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.

Italian Football and Serie A (Updated June, 2025)

With its football championship founded in the 19th Century, Italy has given a lot to the beautiful game over the many decades since. Italian football drips with history and culture, reflecting the country in general, and like the country, Italian football is known for the passion and style that it has in bucket loads.

Serie A was at its zenith by the 20th Century’s end, dominating Europe and being the most glamorous league on the planet. Its clubs have also enjoyed incredible success in UEFA competitions, from the numerous triumphs which made AC Milan the legendary club it still is to lesser known winners such as Palma who amassed three UEFA trophies in a short few years. Serie A has passed on the torch to La Liga and the PL, yet its clubs are still a force to be reckoned with.

Competitions

Campionato Italiano di Football / Serie A (1898-1915 ; 1920-1944 ; 1946-)

Coppa Italia (1922 ; 1936-1943 ; 1958-)

Supercoppa Italiana (1988-)

• Italian football ranks 2nd in the UEFA Association Coefficient for 2025, making it a Tier 1 footballing nation and therefore awarded maximum Success Points for its domestic competitions.

• Italian clubs have earned an impressive 511 Success Points in international competitions.

Competition Key	Points
SC: Domestic ‘Super Cup’ (Supercoppa Italiana)	2
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	4
IC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup / FIFA Intercontinental Cup	6
ECL: UEFA Conference League	8
NC: National Cup (Coppa Italia)	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 (Italian Football Championship / Serie A)	18

Scroll down to the bottom to view the table of Italy’s 19 Most Successful Clubs

5. Genoa CFC

Success Points:	172
Earliest Trophy Won:	Italian Football Championship (IFC), 1898
Latest Trophy Won:	Coppa Italia, 1937
Most Successful Manager:	James Richardson Spensley – 108 Success Points (1896-1906)
Most Successful Decade:	1900s – 72 Success Points

Genoa CFC is Italy’s oldest football club and was originally founded as a cricket and football club for English expats only. But it was to this club that English missionaries of the fledgling ‘Beautiful Game’ subsequently arrived, and with them, more refined concepts of management and tactics. They made Il Grifone (The Griffin) an unbeatable team around the turn of the 20th Century as they competed in the earliest league championships. 

It’s probably worth noting the first few editions of the Italian Football Championship (IFC) were small affairs with less than five teams competing. Nevertheless, with manager/goalkeeper/defender James Spensley at the helm, Genoa were crowned champions for six out of the first seven years. Later, with football-pioneer William Garbutt in charge, I Rossoblù (The Red and Blues) won the 1915 league title, then clinched two Serie As between 1923-1924.

Genoa CFC’s fortunes declined, although they won their first and only to date Italian Cup in 1937. The club is now a dormant volcano. Will they erupt ever again?

4. Torino FC

Success Points:	178
Earliest Trophy Won:	IFC, 1928
Latest Trophies Won:	Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana, 1993
Most Successful Manager:	Luigi Ferrero – 36 Success Points (1945-1947)
Most Successful Decade:	1940s – 100 Success Points

A Piedmontese club founded towards the 20th Century’s beginning, Torino FC basked in a glorious period in the 1940s until a devastating tragedy brought their success to a crashing halt.

Torino were denied a first Italian crown in 1915 due to WW1, then again in 1927 because of the ‘Allemandi scandal’. With their first stadium, Stadio Filadelfia, just built, however, and their amazing attacking ‘Trio of Wonders’; Libonatti, Baloncieri and Rossetti firing on all cylinders, Il Toro (The Bull) won the 1928 Italian Championship.

Torino won their first Italian Cup in 1935 on the way to building perhaps the most supreme football squad in Italian history. Led by club legend Valentino Mazzola, ‘Grande Torino’ achieved the League/Cup ‘double’ in 1943 before winning another four championships in a row (with a break for WW2). 

Everything changed on the 4th of May, 1949 with the Superga Tragedy when a plane carrying the entire squad, plus other staff, crashed in heavy fog. There were no survivors. The club inevitably lost its pre-eminence from then on.

They would beat arch-rivals Juventus to clinch their 7th Serie A in 1976, however. Torino also lifted Coppa Italias in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘90s for a total 12 major trophies in their 100+ year history to date.

3. Inter Milan FC

Success Points:	572
Earliest Trophy Won:	IFC, 1910
Latest Trophy Won:	Serie A and Supercoppa Italiana, 2023-2024
Most Successful Manager:	Helenio Herrera – 82 points (1960-68 and 1973-74)
Most Successful Decade:	2000s – 151 Success Points

Despite coming in at 3rd place, Internazionale Milano is a true giant of the European game having won European and Italian crowns on numerous occasions.

The Nerazzurri won their very first championship in 1910 but the captain and coach of that first championship winning team, Virgilio Fossati, was sadly killed in World War I. The club would grab its first ‘Coppa’ in 1939. Its greatest period came in 1960 with the arrival of coach Helenio Herrera from Barcelona FC. He implemented a modified version of the ‘door bolt’ system of play, created to provide greater flexibility for counterattacks. Under Herrera’s first period in charge Inter won three league crowns and two European Cups.

Inter was awarded its 14th championship in 2005–06, after Juventus and AC Milan were stripped of points due to a match fixing scandal that year. It would peak again under manager legend Jose Mourinho who lead the club to an unprecedented ‘European Treble’ in the 2009-10 season.

Winning major trophies every decade except the 1940s, Inter Milan has a well established global profile. Inter have gone on to break Juventus’s strangle-hold on Serie A by winning two more championships in the 2020s to add a 2nd gold star to their shirt.

