Ranking of Europa League teams

17. Valencia (Spain) - Stars David Silva and David Villa have gone nowhere - yet
18. Juventus (Italy) - 0-3 home loss to Milan was a rough start to Juve's 2010
19. Roma (Italy) - Mirko Vucinic one of the more underrated players in Serie A
20. Marseille (France) - Captain Mamadou Niang leads club with eight goals in all competitions
21. Liverpool (England) - Bounced out of Champions League, but would still love a trophy
22. Werder Bremen (Germany) - Despite losing Diego to Juve, last year's runners-up still strong
23. Wolfsburg (Germany) - Last year's Bundes Liga champs finished third in Champions League group
24. Benfica (Portugal) - Perennial Portuguese Liga power has gotten 13 goals from Oscar Cardozo
25. Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) - Like Benfica, Sporting won its Europa League group
26. Fenerbahce (Turkey) - Brazilian Alex and Spaniard Dani Guiza scoring loads of goals
27. Galatasaray (Turkey) - Like rivals above, won its Europa League group; have added Lucas Neill
28. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) - The holders had +11 goal differential in EL Group Stage
29. Anderlecht (Belgium) - Won EL Group, top of league, in quarters of domestic cup
30. PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) - Young Swede Ola Toivonen scored four goals in a game earlier this year for PSV
31. Unirea Urziceni (Romania) - One of many Romanian teams showing promise in European
competitions in recent years
32. Rubin Kazan (Russia) - 2009 Russian champs have already booked a spot in next year's Champions League
33. Atletico Madrid (Spain) - Despite 11th place standing in La Liga and poor Champions League showing (-9 goal differential), Sergio Aguero and Simao make Atletico a team to fear
34. Standard Liege (Belgium) - Serbian Milan Jovanovic continuing strong scoring record for Liege with 12 goals in all competitions this year
35. Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) - Salzburg meets Liege in what should be an evenly matched cup tie in the first Europa League knockout stage
36. Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Israel) - Overcame Hamburg and Celtic to win Europa League group; Israeli Maaran Lala scored winning goal in 2-1 home win over Celtic
37. Hamburg (Germany) - Fighting for Champions League place in Bundes Liga despite departure of coach Martin Jol to Ajax before the season began
38. Lille (France) - Ivory Coast striker Gervinho (age 22) has 11 goals in his first seasons for Lille after a move from French club Le Mans, helping Lille climb to second in Ligue 1
39. Panathinaikos (Greece) - Former Liverpool frontman Djibril Cisse has given goal scoring punch to the Greek giants, who are top of the league ahead of rivals Olympiakos
40. Twente (Netherlands) - Former England manager Steve McClaren has Twente on top of the Dutch Eredivisie, ahead of the likes of PSV and Ajax
41. Fulham (England) - Clint Dempsey and Zolton Gera will be counted on to pick up the scoring slack left by the injury to Bobby Zamora
42. Everton (England) - The loan move of Landon Donovan to Everton could provide some creativity to David Moyes' club
43. Athletic Bilbao (Spain) - Javi Martinez (21) and Fernando Llorente Torres (24) among top young players for the Basque club
44. Villareal (Spain) - The Yellow Submarine has slipped down the La Liga table (10th), but goal-scorer Giuseppe Rossi and midfielder Robert Pires should keep them afloat
45. Ajax (Netherlands) - Martin Jol's team sits third in Eredivisie table, but lead league in goal differential; Uruguayan Luis Suarez has been a big reason with 18 league goals
46. Club Brugge (Belgium) - Croatian Ivan Perisic (aged 20) is off to a strong start with his new club after a transfer from French side FC Sochaux
47. FC Copenhagen (Denmark) - Copenhagen is back in the Round of 32 after falling 4-3 on aggregate to Manchester City in the same round last year. Senegal international Dame N'Doye, among the team's bigger goal-scoring threats, had a strong group stage to lead Copenhagen to second place
48. Hertha Berlin (Germany) - Not only is Hertha in last place in the Bundes Liga, but it has a league worst goal differential. Young Serbian Gojko Kacar's second half goal against Sporting, the group winners, clinched Hertha's birth in the Round of 32.

First Rankings

European Football Rankings unveils its first set, starting with the 16 teams in the knockout stage of the Champions League. Defending CL champion Barcelona heads the ranking.

1. Barcelona (Spain) - Yet to lose in La Liga
2. Chelsea (England) - Leaders of the EPL
3. Real Madrid (Spain) - Ronaldo move makes Madrid legit CL challenger
4. Manchester United (England) - Same great possession, but lack star power
5. Arsenal (England) - Still in contention for EPL and CL trophies
6. Inter Milan (Italy) - Special One can win Serie A, but can he make a move in CL?
7. AC Milan (Italy) - Huge recent improvement from Milan and new manager Leonaro
8. Bordeaux (France) - Ligue 1 leaders
9. Bayern Munich (Germany) - Clinched knockout round spot on final match day
10. Sevilla (Spain) - Sport dangerous attack pairing with Kanoute and Fabiano
11. Fiorentina (Italy) - Won a CL group that included Lyon and Liverpool
12. Lyon (France) - Strangely off the pace a bit in Ligue 1
13. Olympiakos (Greece) - Battling rival Panathinaikos atop Greek Super League
14. Porto (Portugal) - Tough draw against Arsenal in knockout stage
15. Stuttgart (Germany) - Struggling in Bundes Liga and must play Barcelona in CL final 16
16. CSKA Moscow (Russia) - Finished fifth in league and will be in Europa League next season