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Celtic have made the latest ranking of the strongest clubs outside Europe’s five major leagues, but Scottish football has just one representative in the top 50.
Football Ranked’s latest figures include clubs from Europe, Asia and South America, with Martin O’Neill’s side sitting alongside some familiar European opponents.
But where are Rangers?
Yang, Jota and others are all in contention too…
According to Football Ranked’s latest Elo rankings, Celtic sit 43rd with a rating of 1,541 points.
Top clubs by Elo outside the top 5 leagues – weekly update 🥇 🇵🇹 Sporting CP — 1,777 Elo 🥈 🇵🇹 Benfica — 1,751 🥉 🇸🇦 Al-Hilal — 1,739 4️⃣ 🇳🇴 Bodo/Glimt — 1,722 5️⃣ 🇧🇪 Club Brugge — 1,710 6️⃣ 🇵🇹 FC Porto — 1,704 7️⃣ 🇳🇱 PSV Eindhoven — 1,692 8️⃣ 🇧🇪 Union St. Gilloise — 1,681 9️⃣ 🇬🇷 Olympiakos — 1,664 🔟 🇷🇺 Zenit — 1,646 … 5️⃣0️⃣ 🇸🇦 Al-Ittihad — 1,524 By league 5️⃣ 🇳🇱 Eredivisie, 🇸🇦 Saudi Pro League 4️⃣ 🇬🇷 Super League Greece, 🇵🇹 Primeira Liga, 🇷🇺 Russian Premier League, 🇹🇷 Süper Lig 2️⃣ 🇧🇪 Belgian Pro League, 🇳🇴 Eliteserien, 🇨🇿 Czech First League, 🇩🇰 Danish Superliga, 🇧🇷 Brasileirão, 🇦🇪 UAE Pro League, 🇮🇱 Israeli Premier League, 🇭🇷 HNL 1️⃣ 🏴 Championship, 🏴 Scottish Premiership, 🇭🇺 NB I, 🇷🇸 Serbian SuperLiga, 🇨🇾 Cypriot First Division, 🇺🇦 Ukrainian Premier League, 🇨🇭 Swiss Super League, 🇯🇵 J1 League In since last week 🇯🇵 Kashima 🇭🇷 Hajduk Split Out since last week 🇦🇹 Red Bull Salzburg 🇵🇱 Lech Poznan By confederation 🌍 4️⃣0️⃣ UEFA 🌏 8️⃣ AFC 🌎 2️⃣ CONMEBOL Austria and Poland no longer have a club in the top 50, while Japan enters with Kashima. 📊 For more stats, league sims and European competitions → https://t.co/gqmsS2NbKB
— Football Ranked (@footballrankedx) October 19, 2026
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Rangers are completely absent, leaving the Hoops as the only Scottish Premiership club to make the list.
Sporting CP top the rankings with 1,777 points, followed by Benfica on 1,751 and Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal on 1,739.
Ajax occupy 26th place with 1,601 points, while English Championship side West Ham United are 19th with a rating of 1,613.
Celtic are just three points ahead of Sparta Prague, who sit 45th, and nine ahead of Turkish side Trabzonspor in 46th.
However, the gap to Benfica stands at 210 points, a sizeable difference considering the Portuguese club beat Celtic 4-1 in the Europa League last Thursday.
Elo rankings measure the strength of football teams based on their results and the quality of the opposition they face.
Each club is given a numerical rating which changes after every match. Beating a stronger opponent generally earns a team more points than defeating one they would already be expected to beat. Losing to weaker opposition can also have a greater negative impact than being beaten by a higher-rated side.
Football Ranked’s system considers home advantage, the margin of victory and the importance of the competition. European results carry more weight than ordinary domestic league matches.
The rankings are separate from UEFA’s official club coefficient system, which measures performances in European competitions over five seasons. While Celtic’s impressive Premiership attacking statistics show their domestic strength, Elo ratings also reflect how clubs perform against opposition from other countries.
That helps explain why teams such as Benfica, PSV Eindhoven and Club Brugge are rated considerably higher despite Celtic’s domestic success.
Celta Vigo, who visit Celtic Park in the Europa League on Thursday, are not included in this particular table because Spanish clubs are excluded.