2. AC Milan FC

Success Points:	597
Earliest Trophy Won:	IFC, 1901
Latest Trophy Won:	Supercoppa Italiana, 2025
Most Successful Manager:	Nereo Rocco – 132 points (1961-1963, 1967-73 and 1977)
Most Successful Decade:	1990s – 119 Success Points

The Rossoneri were founded at the end of the 19th Century by two Englishmen and the club won their first championship just two years after. Two further league titles were won before some of their members split away after a dispute to form fierce rivals Internazionale in 1908. After that, AC Milan won nothing for decades.

The 20th Century’s second half was when Milan really started to take off. The Rossoneri won four league crowns in the ’50s with famous Swedish attacking trio ‘Gre-No-Li‘ in the ranks; three more in the ’60s and six Serie As during Milan and the league’s glittering period of the 1990s. They have also won the joint 2nd most ECs/CLs in Europe, winning seven to date (2025).

Both Milano football giants struggled to triumph in the 2010s due to the stifling dominance of Juventus, finally now relinquished.

1. Juventus FC

Success Points:	921
Earliest Trophy Won:	IFC, 1905
Latest Trophy Won:	Coppa Italia, 2024
Most Successful Manager:	Giovanni Trapattoni – 112 points (1976 – 1986 and 1991–1994)
Most Successful Decade:	2000s – 231 Successful Points

Juventus won their first championship in 1905 before a schism occured to form Torino FC. In the ’20s, I Bianconeri won the 1926 IFC with a 12-1 aggregate scoreline in the final, and the club took off as a major player on the Italian football map. Juventus achieved a 5-in-a-row championship hold over the IFC between 1931-1935 with players like Giovanni Ferrari who played at full throttle for both club and country.

The club won more league crowns after WW2, including the club’s first domestic double in 1960, with Welsh legend John Charles, who could play in attack or defense, plus long-time record goalscorer Giampiero Boniperti who scored 182 goals in 15 years. Giovanni Trapattoni brought much success to Juventus during the ’70s and ’80s (and indeed around all of Europe) with his  zona mista style of play. After winning their 20th championship in ’82, La Vecchia Signora began winning silverware across Europe with a Cup Winners Cup in 1984 followed by the club’s first European crown the year after; Frenchman Michel Platini’s on-pitch magic earning him ‘UEFA Footballer of the Year’ status for years. Three more UEFA trophies were seized before the century was out.

Between 2012-2020, Juventus became complete overlords over Serie A with nine consecutive league titles and four consecutive Coppa Italias; the fact Juve had been relegated for a season in 2006-07 made this feat even more impressive but was a time the club was blessed with players like Andrea Pirlo in midfield and Giorgio Chiellini covering the back.

Juve is subsequently Serie A’s superstar club with an incredible 900+ success points.

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Italy’s 19 Most Successful Football Clubs

Competition Key	Points
SC: Domestic ‘Super Cup’ (Supercoppa Italiana)	2
UEFA SC: UEFA Super Cup	4
IC: Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup / FIFA Intercontinental Cup	6
ECL: UEFA Conference League	8
NC: National Cup (Coppa Italia)	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 (Italian Football Championship / Serie A)	18

Position	Club	Sub-point Totals	Success Points Total
1	Juventus FC	SC: 9 x 2 = 18 UEFA SC: 2 x 4 = 8 IC: 2 x 6 = 12 NC: 15 x 10 = 150 EL: 3 x 12 = 36 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13 CL: 2 x 17 = 34 C: 36 x 18 = 648	921
2	AC Milan	SC: 8 x 2 = 16 UEFA SC: 5 x 4 = 20 IC: 4 x 6 = 24 NC: 5 x 10 = 50 UEFA CWC: 2 x 13 = 26 CL: 7 x 17 = 119 C: 19 x 18 = 342	597
3	Inter Milan FC	SC: 8 x 2 = 16 IC: 3 x 6 = 18 NC: 9 x 10 = 90 EL: 3 x 12 = 36 CL: 3 x 17 = 51 C: 20 x 18 = 360 +1 (Treble)	572
4	Torino FC	NC: 5 x 10 = 50 C: 7 x 18 = 126	176
5	Genoa CFC	NC: 1 x 10 = 10 C: 9 x 18 = 162	172
6	Bologna FC	NC: 3 x 10 = 30 C: 7 x 18 = 126	156
7	AS Roma	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 ECL: 1 x 8 = 8 NC: 9 x 10 = 90 C: 3 x 18 = 54	154
8	SSC Napoli	SC: 2 x 2 = 4 NC: 6 x 10 = 60 EL: 1 x 12 = 12 C: 4 x 18 = 72	148
9	SS Lazio	SC: 5 x 2 = 10 UEFA SC: 1 x 4 = 4 NC: 7 x 10 = 70 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13 C: 2 x 18 = 36	133
10	FC Pro Vercelli 1892	C: 7 x 18	126
11	AFC Fiorentina	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 NC: 6 x 10 = 60 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13 C: 2 x 18 = 36	111
=12	UC Sampdoria	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 NC: 4 x 10 = 40 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13 C: 1 x 18 = 18	73
=12	Parma Calcio 1913	SC: 1 x 2 = 2 UEFA SC: 1 x 4 = 4 NC: 3 x 10 = 30 EL: 2 x 12 = 24 UEFA CWC: 1 x 13 = 13	73
14	Atalanta BC	NC: 1 x 10 = 10 EL: 1 x 12 = 12	22
=15	Casale FBC USD Novese Cagliare Calcio Hellas Verona FC Spezia Calcio	C: 1 x 18 = 18	18