The latest club rankings from Concacaf have been released and Philadelphia Union are the highest-ranked team from Major League Soccer.
The Boys in Blue are ranked No. 8 surrounded by Deportivo Toluca FC and Club Santos Laguna from Liga MX.
The Concacaf Club Ranking is a ranking system that evaluates the strength of professional football clubs based on their performance in official domestic and international historical matches and have been ranked based on their results since 2017. Its purpose is to reflect their sporting strength at any given time accurately.
The ranking is determined by considering matches from the following competitions:
- Concacaf Champions League (CCL)
- Concacaf Regional Cups (Leagues Cup, Central American Cup, and Caribbean Cup)
- Domestic first-division professional leagues
- Domestic Cups that qualify clubs for Concacaf club competitions
- FIFA Club World Cup
The Concacaf Club Ranking is based on the Elo system, which involves updating the scores of both teams after each match with a zero-sum approach.
The updated ranking is based on the difference between the match's outcome and its expected outcome. The match's outcome is determined by whether the home team wins, there's a draw, or the away team wins. This outcome is only known after the match. Before the match, the expected outcome is calculated using the Concacaf Club Ranking scores of both teams and the home team's advantage.
One club may exceed expectations (over-performance) and increase its Concacaf Club Ranking score, while its opponent may underperform and decrease its Concacaf Club Ranking score by the same amount. The difference between actual and expected outcomes determines the number of points clubs earn or lose, with wins over stronger opponents resulting in greater increases. This self-correcting system ensures fairness.
Several factors influence the number of points awarded in a game, such as the competition weight factor determined by the competition. The home advantage factor is only applicable when the team plays in their home stadium rather than in other stadiums within their country. In knockout stages, the round result determines 50% of the score, while each match accounts for 25% until extra time, but before penalties. Additionally, after an international match, first-division clubs receive a league bonus that adjusts their scores by 10% of the points earned or lost by their domestic teams.
