Sweden Women Clubs Ranked - 1988 to 2024

Sweden led the way in women's football with the creation of a professional league, the Damallsvenskan in 1988. That led to success in Europe for the top Swedish clubs. As other nations have followed suit, Sweden hasn't been able to replicate that success but still has a strong domestic competition.

First, to clarify some of the club's changes. Kopparbergs/Landvetters became Kopparbergs/Göteberg and then finally BK Häcken FF, all of the history that is here is under the latter. 

FC Rosengård was Malmö FF Dam and then LdB FC Malmö. It merged with FC Rosengård and took the Rosengård name. All the history is here is listed under the FC Rosengård as it is the same club in various forms. Malmö FF was reformed as a club in 2019 just to confuse matters. 

Älvsjö AIK merged with Djurgårdens IF but are kept separate here. The reason is they both played against each other until 2002 so the records up until then are kept apart. Älvsjö was by far the more successful of the two but after a couple of seasons after the merger where their names were both used, they took the name Djurgårdens IF in 2007 and all points since the merger are here credited to Djurgårdens.

To the right are the top six club sides. 'Swe' is for points accrued in the domestic league and 'Tot' adds European success. 

The Malmö based FC Rosengård is well ahead of second placed Umeå IK, based in the north of Sweden. Linköpings FC is third with its success coming more recently. The other three were mentioned above.

How are points allocated? Damallsvenskan (Division 1) gets 6,3,2 and 1 point for the top four. The Svenska Cupen (Cup) 4 and 2 for the finalists. The European Champions League is 8, 4 and 2 for the top four, depending on where they finish. 

The Damallsvenskan, or first division, is shown to the left. FC Rosengård has consistently been a top performer whereas Umeå IK was successful around the early 2000's only. Djurgårdens IF fell away after 2007 but in contrast, BK Häcken's points have come since then. 

The Svenska Cupen is like many cup competitions, the knock out format means it is less predictable. Certain clubs have enjoyed success for periods of time but not on a prolonged basis. BK Häcken has been in the last four cup finals, although it did only win one of them.   

The Champions League was first played in the 2001/02 season. This coincided with Umeå IK being at its strongest and they were in five finals, winning twice. Djurgårdens IF and Tyresö FF have both been losing finalists once. Swedish clubs have not made it to the semi final stage since 2013/14. 

All put together, the clubs are below. The grand total is shown for each club on the left, then on the right they are divided into regions with a ranking number (Rk), which gives their place compared to all the other clubs in their region.

The regional coverage is well spread. The South leads from Stockholm. The less populated North does well, with Central Sweden and Gothenburg also providing solid contributions. Capital cities are normally strong in sport but not so much here.  

Swiss Clubs Ranked - 1960/61 to 2024/25

Football was introduced by British teachers and students in the 1860's and it was just before the end of the 19th century that a football competition was first held.

Going from the beginning of the 1960's, the chart to the right shows the most successful clubs. So how do the points work? First up the 'Swi' column shows domestic points and 'Tot' includes European success, which as you can see, isn't that bountiful.

In the Super League (first division), the top four are rewarded with 6, 3, 2 and 1. The Swiss Cup 4 and 2 points for the finalists only. The League Cup 3 and 1. Let's dive a little deeper.

Super League (Nationalliga A until 2002): FC Basel is the most successful, putting on an amazing run from 1999/00 to 2021/22. After two quieter years, they then won the league in 2024/25. Two clubs from FC Zürich take second and third. The Bern Young Boys and Geneva's Servette FC follow.

The Swiss Cup again has FC Basel at the top of the rankings. The usual suspects join them with FC Sion from the South West of the country has done well in this competition, replacing Young Boys in the top five. While Sion's success has been consistent, Basel has been more so in recent times.

The League Cup was established in 1972 but ended in the 1981/82 season. Servette FC and Grasshoppers were the only sides to win it more than once.

European success has been limited to a couple of semi finals in what is now the Champions League for FC Zürich and one semi final each the the Europa League for Grasshoppers and FC Basel.

All put together, the clubs are below. The grand total is shown for each club, divided into regions with a ranking number (Rk), which gives their place compared to all the other clubs.

The left side lists all the clubs that have scored points, fewer than other leagues I've investigated so far. The right side was problematic. The clubs didn't divide well into a few regions. FC Basel, for example, is in the north and west. Sion FC is in the south and west. Anyway, just a general guide. 

UEFA Women's Euros : 1997-2025

This was the eighth Women's Euros that I have covered in this article. 1997 was the first 'proper' tournament with a group and a knock out phase. However, before the history we'll look at the 2025 event.

Group A was played in Switzerland, with the hosts in the kindest group but even then only just got past that stage. This was the first group to exit the tournament

Group B got two sides to the semi finals and one to the final. 

Group C had two strong sides but none from that group made the final.

Group D was won by France, although England had the slightly better goal differential. This group also provided the winning team.

England's route to the final was a fight all the way. In the quarter final stage, they came back from 0-2 against Sweden to win a bizarre penalty shootout. It came down to who wanted to lose it the most. Then against Italy, a late injury time equaliser from England got them into extra time and victory. 

Into the final. It happened again against Spain, where England had to come back from 0-1 to end up this time in a penalty shootout, won 3-1. When a team has to battle and keep coming from behind to win, it imbues self belief but not overconfidence. That seems to have been the case here. Hard luck Spain but their penalty shooting was poor. 

For the first three tournaments, there were eight sides participating and for that reason I gave the finalists slightly lower points. When it expanded to twelve, I then increased them.

Historically, it's all about Germany. They won the first five tournaments, so by far the most successful nation. Their earlier dominance is tempered by the fact that they have not won the last three, despite making a final in 2022. 

England were slow starters but are making up for lost opportunities, winning the last two tournaments. Sweden is incredibly solid but has only made one final (losing). Norway has lost two finals and Denmark one. The Netherlands has a trophy from its only finals appearance. Spain had its best tournament in 2025.