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Sikhumbuzo Moyo
LOCAL football giants Dynamos and Highlanders are among the continent’s Top 20 clubs, a clear endorsement of the local Premiership that has all along been battling to get sound sponsorship. According to the latest Confederation of African Football (Caf) club continental rankings, the Harare giants are ranked eighth on the continent while the league and cup double-chasing Highlanders are the 20th best football club in Africa.
Leading the rankings are former continental champions TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by Tunisia’s Esperance while El Merreikh of Sudan are third on the rankings. Recently crowned African club champions Al Ahly of Egypt are ranked fourth and Al Hilal of Sudan, formerly home to Edward Sadomba, are fifth.
The rankings procedure took into account matches played from 1 January 2009 to 9 November this year and according to the format, Dynamos have won 90 matches, drawn 35, lost 32 and scored 231 goals while conceding 100 goals to take their points tally to 1 511, 84.
On the other hand, Highlanders have won 72 matches, drawn 37 and lost 34 games, in the process scoring 175 goals and conceding three more than their Harare rivals to record a total of 1 467,74 points.
Some notable teams that are outside the Top 20 bracket include two-time Champions League winners Enyimba of Nigeria, Tunisian giants CS Sfaxien and CA Bizertin.
The World Football Elo Rating is a ranking system for men’s teams in association football. The method used to rank teams is based upon the Elo rating system method but modified to take various football-specific variables into account. This system, developed by Hungarian-American mathematician Dr. Árpád Élő, is used by FIDE, the international chess federation, to rate chess players, and by the European Go Federation, to rate Go players. In 1997 Bob Runyan adapted the Elo rating system to international football.
The Elo system was adapted for football by adding a weighting for the kind of match, an adjustment for the home team advantage, and an adjustment for goal difference in the match result.
The factors taken into consideration when calculating a team’s new rating are:
• The team’s old rating
• The considered weight of the tournament
• The goal difference of the match
• The result of the match
• The expected result of the match
Ratings tend to converge on a team’s true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches. Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional.
Caf club continental rankings as at 9 November 2013
1. TP Mazembe – DRC
2. Esperance – Tunisia
3.AL Merreikh – Sudan
4.AL Ahly – Egypt
5.AL Hilalal – Sudan
6.Vita Club – DRC
7.Cotonsport – Cameroon
8. Dynamos – Zimbabwe
9.Kaizer Chiefs – South Africa
10. Raja Casablanca – Morocco
11. Zamalek – Egypt
12. Stade Malien – Mali
13. Etoile Sportive du Sahel – Tunisia
14. Orlando Pirates – South Africa
15. Mamelodi Sundowns – South Africa
16. Asec Mimosa – Cote d’Ivore
17. Djoliba Ac – Mali
18. 1st de Agosto – Angola
19. Es Setif – Algeria
20 Highlanders – Zimbabwe
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