ARL Football Success Ranking System

The ARL Football Success Ranking System for men’s European club football establishes for certain the clubs 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.

Scotland, its Premiership and ‘Old Firm’ (Updated May, 2025)

As one of football’s ‘Home Nations’, Scotland’s football spans three centuries. The Scottish Cup is the 2nd oldest in the world and its clubs have been fighting it out for National Championships since 1890.

A number of countries have stand-out giants of the game which dominate their leagues. Scotland is famous for two of these giants and their ferocious, all consuming rivalry is known as the ‘Old Firm’. It has been ever-present and completely overshadows the Premiership. Both clubs subsequently have ginormous Success Point hauls leaving scraps for the rest. Just these two clubs have over 1200 Success Points between them! – as good a testament to Glasgow’s age old dominance over Scottish league football as any.

Competitions

Scottish Football League / Scottish Premier League / Scottish Premiership (1890-1939 ; 1945-)

Scottish Cup (1873-1914 ; 1919-1939 ; 1945-)

• Scottish football ranks 14th in the UEFA Association Coefficient for 2025, making it a Tier 3 footballing nation. Clubs are therefore docked -8 Success Points per domestic competition and any Super Cup and League Cup competitions are not counted.

• Scottish clubs have had some success in Europe by winning three major trophies. They have 47 success points from UEFA competitions.

Competition Key	Points
NC: National Cup (Scottish FA Cup)	2
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	4
IC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup / FIFA Intercontinental Cup	6
ECL: UEFA Conference League	8
C: Top Tier League Title (Division 1 / Scottish Premiership)	10
EL: UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	12
UEFA CWC: UEFA Cup Winners Cup	13
FIFA CWC: Quadrennial FIFA Club World Cup	15
CL: UEFA European Cup / UEFA Champions League	17

Scroll to the bottom to view the table of Scotland’s 18 most successful clubs

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5. Hibernian FC

Success points:	46
Earliest trophy won:	Scottish Cup, 1887
Latest trophy won:	Scottish Cup, 2016
Most successful manager:	Hugh Shaw – 30 points (1948-1961)
Most successful decade:	1950s – 20 points

The Hibees won their first ever major trophy, a Scottish Cup, in the same year as Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. In 1903 they won another cup followed by their first league championship the year after.

Hibs’ glory period followed World War Two when the club were crowned Scottish champions three times in just four years. With an attacking forward line known as the ‘Famous Five’, Hibs were arguably one of the best teams in Britain.

4. Heart of Mithlothian FC

Success points:	56
Earliest trophy won:	Scottish Division 1, 1891
Latest trophy won:	Scottish Cup, 2012
Most successful manager:	Tommy Walker – 22 points (1951-1966)
Most successful decade:	1950s – 22 points

The Jambos were one of the best teams in Scotland, and indeed the world, towards the end of the 19th Century by being crowned Scottish champions on two occasions (and were even ‘World Champions’ in 1902 by beating Tottenham Hotspur at Tynecastle) They also won the Scottish Cup four times before 1906.

Hearts enjoyed another glorious period with Tommy Walker as manager in the 1950s and ’60s. With club legends like John Cumming and Dave Mackay, Hearts would clinch another two championships and five domestic cups. A memorable 5-1 thrashing over Edinburgh rivals Hibernian FC to win the Scottish Cup in 2012 is Hearts’ latest trophy won. They are the most successful club in Edinburgh.

3. Aberdeen FC

Success points:	73
Earliest trophy won:	Scottish Cup, 1947
Latest trophy won:	Scottish Cup, 2025
Most successful manager:	Sir Alex Ferguson – 55 points (1878-1986)
Most successful decade:	1980s – 30 points

As Scotland’s 3rd most successful club, outside the Old Firm’s heady heights, The Dons of Aberdeen have done well for themselves, with both European and domestic silverware in the trophy cabinet. 

Aberdeen FC won their first championship in 1955. The Dons then revelled in a glory period under a manager who would go on to become one of the greatest managers in modern history. Under Alex Ferguson’s guidance, the club won three league titles, four Scottish Cups. He also lead them to a UEFA Cup Winners Cup (CWC), beating mighty Real Madrid in the final, plus Scotland’s first UEFA Super Cup – all this in the space of seven years. Aberdeen beat Celtic on penalties to win their 8th Scottish Cup in 2025.

