expanding recruiting networks. Major trophies have come ever harder to come by although, under the stewardship of Javier Clemente, a dour yet effective playing style would see Athletic haul in another two La Ligas in the first half of the 1980s.

Winning their 24th Cup in 2024, Athletic Bilbao’s huge Copa del Rey haul helps makes them one of Spain’s most celebrated footballing institutions.

2. Barcelona FC

Success points:	1047
Earliest trophy won:	CdR, 1910
Latest trophies won:	La Liga, CdR and RFEF Spanish Super Cup (SSC), 2025
Most successful manager:	Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola – 134 points (2008-2012)
Most successful decade:	2010s – 222 points

Standing alone as the only club able to loosen Real Madrid’s stranglehold over La Liga, Catalan top dogs Barcelona are their fierce rivals and are global giants in their own right. Barça pass the 1000 Success points mark with a record 320 points from the Copa del Rey alone, winning more than one in four of every trophy won. They clinched the first ever La Liga in 1930 before their founder, Hans Gamper, tragically took his own life a year later.

The 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s were sparse decades for championships, though they filled their trophy cabinet with Copa del Reys and no less than four UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups in the ’80s. Barca’s superpower status really took off in the ’90s. The club managed to win three Champions’ Leagues (CL), including three La Liga crowns and two CLs, amongst other silverware, under Pepe’s Guardiola’s leadership. He added 134 points to the club in four short years from 2008–12.

1. Real Madrid FC

Success points:	1239
Earliest trophy won:	RFEF Copa Del Rey, 1905
Latest trophies won:	UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Intercontinental Cup, 2024-2025
Most successful manager:	Miguel Munoz – 222 points (1959-1974)
Most successful decade:	1960s – 187 points

Real Madrid (RM) are arguably the biggest club in the world by virtually every yardstick and they have the success to match, passing the stratospheric 1200 point mark. The club has a record 15 Champions’ League trophies, no less than nine Intercontinental Cups/FIFA Club World Cups, and dozens of league crowns.

The club was founded in 1902 and RM won their first Copa del Rey soon after in 1905. Under the ambitious stewardship of Santiago Bernabéu Yeste from 1945, RM embarked on a policy of buying up the cream of European talent and creating teams of Galacticos. From then on they laid down a firm dominance over La Liga, grabbing roughly one in every three championships.

The first of those Galacticos, Alfredo di Stefano, launched RM into the big time as they jumped into the new big thing – UEFA’s first international competition. When the European Cup was launched in 1955, RM won the first five on the trot.

As they say, the rest is history. ‘Royal Madrid’ truly are the kings of football. They are not only the most successful club in Spain, but in the whole of Europe!

Competition Key	Points
SC: Domestic ‘Super Cup’ (RFEF Supercopa de Espana)	2
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	4
IC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup / FIFA Intercontinental	6
LC: League Cup (Copa de la Liga)	8
ECL: UEFA Conference League	8
NC: National Cup (RFEF Copa del Rey)	10
EL: UEFA Cup / Europa League	12
UEFA CWC: UEFA Cup Winners Cup	13
FIFA CWC: Quadrennial FIFA Club World Cup	15
CL: UEFA European Cup / Champions League	17
C: Top Tier League Championship (La Liga)	18

Spain’s 15 Most Successful Clubs of All Time

Position	Football Club	Success Points Subtotals	Success Points Total
1	Real Madrid FC	SC: 13 x 2 = 26 UEFA SC: 6 x 4 = 24 IC: 9 x 6 = 52 LC: 1 x 8 = 8 NC: 20 x 10 = 200 EL: 2 x 12 = 24 CL: 15 x 17 = 255 C: 36 x 18 = 648	1239
2	Barcelona FC	SC: 15 x 2 = 30 UEFA SC: 5 x 4 = 20 IC: 3 x 6 = 18 LC: 2 x 8 = 16 NC: 32 x 10 = 320 UEFA CWC: 4 x 13 = 52 CL: 5 x 17 = 85 C: 25 x 18 = 450 +2 Trebles	1047
3	Athletic Bilbao FC	SC: 3 x 2 = 6 NC: 24 x 10 = 240 C: 8 x 18 = 144	390
4	Atletico Madrid FC	SC: 2 x 2 = 4 UEFA SC: 3 x 4 = 12 IC: 1 x 6 = 6 NC: 10 x 10 = 100 EL: 3 x 12 = 36 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13 C: 11 x 18 = 198	369
5	Valencia FC	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 UEFA SC: 2 x 4 = 8 NC: 8 x 10 = 80 EL: 1 x 12 = 12 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13 C: 6 x 18 = 108	223
6	Sevilla FC	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 UEFA SC: 1 x 4 = 4 NC: 5 x 10 = 50 EL: 7 x 12 = 84 C: 1 x 18 = 18	158
7	Real Zaragoza FC	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 NC: 6 x 10 = 60 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13	75
8	Real Sociedad FC	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 NC: 2 x 10 = 20 C: 2 x 18 = 36	58
9	Real Betis FC	NC: 3 x 10 = 30 C: 1 x 18 = 18	48
10	Deportivo de la Coruna FC	SC: 3 x 2 = 6 NC: 2 x 10 = 20 C: 1 x 18 = 18	44
=11	RCD Espanyol FC Real Unión Club de Irún	NC: 4 x 10 = 40	40
=13	RCD Mallorca FC	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 NC: 1 x 10 = 10	12
=13	Villareal CF	EL: 1 x 12 = 12	12
15	Real Valladolid FC	LC: 1 x 8 = 8	8