The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for some time but, in 2010, relocated to

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, Germany, and then in 2014 to

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

. 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.Rafa Jiménez, ''IFFHS: La calculadora del fútbol''. '' Don Balón'' (1656), 9/15 July 2007, p. 50 (in Spanish). 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 The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, 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 The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system ...

(DFB), and former president of the Association of West German Sports Journalists (german: Verbandes Westdeutscher Sportjournalisten — VWS)

Heribert Faßbender Heribert Faßbender (born 30 May 1941 in Ratingen) is a German sports journalist. Life Faßbender worked since 1963 for German broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and later for sport magazine ''Sportschau'' on German broadcaster ARD. He i ...

have referenced IFFHS.

The World's Best Club

Since 1991, the entity has produced a monthly Club World Ranking. FC BARCELONA - ARSENAL 8 MAR 2011 5511901212

The ranking takes into consideration the results of twelve months of continental and intercontinental competitions, national league matches (including play-offs) and the most important national cup (excluding points won before the round of 16). 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. (win), 1.5 (draw) and 0 (lost), 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 The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

and the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

yield more points than

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

and Copa Sudamericana, respectively. The point assignment system is still lower for the

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

, CAF,

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; types ...

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

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

al clubs of the 20th century. The ranking did not consider the performance of the teams in national football tournaments (except in the Oceania's club ranking due to limited editions held under OFC club competitions), 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 Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

, London, on 11 May 2010.

The Best Man 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 (2001–2010). In 2021, Barcelona were recognised as the world's best club also for the second decade (2011–2020). 20141015 - PSG-Lyon - Lyon 01

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 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

until 2009, FIFA continued this distinction named "

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representativ ...

"; 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.''

The World's Best Man Player of the Century (1901–2000)

Women's winners

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 (no further details given).

The World's Best Youth (U20) Player

The award was introduced in 2021.

Men's winners

Women's winners

The World's Best Playmaker

Men's winners

The IFFHS World's Best Playmaker is a footballing award which, since 2006, is given annually to the best playmaker of the year, as chosen by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The award is awarded at the end of the year at the ''World Football Gala'': the winning playmaker is awarded a gold trophy. Argentina's

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

and Spain's Xavi have won the award a record four times each (Xavi four consecutive times), and Spanish compatriot Andrés Iniesta has won the award two times.

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

is the club with the most wins, with ten in total. Xavi Hernández - 002

was named the Best Playmaker since 2006 and the Best Playmaker of the Decade 2011–2020.

Women's winners

Dzsenifer Marozsán Dzsenifer Marozsán (; born 18 April 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for French club Olympique Lyonnais, as well as the Germany national team. She previously played for 1. FC Saarbrücken and 1. FFC Frankfurt in t ...

was named the Best Playmaker of the Decade 2011–2020.

The World's Best Goalkeeper

Men's winners

Women's winners

The World's Best Top Goal Scorer

This award is given annually since 2020, and retroactively from 2011 to 2019, to the world's top goalscorer in the calendar year.

Men's winners

All-time World's Best Goal Scorer ranking

Posse Senadores 2019 (33077513788) (cropped)

:Bold indicates players currently active.

Women's winners

The women's award was introduced in 2021.

The World's Best International Goal Scorer

This award is given annually since 1991 to the world's top international goalscorer in the calendar year. Ali Daei 20190213

Men's winners

Women's winners

The women's award was introduced in 2021.

The World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer

Lionel Messi, Player of FC Barcelona team

This award is given annually since 1997 to the player who scores the most goals in a league season (in a calendar year since 2020) in any of the top 60 leagues in the world (as ranked by IFFHS for that given year).

Men's winners

All-time World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer ranking

:Bold indicates players currently active.

Women's winners

The women's award was introduced in 2021.

The World's Most Effective Top Division Goal Scorer

This award was given annually from 1997 to 2004 to the player with the best goal ratio (goals/matches played) in a league season in any of the top 60 leagues in the world (as ranked by IFFHS for that given year).