2. Rangers FC

Success points:	631
Earliest trophy won:	Scottish Division 1, 1891
Latest trophy won:	Scottish Cup, 2022
Most successful manager:	Bill Struth – 200 Success points (1920-1954)
Most successful decade:	1990s – 100 points

Rangers FC were founded all the way back in 1872. Those first 19 years before their first major trophy was a rare period when Scottish football was free of the Old Firm’s vice like grip; when only the Scottish Cup was to play for at national level. Rangers would win the 2nd edition of the league championship in 1891 (although the honours were actually shared with Dumbarton FC).

Rangers’ trophy cabinet is absolutely festooned with shiny metal. Manager Bill Struth took charge in 1920 and won 18 league titles and 10 Scottish Cups across a 34-year career, including the Gers‘ first domestic double in 1928. Two years after the Ibrox Disaster, the club seized a UEFA CWC in 1972 when two goals by Johnston helped them overcome Dynamo Moscow in the final. Rangers top scorer Ally McCoist’s 355 goals between 1983 and 1998 helped Rangers win 10 championships and a Scottish Cup, including the club’s incredible run of 9 championships in a row between 1989-1997.

After Rangers’ league triumph in 2011, something unfathomable happened: Rangers went into administration due to financial mismanagement and re-emerged in the Scottish 4th tier. They returned stronger 5 seasons later, however, to win their 55th League title in 2021. With the joint most league crowns in Scotland, Rangers FC is Scotland’s 2nd most successful club

1. Celtic FC

Success points:	651
Earliest trophy won:	Scottish Cup, 1892
Latest trophy won:	Scottish Premiership, 2025
Most successful manager:	Willie Maley – 308 points (1897-1940)
Most successful decade:	2010s – 182 points.

This Glaswegian club was founded by a Catholic priest as a means of raising money to alleviate poverty in the slums. Five years later they would beat Rangers in their first ever game 5-2, then described as a ‘friendly encounter’.

Few clubs reach the stratospheric 600+ Success Point mark. To do this, Celtic have been filling their boots with silverware almost non-stop. The Celts greatest servant of the club is arguably Willey Maley. Maley won three championships as a player before becoming Secretary Manager in 1897 and going on to oversee 16 League and 14 Cup triumphs in a 43-year career. This included winning six league titles in a row between 1904-1910, not to mention Scotland’s first ‘Double Double’ – two consecutive domestic ‘doubles’.

The Bhoys won nine championships in a row between 1966-74 – a period when they also achieved an unprecedented ‘quadruple’ in 1967 under club manager-legend Jock Stein by pummeling Inter Milan to be crowned champions of Europe. It was an ‘annus mirabilis‘ for Celtic.

Celtic also won nine in a row again between 2011-2020 during when Brenden Rogers achieved an ‘invincible’ in 2017.

Competition Key	Points
NC: National Cup (Scottish FA Cup)	2
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	4
IC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup / FIFA Intercontinental Cup	6
ECL: UEFA Conference League	8
C: League Championship (Division 1 / Scottish Premiership)	10
EL: UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	12
UEFA CWC: UEFA Cup Winners Cup	13
FIFA CWC: Quadrennial FIFA Club World Cup	15
CL: UEFA European Cup / UEFA Champions League	17

Scotland’s 18 Most Successful Clubs

Position	Club	Sub-point Totals	Success Point Total
1	Celtic FC	NC: 42 x 2 = 84 C: 55 x 10 = 550 CL: 1 x 17 = 17	651
2	Rangers FC	NC: 34 x 2 = 68 C: 55 x 10 = 550 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13	631
3	Aberdeen FC	UEFA SC: 1 x 4 = 4 NC: 8 x 2 = 16 C: 4 x 10 = 40 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13	73
4	Heart of Midlothian FC	NC: 8 x 2 = 16 C: 4 x 10 = 40	56
5	Hibernian FC	NC: 3 x 2 = 6 C: 4 x 10 = 40	46
6	Dumbarton FC	NC: 1 x 2 = 2 C: 2 x 10 = 20	22
7	Queen’s Park FC	NC: 10 x 2 = 20	20
8	Kilmarnock FC	NC: 3 x 2 = 6 C: 1 x 10 = 10	16
=9	Dundee United FC Motherwell FC Third Lanark AC	NC: 2 x 2 = 4 C: 1 x 10 = 10	14
12	Dundee FC	NC: 1 x 2 = 2 C: 1 x 10 = 10	12
=13	St Mirren FC Vale of Leven FC Clyde FC	NC: 3 x 2 = 6	6
=16	St Johnstone FC Renton FC	NC: 2 x 2 = 4	4
18	East Fife FC	NC: 1 x 2 = 2	2