The 2022-23 season came to an end with a historic moment in English football on Saturday as Manchester City became the eighth club in European history - and the second from the Premier League - to complete the treble of domestic league, national cup and Champions League titles.
That makes them an obvious riser to number one in The Sportsman's Football Power Rankings, but just how far are they ahead of the rest of the continent?
Based on achievements over the past five seasons, with a sliding scale rewarding more recent successes most heavily, we’ve come up with an algorithm which identifies the very best teams across domestic leagues and European competition. Here are the top 40 teams in the rankings including all results up to and including June 10:
40. Real Betis (previously outside top 40) - 15.063
39. Galatasaray (38th) - 15.938
38. Tottenham Hotspur (32nd) - 16.297
37. West Ham United (-) - 16.938
36. Union Berlin (29th) - 18.500
35. Eintracht Frankfurt (-) - 18.734
33. Monaco (23rd), Atalanta (40th) - 19.500
32. Real Sociedad (33rd) - 19.625
31. Lille (31st) - 20.313
29. Young Boys (26th), Benfica (26th) - 21.563
28. Stade Rennais (35th) - 21.938
27. Lens (34th) - 22.500
25. Bayer Leverkusen (24th), Villarreal (24th) - 23.250
23. Juventus (12th), Celtic (21st) - 25.313
22. Shakhtar Donetsk (-) - 25.781
21. Arsenal (19th) - 26.531
20. Lazio (18th) - 27.219
19. Chelsea (17th) - 27.234
18. Sevilla (36th) - 28.344
17. Roma (22nd) - 28.805
16. Red Star Belgrade (15th) - 29.063
15. Marseille (13th) - 29.375
14. Manchester United (20th) - 29.391
13. Red Bull Salzburg (14th) - 30.000
12. RB Leipzig (16th) - 33.469
11. Atletico Madrid (11th) - 34.680
10. Borussia Dortmund (9th) - 37.289
Oh, Dortmund! It seemed all so straight-forward for them to go and win a Bundesliga title for the first time in 11 years, but ninth-placed Mainz came to the Westfalenstadion and held them to a 2-2 draw which gave Bayern Munich another title and effectively relegated BVB down fourth spaces in the Power Rankings.
9. Milan (10th) - 38.125
Juventus' on-again, off-again, on-again points deduction helped to throw Milan's end-of-season run into uncertainty, but they eventually claimed a top-four finish and Champions League qualification once more having reached the semi-final stage of this year's competition. Given that they lost out to rivals Inter, it was a bittersweet achievement.
8. Liverpool (8th) - 39.422
Liverpool finished the season relatively well, notwithstanding that batshit 4-4 draw with Southampton on the final day of the campaign. They missed out on the big prizes though, failing even to reach the Champions League, meaning rankings points will be harder to collect in 2023-24.
7. Napoli (6th) - 40.859
If this was a ranking of the greatest title celebrations, Napoli would have every single point. Their first Scudetto in 33 years went down so well in Campania that fans forgave them for a pretty meek exit from the Champions League at the hands of AC Milan. How they cope post-Luciano Spalletti will be interesting to see.
6. Barcelona (5th) - 42.969
Champions under Xavi Hernandez, the Blaugrana have increasingly become a tough club to predict. Financial chaos one minute, dominance over Real Madrid the next. Champions League group-stage failures here, La Liga titles there. What becomes of next season? Well we know Lionel Messi won't be returning, but beyond that it's anyone's guess.
5. Inter (7th) - 50.125
Remember all those people who predicted Inter would reach the Champions League final? No, us neither. The Nerazzurri added a third-place finish in Serie A to their accomplishments this season but will need another pretty stellar campaign in '23-24 if they're to hang around in the top five of the Power Rankings.
4. Paris Saint-Germain (4th) - 53.367
What is a Paris Saint-Germain? Is it a team of megastars? A domestic juggernaut? Or a running joke? A failed attempt by a nation state to dominate Europe? It's probably all of those things in truth. In 2022-23 they have won another league table - this time by just a point - but once again came nowhere near achieving on the continent. Lionel Messi's departure might lead to a bit of a change of emphasis. They could do with one.
3. Bayern Munich (3rd) - 58.867
Second in the Power Rankings for much of the season, Bayern looked doomed to failure in their attempts to lift an 11th straight Bundesliga title until that incredible final day. Jamal Musiala's late winner at Koln completed a stunning turn of events and ensured that even in a comparatively poor year for FC Hollywood they can still be considered one of the best around.
2. Real Madrid (1st) - 63.789
Leaders of the Power Rankings for 12 months solid, Real Madrid's slide from the top spot was confirmed with their defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final. While it wasn't quite a repeat of 2021-22 for Carlo Ancelotti's side, they're still not far from the summit and will be expected to be there or thereabouts at home and abroad in the coming campaign.
1. Manchester City (2nd) - 85.766
What can you say about them that hasn't been said already? The treble has been achieved, Pep Guardiola is on top of the footballing world once more, Erling Haaland is primed to keep scoring hundreds of goals forever and the City project shows no signs of slowing down. Chapeau, Champions.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
