28 Jan 2026 13:39:08
Elite or not Elite, that is the question.
Growing up watching football from the end of the 70's, certain teams were known as "elite". Rangers and Celtic were the Old Firm giants until the New Firm under McLean and Ferguson got in on the act. We also knew about clubs past achievements.
1. Everybody knew about Real Madrid.
2. We had all heard the stories of the great Ajax side.
3. We all knew Celtic were the first British side to win the European Cup.
4. We all knew Man United were the first English side to win it.
5. We heard about a great German side in Bayern.
6. We knew English teams dominated the competition from the late 70's to the very early 80's – Liverpool, Forest and Villa.
7. We knew about the AC Milan side with their Dutch players.
8. We know with the influx of TV money that more English clubs started to make a mark in winning and competing – Arsenal, Spurs, Man City and Chelsea.
I watched Malmo, a Swedish club lose a final. And I was gutted when Rangers came so close to appearing in the final of the inaugural Champions League in 92-93 season.
9. I could mention Barcelona, Inter, Juventus, Benfica, Porto, Dortmund, Hamburg, Feyenoord and others who have also triumphed at the pinnacle of club football.
For me, "elite" when describing teams under the current UEFA parameters is a non-starter. Too many clubs are only dining at the top due to their respective leagues financial pulling power.
We now see that in the Europa League and Conference League where only Olympiacos have bucked the trend. The last team to win the CL outside of the 5 big leagues was Porto in 2003/04 season.
In the 90's, 7 different leagues supplied the CL winner.
In the 2010's, only 3 leagues supplied the CL winner.
My overall view is that a team can be considered "elite" on historical achievements (Rangers and Celtic) whilst others may be considered "elite" on current achievements (PSG and Man City).
28 Jan 2026 15:09:05
MPH your opinion is valid and I don't think anyone would argue.
I have dealt with facts and facts alone on this subject as opinions have proven to be emotive and cause issues.
My personal opinion is their are probably 5-6 clubs that represent the epitome of football.
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Bayern München
AC Milan
Liverpool
Manchester United (6)
But I will refer to UEFA classification when discussing subjects now.
28 Jan 2026 15:18:15
Everybody will have their own definition of 'elite', just as everyone has their own definition of legend. For me an elite club is one where there's no arguing over that status like Barca, Real or Bayern.
28 Jan 2026 15:38:31
100% spot on mph.
28 Jan 2026 15:40:00
Great Post MPH,
Very interesting read.
28 Jan 2026 15:52:32
MPH, you're correct. As in corporate business, the money has to come from the top and stay with the top. The top 5 big leagues don't want to distribute any money if not required. The EPL, for example, has a distribution of between 109 -175 million pounds per team, per season, who are in the league relating to position. The SPFL has 34 million pounds distributed between 12 teams, per season.
Bournemouth are an EPL team who made 143 million last year by finishing 9th and only have a stadium which holds less than 11,500. Greenock Morton have a bigger stadium than Bournemouth. As do Dunfermline and Dundee. Surprising isn't it. UEFA make it hard for any new country to achieve direct qualification. I'd like to see a new format for leagues. Scotland, Wales and Ireland league for example. Spain with Portugal league. Netherlands and Belgium. France and germany. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Who wouldn't like to see Rangers Vs shelbourne with Celtic v Cardiff after. Marseille v Dortmund. Ajax v brugge. It'll never happen though.
28 Jan 2026 16:10:24
You guys must be retired ??.
28 Jan 2026 16:14:34
In my sincere opinion, neither Rangers not Celtic can be considered anywhere near elite at this time, at European level anyway. What we have is a mismatched system where the elite of European football are playing in a closed shop to all intents and purposes.
The list shared by Aphelion above is as close as I would get to elite European clubs. Manchester City, PSG, Chelsea etc are (in my opinion) proof that elite class cannot be bought.
28 Jan 2026 17:04:24
couldn't agree with that any more if i tried.
28 Jan 2026 17:12:22
Peter i was tired reading this debate yesterday so now i'm tired again reading it today does that count as re tired?
28 Jan 2026 17:13:57
Elite clubs
Barca
R. madrid
Man utd
Liverpool
Bayern
Psg
Juventus.
28 Jan 2026 18:05:17
what about Inter i. n. t. r.
28 Jan 2026 18:43:55
What about Leverkusen ? too soon???.
28 Jan 2026 19:01:30
PSG? Nope … Not for me …. They've improved since a state bought them and ploughed oil money in … not in the same league historically as Liverpool, Utd, Bayern, Real Madrid and Barca. A good bit behind AC, Inter and Juve. Maybe on par with City due to recent success.
28 Jan 2026 19:05:16
Fork it is never too soon.
28 Jan 2026 20:35:37
Personally, think the term elite is for the here and now.
You have given us some great examples of some of the best teams in my generation. For me the Ajax team of the early 90's was just the best. And we can only imagine what the would have went on to do if they had been kept together - maybe they would have more CL titles than Real Madrid?
But a lot of them whilst still being massive footballing clubs and institutions like Rangers are no longer Elite. And of those that are, most are simply because of TV revenue.