After the most successful season in its 55-year history, Paris Saint-Germain changed its level in European football in 2025 and made the most significant leap in the new edition of the Folha Ranking of world football.
The French club added six cups to its gallery, one of them the Champions League, and advanced 61 positions in the list, a historical series published since 2002, reaching 29th place.
French champions with six rounds to spare and winners of the French Cup after overcoming Reims in the final, PSG became only the 11th club on the continent to celebrate a triple crown, with the titles of the national league, the domestic cup and the main European club tournament.
The season began with winning the French Super Cup, went on to win the European Super Cup and ended with the triumph over Flamengo in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, ending a year that marked the club’s entry into the group of the main powers in world football.
Although the intercontinental title does not have the same historical weight for European clubs as it does for South Americans, the achievement alleviated, at least partially, the only frustration of PSG fans this year: the runner-up in the first edition of the Club World Cup. Held in the United States, the competition ended with the French team’s defeat in the final against Chelsea, 3-0.
The French team scored 220 points throughout 2025 and reached 290 in total. Although PSG’s national success is relevant to measure its greatness last season, the world football Folha Ranking assigns scores exclusively to international competitions.
From this edition of the ranking, the Club World Cup becomes the tournament that distributes the highest points in the series, with 100 points for the champion and 60 for the runner-up.
Created by FIFA (International Football Federation) with the promise of being played every four years and bringing together 32 clubs from all continents, the event helped Chelsea end the year 2025 as the third highest scoring club in the season, with 110 points in total.
Now in 16th position, with 520, the English team rose six places compared to the previous year’s ranking, leaving behind teams like Manchester United, Santos and Palmeiras — which was its victim in the Club World Cup. Among the English, it is now behind only Liverpool, in sixth place, with 830.
Without major changes in the most recent editions, the front group underwent a relevant change last year with the departure of São Paulo from the top 10. The Brazilian club was overtaken by Inter Milan and now appears in 11th place. The Italian team scored 40 points as runner-up in the Champions League.
Parked at 630 points, São Paulo, still the best placed Brazilian in the historical classification, begins to see Flamengo getting closer. Champion of the Libertadores after beating Palmeiras in the decision and runner-up in the Intercontinental Cup, the Rio club scored 120 points in 2025, reached 550 and jumped from 19th to 14th position.
The ten best placed Brazilian clubs in the ranking are: São Paulo (11th), Flamengo (14th), Santos (18th), Palmeiras (20th), Grêmio (22nd), Cruzeiro (26th), Internacional (28th), Corinthians (32nd), Fluminense (36th) and Atlético Mineiro (also 36th).
Questions and answers about the Folha Ranking
Since when was the Folha de Futebol Ranking created?
The first edition of the national ranking was in 1996. Since then, the list has undergone modifications, corrections and revisions. The last major revision took place in 2010. The world ranking began to be published in 2002 and follows the same guidelines as the national list.
Who enters the Folha Ranking?
In the national ranking, only teams that scored points (were champions or runners-up) in national or international competitions appear. In the world rankings, only those who scored in international tournaments.
What tournaments are considered?
To enter the rankings, a tournament must have great representation, official status and sequence. Therefore, championships played only once and with no prospect of new editions, such as the super championships held in some states in 2002, are disregarded. Tournaments such as Copa Rio, Copa Suruga, Supercopa do Brasil and Copa Florida, among others, also do not yield ranking points.
Why don’t tournaments played by just two clubs, like the Recopa Sul-Americana, award points to the runner-up?
Every team that participates in a tournament like this has already received a bonus, as it brings together winners from previous competitions. It wouldn’t be logical to have a team scoring where it only failed.
