IFFHS

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for some time but, in 2010, relocated to Bonn, Germany, and then in 2014 to Zürich.

From its early stages to 2002, the IFFHS concentrated on publishing the quarterly magazines Fußball-Weltzeitschrift, Libero spezial deutsch and Libero international. When these had to be discontinued for reasons which were not officially told, the organisation published its material in a series of multi-lingual books in co-operation with sponsors. The statistical organisation has now confined its publishing activities to its website. IFFHS has no affiliation with FIFA, but FIFA has cited awards and records conducted by IFFHS on their website.

In 2008, Karl Lennartz, a sports historian and professor at the University of Cologne, Germany, called the organisation "obscure", describing it as a one-man show of its founder Alfredo Pöge. IFFHS rankings and their significance have been a matter of criticism and the largest German news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, refuse to publish them. Furthermore, German die Tageszeitung stated that the IFFHS rankings serves merely for publicity, although Bild, Deutsche Welle, Kicker-Sportmagazin, German Football Association (DFB), and former president of the Association of West German Sports Journalists (Verbandes Westdeutscher Sportjournalisten — VWS) Heribert Faßbender have referenced IFFHS.

The World's Best Club
Since 1991, the entity has produced a monthly Club World Ranking.



The ranking takes into consideration the results of twelve months of continental and intercontinental competitions, national league matches (including play-offs) and the most important national cup (excluding points won before the round of 16).

All countries are rated at four levels based upon the national league performance—clubs in the highest level leagues receive 4 points for each match won, 2 for a draw and 0 for a defeat. Level 2 is assigned 3 pts. (win), 1.5 (draw) and 0 (lost), and so on with the next lower levels.

In continental competitions, all clubs receive the same number of points at all stages regardless of the performance level of their leagues. However, the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores yield more points than UEFA Europa League and Copa Sudamericana, respectively. The point assignment system is still lower for the AFC, CAF, CONCACAF and OFC continental tournaments. Competitions between two continents are evaluated depending upon their importance. Competitions not organised by a continental confederation, or any intercontinental events not recognized by FIFA, are not taken into consideration.

Continental Men's Clubs of the Century (1901–2000)




In 2009, the IFFHS released the results of a statistical study series which determined the best continental clubs of the 20th century. The ranking did not consider the performance of the teams in national football tournaments (except in the Oceania's club ranking due to limited editions held under OFC club competitions), the performance in the intercontinental or worldwide club competitions or those submitted in the IFFHS Club World Ranking, available since 1991.

Based on this study, which assigned a weighted score criteria applied for each competition analysed, the below six clubs were named as "continental clubs of the century" by the IFFHS between 10 September and 13 October 2009. These clubs were awarded with a golden trophy and a certificate during the World Football Gala celebrated at Fulham, London, on 11 May 2010.

The Best Men's Club of the Decade
In 2012, the IFFHS recognised Barcelona as the World's Best Club Team of the Decade for the first decade of the 21st century (2001–2010). In 2021, Barcelona were recognised as the world's best club also for the second decade (2011–2020).

Men's winners
''From 1991 until 2009, FIFA continued this distinction named "FIFA World Player of the Year"; this award was later replaced by the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, and The Best FIFA Men's Player in 2016. The award was reinstated in 2020.''



The World's Best Woman Player of the Century (1901–2000)


IFFHS gave out an award decided by votes which was conducted with the participation of journalists and former players (no further details given).

The World's Best Youth (U20) Player


The award was introduced in 2021.

Men's winners
The IFFHS World's Best Playmaker is a footballing award which, since 2006, is given annually to the best playmaker of the year, as chosen by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

The award is awarded at the end of the year at the World Football Gala: the winning playmaker is awarded a gold trophy. Argentina's Lionel Messi has won the award a record five times. Spain's Xavi won the award four times, all consecutively, while Belgian Kevin De Bruyne won the award three times.Barcelona is the club with the most wins, with ten in total.

Lionel Messi was named the Best Playmaker since 2006 and the Best Playmaker of the Decade 2011–2020.

Women's winners
Dzsenifer Marozsán was named the Best Playmaker since 2006 and the Best Playmaker of the Decade 2011–2020.

The World's Best Top Goal Scorer
This award is given annually since 2020, and retroactively from 2011 to 2019, to the world's top goalscorer in the calendar year.

All-time World's Best Goal Scorer ranking



 * Bold indicates players currently active.



Women's winners
The women's award was introduced in 2021.

The World's Best International Goal Scorer
This award is given annually since 1991 to the world's top international goalscorer in the calendar year.

Women's winners
The women's award was introduced in 2021.

The World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer
This award is given annually since 1997 to the player who scores the most goals in a league season (in a calendar year since 2020) in any of the top 60 leagues in the world (as ranked by IFFHS for that given year).

All-time World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer ranking



 * Bold indicates players currently active.

The World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer of the Second Decade (2011–2020)
The final list includes the 36 players who scored 150 or more goals in top-tier national leagues in the period of time from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2020.

The results were posted on the IFFHS' official website on 6 January 2021.

Women's winners
The women's award was introduced in 2021.

The World's Most Effective Top Division Goal Scorer
This award was given annually from 1997 to 2004 to the player with the best goal ratio (goals/matches played) in a league season in any of the top 60 leagues in the world (as ranked by IFFHS for that given year).

Men's winners
In 2017, IFFHS started to nominate a world team of the year.

All-time Men's Dream Team (2021)




Women's winners
In 2017, IFFHS started to nominate a world team of the year.

All-time Women's Dream Team (2021)




The World Youth (U20) Team


The award was introduced in 2020.

Men's winners
Felix Brych was awarded the prize for Men's Referee of the Decade 2011–20.



Women's winners
Bibiana Steinhaus was awarded the prize for Women's Referee of the Decade 2011–20.