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.

Competition Key	Points
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	2
LC: League Cup (Scottish League Cup)	2
FIFA CWC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup	3
AC: Association Cup (Scottish FA Cup)	3
UEFA ECL: UEFA Europa Conference League	4
UEFA EL: UEFA Cup / Europa League	6
UEFA CWC: UEFA Cup Winners Cup	6.5
UEFA CL: UEFA European Cup / Champions League	8
T: Top Tier League Title (Division 1 / Scottish Premiership)	7

Scotland, its Premiership and ‘Old Firm’

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 make it into the ‘Big 100+’ yet have almost 1100 Success points between them! – As good a testament to Glasgow’s age old dominance over Scottish league football as any.

The Premiership prospered after WW2 but it just couldn’t keep up with the sort of money neighbouring England’s Premier League could attract. 21st Century Scottish football is comparatively poor as a result. Clubs between leagues 6-10 of the UEFA Coefficient score -2 points per domestic trophy. The SP is 9th in the Coefficient as of 2023.

Scottish clubs have had some success in Europe, winning 3 major trophies between them including the first UEFA trophy in the whole of Britain. They have 23 Success Points from UEFA competitions.

Scroll to the bottom to view the table of Scotland’s 17 most successful clubs

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5. Hibernian FC

Points: 43

Earliest Trophy Won: Scottish Cup, 1887

Latest Trophy Won: Scottish Cup, 2016

Most Successful Manager: Hugh Shaw – 21 points (1948-1961)

Most Successful Decade: 1950s, 14 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 Title 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. They have also won three Scottish League Cups, including the latest in 2007.

4. Heart of Mithlothian FC

Points: 60

Earliest Trophy Won: Scottish Division 1, 1891

Latest Trophy Won: Scottish Cup, 2012

Most Successful Manager: Tommy Walker – 25 Points (1951-1966)

Most Successful Decade: 1950s, 23 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 Scottish Titles 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

Points: 69.5

Earliest Trophy Won: Scottish Cup, 1947

Latest Trophy Won: Scottish League Cup, 2014

Most Successful Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson – 43.5 points (1878-1986)

Most Successful Decade: 1980s, 41.5 Points

As Scotland’s 3rd most successful club, outside the Old Firm’s heady heights, ‘The Dons’ of Aberdeen have done well for themselves, clinching major trophies in every decade since the 1940’s apart from the 2000s. 

Aberdeen FC won its first Title in 1955. It 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 Titles, four Scottish Cups and a League Cup. He also lead them to a UEFA CWC, beating mighty Real Madrid in the final, plus Scotland’s first UEFA Super Cup – all this in the space of seven years.

2. Celtic FC

Points: 534

Earliest Trophy Won: Scottish Cup, 1892

Latest Trophies Won: Scottish Premiership, Scottish Cup and League Cup, 2023

Most Successful Manager: Willie Maley – 154 Success points (1897-1940)

Most Successful Decade: 2010s, 91 points.

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

Few clubs reach the stratospheric 500+ Success Point mark. To do this, Celtic have been filling their boots with silverware almost non-stop. This includes winning over a quarter of all Scottish Cups. They’ve won Titles every decade except the 1940s. The ‘50s was a lean decade, as other clubs such as Hibernian FC enjoyed success, so too were the ‘90s which betrayed the fact Celtic’s stewards had failed to keep abreast of rising commercial revenue streams which had begun to infuse football across Europe.

The Bhoys managed 6 Titles in a row from 1905-1910; 9 from 1966-74 plus 9 consecutively from 2012-2020. These are not the sorts of winning streaks seen at all often with other giant clubs!

Under club manager legend, Jock Stein, The Celts would claim their first quadruple in 1967 managing to grab Scotland’s first and only European Cup as well. It was a feat that’s never been matched south of the border; an ‘annus mirabilis‘ for Celtic. Celtic took full advantage of Rangers’ exile from the top flight to achieve an ‘invincible’ season – and sixth treble – under Brenden Rogers in 2017.

1. Rangers FC

Points: 554.5

Earliest Trophy Won: Scottish Division 1, 1891

Latest Trophy Won: Scottish Cup, 2022

Most Successful Manager: Bill Struth – 160 Success points (1920-1954)

Most Successful Decade: 1990s, 93 points

Rangers FC were founded all the way back in 1872. Those first 19 years before its 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, before the first National Championship in 1890. Rangers would win the 2nd edition in 1891.

Like its Glaswegian rival Celtic, Rangers’ trophy cabinet is absolutely festooned with shiny metal, including a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (CWC) won in 1972. Rangers have won at least 50% of Titles in 4 out of the 13 decades Scottish Championships have run, and almost half of Scottish Titles total and in every decade since the 1890s.

After ‘The Gers’ latest League/LC double 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 Title in 2021.

Rangers FC is Scotland’s most successful club and the 2nd most successful in all of Europe!

Competition Key	Points
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	2
LC: League Cup (Scottish League Cup)	2
FIFA CWC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup	3
AC: Association Cup (Scottish FA Cup)	3
UEFA ECL: UEFA Europa Conference League	4
UEFA EL: UEFA Cup / Europa League	6
UEFA CWC: UEFA Cup Winners Cup	6.5
UEFA CL: UEFA European Cup / Champions League	8
T: Top Tier League Title (Division 1 / Scottish Premiership)	7

Scotland’s 17 Most Successful Clubs

Position	Club	Sub-point Totals	Success Point Total
1	Rangers FC	LC: 27 x 2 = 54 AC: 34 x 3 = 102 UEFA CWC: 1 x 6.5 = 6.5 T: 55 x 7 = 385 +7 (Trebles)	554.5
2	Celtic FC	LC: 21 x 2 = 42 AC: 35 x 3 = 105 CL: 1 x 8 = 8 T: 53 x 7 = 371 +8 (Trebles)	534
3	Aberdeen FC	UEFA SC: 1 x 2 = 2 LC: 6 x 2 = 12 AC: 7 x 3 = 21 UEFA CWC: 1 x 6.5 = 6.5 T: 4 x 7 = 28	69.5
4	Heart of Midlothian FC	LC: 4 x 2 = 8 AC: 8 x 3 = 24 T: 4 x 7 = 28	60
5	Hibernian FC	LC: 3 x 2 = 6 AC: 3 x 3 = 9 T: 4 x 7 = 28	43
6	Queen’s Park FC	AC: 10 x 3 = 30	30
7	Kilmarnock FC	LC: 1 x 2 = 2 AC: 3 x 3 = 9 T: 1 x 7 = 7	18
=8	Dundee United FC	LC: 2 x 2 = 4 AC: 2 x 3 = 6 T: 1 x 7 = 7	17
=8	Dumbarton FC	AC: 1 x 3 = 3 T: 2 x 7 = 14	17
10	Dundee FC	LC: 3 x 2 = 6 AC: 1 x 3 = 3 T: 1 x 7 = 7	16
11	Motherwell FC	LC: 1 x 2 = 2 AC: 2 x 3 = 6 T: 1 x 7 = 7	15
12	Third Lanark AC	AC: 2 x 3 = 6 T: 1 x 7 = 7	13
13	St Mirren FC	LC: 1 x 2 = 2 AC: 3 x 3 = 9	11
=14	East Fife FC	LC: 3 x 2 = 6 AC: 1 x 3 = 3	9
=14	Vale of Leven FC Clyde FC	AC: 3 x 3 = 9	9
17	St Johnstone FC	LC: 1 x 2 = 2 AC: 2 x 3 = 6	8