Best international football team of all time revealed
Monday 6 June 2016
It is a debate which has raged in many living rooms and pubs across the country and no doubt the world. But now academics from the University of Salford say they have identified the greatest international football side of all time.
Using historical data going back right to the start of international football, the team at the Centre for Sports Business at Salford have crunched the numbers and revealed that the Hungary 1954 side featuring Puskas is the number one. Despite losing in the final that year to West Germany (a team they had beaten 8-3 earlier in the tournament), the side had gone unbeaten during the four previous years. And between 1950 and 56 they won 42 games, drew seven and lost just that World Cup final match.
The Brazil team of 1997, featuring Juninho, Ronaldo, Romario, Bebeto and others was in second spot, with the Spain side of 2010 including Casillas, Iniesta, Xavi and Villa in third place.
Professor Ian McHale described how he and Professor Rose Baker developed the findings.
He said: “We fed all the stats into our Sports Analytics Machine (SAM), taking into account a range of factors including goals scored, goals conceded, the strength of the opposition faced and whether or not results were achieved in major tournaments.
“We looked at results around a point in time, both in the years before and after, with more weight added to results nearer that point in time. It is quite nice to see what we think of today as a smaller country, in footballing terms, Hungary come out on top, but that side is widely acknowledged as one of the best ever.”
The rest of the top ten according to SAM is;
4. Brazil 2013
5. Germany 2012
6. Netherlands 1974
7. Brazil 1970
8. Argentina 2010
9. France 2000
10. West Germany 1974
In contrast, the best ever England side was in 1986, a team that included Gary Linekar, John Barnes, Chris Waddle and Peter Shilton. They were knocked out of the world cup that year by Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal and also by a sublime strike where he ran through the defence to score one of the best goals of all time.
That Argentina side doesn’t feature anywhere near the top ten despite winning the cup. As Prof McHale explains: “It is a classic example of one man team. Without Maradona changing matches there is no way they would have done as well.”
For England fans a comparison with Germany makes interesting reading. The two sides are closely matched, with the sides rated level in both 1966, when England triumphed in the World Cup final at Wembley, and then very similar in the 1996 European Championships, when the Germans returned the favour in a penalty shoot-out.
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Sam Wood
0161 295 5361
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