One club, one number, taken apart
A club Elo rating is one number for one club, measured from results rather than set by hand. Here is a real one, and everything it is actually telling you.
1784: the number
It measures strength, and only strength. Read it like a temperature: the value on its own is arbitrary, the distance between two values is the information. Every club in the world sits on this one scale.
What goes in
244,538matches since August 2016
130competitions in 60 countries
8.6%played across a border
Those cross-border matches are the load-bearing part: they are what lets a Danish result say something about an Argentinian club.
What never goes in
- Market values and transfer fees
- Coefficients or hand-set league tiers
- Reputation, history, fanbase
- Anyone’s opinion, ours included
Recent seasons weigh more than old ones, so a club that has changed is not dragged back by a decade it no longer resembles.
191: the rank
A place among the 2,522 clubs that carry a rank, worldwide and not by country. The other 3,267 clubs we track keep their rating and lose only their place: they play too rarely against opponents the rating knows well to be placed against them.
Missing a rank is a statement about the evidence, not about the club.
| # | Club | League | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 188 |  Santa Fe | Liga BetPlay | 1784.3 |
| 189 |  Plymouth Argyle | League One | 1784.3 |
| 190 |  Santos | Serie A | 1784.2 |
| 191 |  Al-Ain | UAE Pro League | 1783.7 |
| 192 |  Famalicão | Liga Portugal | 1783.6 |
| 193 |  Hajduk Split | 1. HNL | 1783.5 |
| 194 | Derby County | Championship | 1782.2 |
6 countries and 7 different leagues, all measured at one level. League names are labels. Position on the scale is what the matches actually said.
±84: the margin
The rating is measured, not decreed, so it carries a margin. It says how far this club’s own value could sit either way. Wide means thin evidence, never weakness.
Around this rank the clubs sit about 0.4 rating points apart, so a margin this wide covers a lot of places. That does not make the rating wrong, it makes the rank a summary rather than a verdict.
A margin shrinks the more a club meets opponents the rating already knows well, above all across borders. A side that rarely leaves its own league keeps a wide margin however many matches it plays.
10 seasons: the trend
One point per season, so you can see whether a club is actually moving or the ground under it is. The dashed line is the league average in the same season.
What a gap is actually worth
Take every match of the 2025/26 season and sort them by how far apart the two ratings sat. The wider the gap, the more often the stronger club won.
Leagues get the same treatment
A league’s rating is the average of the clubs playing in it today. 64 of the 85 leagues we track play abroad often enough to be placed against each other at all.
| # | League | Country | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Premier League | England | 2100.6 |
| 2 |  Bundesliga |  Germany | 1912.8 |
| 3 |  Serie A |  Italy | 1907.1 |
| 4 |  La Liga |  Spain | 1886.6 |
| 5 |  Ligue 1 |  France | 1872.9 |
| 6 |  Championship | England | 1840.2 |
| 7 |  Serie A | Brazil | 1793.8 |
| 8 |  Liga Portugal | Portugal | 1766.8 |
What it is not
Three things the number is regularly mistaken for.
Not form
A five-match winning run barely moves it. The rating is a level, and levels move slowly by design.
Not squad value
No fee, wage bill or market value reaches the number. An expensive squad that loses gets a losing club’s rating.
Not a single-match prediction
It says what a gap has been worth across tens of thousands of matches. On any given Saturday the gap is a tendency, not a result.
Common questions
What is a football Elo rating?
One number for one club, high means strong, measured from match results instead of set by hand. Every club sits on the same scale, so a club in Portugal and a club in Japan can be held against each other directly.
How often are the ratings updated?
Every night. The whole run is recomputed from scratch on the full match record, so every club’s number reflects the same evidence as of the same moment.
Why do two clubs in different leagues have the same rating?
Because the same rating means an even match on neutral ground, whatever the two leagues are called. League names are labels; the rating is measured through the matches those leagues actually play against each other.
What does the ± next to a rating mean?
It is the club’s own uncertainty in rating points. A large margin means the evidence is thin, not that the club is weak. It shrinks the more a club plays opponents the rating already knows well, above all across borders.
Does the Elo rating include transfer values or squad cost?
No. Results are the only input. No market value, wage bill, coefficient, reputation or hand-set league tier reaches the number.
Look up your own club
Every club and league we track carries its rating, its rank and its margin, updated after each night’s run.