IFFHS
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics 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, and former president of the Association of West German Sports Journalists Heribert Faßbender have referenced IFFHS.
The World's Best Club
Since 1991, the entity has produced a monthly Club World Ranking.File:Final SuperCopa ESP 2011.jpg|thumb|Real Madrid and Barcelona, ten-time winners of the world's Best Club award.
The ranking takes into consideration the results of twelve months of continental and intercontinental competitions, national league matches and the most important national cup.
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., 1.5 and 0, 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.
Men's winners
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, 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.
| Continent | Club |
| Europe | Real Madrid |
| South America | Peñarol |
| Africa | Asante Kotoko |
| Asia | Al-Hilal |
| CONCACAF | Saprissa |
| Oceania | South Melbourne |
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. In 2021, Barcelona were recognised as the world's best club also for the second decade.| Decade | World | Europe | South America | CONCACAF | Africa | Asia | Oceania |
| 2001–2010 | Barcelona | Barcelona | Boca Juniors | América | Al Ahly | Al-Hilal | Auckland City |
| 2011–2020 | Barcelona | Barcelona | Grêmio | UANL | Espérance de Tunis | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | Auckland City |
Women's winners
The World's Strongest National League
Men's league
The Strongest National League of the Decade
Women's league
The World's Best Player
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.| Player | Wins | Years | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Women's winnersThe World's Best Man Player of the Century (1901–2000)
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.
The World's Best Man Player of the 19th Century (until 1900)In November 2021 IFFHS announced the Dream Team of the XIX Century and the top 3 players.
Top 10 players of all-time (2025)In May 2025 IFFHS announced the top 10 players of all time, based on performance stats, with Lionel Messi being the winner surpassing Pelé, the IFFHS Player of the 20th Century.
World's best player & coachIt was a one-time award under the name world's universal genious won by Franz Beckenbauer for his world success as both player and coach in 2007.
World's most popular playerThe World‘s most popular player as voted by IFFHS users:
Europe's best playerBest European Player (1956-1989)On 24 April 1990, before the 1990 World Cup, IFFHS gave out an award for the best European player taking into consideration players who were voted in the shortlist of the France Football's Ballon D'Or from 1956 until 1989.
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