European Club Ratings Proxies 2005/2006 – Final

Here are the ‘proxy’ ratings for the European club system for the end of the 2005/2006 season. For countries whose seasons start and end in the same calendar year, the ratings are for the 2005 season.

European Club Ratings Explanation

The ratings for the European clubs feature all the teams in the top division of the following 16 countries:

European Club Ratings 2005/2006 – final

These are the final club ratings for the 2005/2006 campaign. For those clubs whose seasons start and end in the same calendar year, only their results for 2005 count. Check back here as the 2006/2007 season progresses for updates.

Youth Development in MLS

The On the Pitch blog has a post on youth development in MLS which I found interesting. However he also posts a familiar quote that I’ve wondered about for quite some time:

“An agreement binding you to a professional team is a contract to play for that team if they choose to keep you. It could be argued (though I Am Not A Lawyer) that it is a promise of pay to be received once the player is of age. Suffice to say a player who commits to a team is unlikely to retain their right to play in college.”

I’ve seen this argument before and I have a few problems with it.

The Basics Behind the Ratings

The ratings on this site come in the form of a single rating for all teams which judges the overall strength of the team based on their results and the difficulty of the schedule they face. It is loosely based on the Bradley-Terry method of paired comparisons. This method has been used effectively by Ken Butler in his KRACH hockey ratings. More info on KRACH can be found here.

International Team Ratings – August 2006

Here are the ratings for all 205 National Teams as of August 14, 2006. Enjoy!

First post

WordPress generates the first post automatically. They say you can delete it or edit it. Deleting it takes no creativity whatsoever, so I’ve decided to edit it by saying something clever and witty.

Umm…