American Football International and Inside Sport Japan have teamed up to produce a ranking of the Top 225 American football teams outside of the United States and Canada.
This has been a monumental undertaking. To say the least.
The compilation has involved discussions with coaches and players the world over and has been weeks in the making. We have tried to keep it as accurate as possible with a couple of criteria. For the most part, we have limited it to teams from the top leagues in each country other than Japan and Germany. So if your team from the second division in, for example, France, or Austria, is left off the list, that’s the reason. We will continue to refine our process with input from you and possibly also expand the list. Also, some teams from like the Søllerød Gold Diggers, Aalborg 89ers and Aarhus Tigers from Denmark or Brno Sigrs and Pilsen Patriots from the Czech Republic as well as América Locomotiva from Brazil, were inadvertently left off the list, and deserved to be in this ranking. For that, please forgive us.
This is the first time anyone has attempted this and we realize there are flaws in the selection process. These teams, for the most part, never have a chance to play one another.
What was the reason for doing a world ranking?
John Gunning of Inside Sport: Japan:
“We’ve collaborated with AFI for years and ISJ has done many Japan rankings recently that were well received and thought why not expand it. I know at least 224 teams will be unhappy but a big reason for doing this is to provide motivation to get games going. Now maybe teams can see what kind of opponents they should be reaching out to.”
Our number one team, the Fujitsu Frontiers, who just finished winning their fourth straight Japanese title, was a consensus selection. The X League is the oldest non-college league in the world outside of North America. Football has been played in Japan since 1934 and has had both high school and college football ever since. In other words, football is played at a high level in Japan.
Gunning:
“Japan has a 100% win rate at club and international level against every other country on the list. Japanese teams have never lost or tied a single game against any other country on our list. And the Fujitsu Frontiers are the number one team in Japan.”
So let the debate begin. If you disagree, which many of you will, let us know the reason. We do not plan for this to be a one-off event.
Link to Full-Size Ranking
