The 2022/23 season is well underway and many of the world's biggest teams are already making their presence felt.
Manchester City have flown out the blocks in the Premier League with Erling Haaland plundering his way to nine goals, while Bayern Munich have already made a strong start to their mission of winning an 11th consecutive Bundesliga crown.
The trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe finally seem to be gelling at Paris Saint-Germain as they've made a goal-rich start to life under Christophe Galtier, sitting joint top in Ligue 1 with Lens and Marseille.
Who is the world's best club?
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho's AS Roma are the early pacesetters in Serie A over Inter Milan and it's Real Madrid who once again lead the way in La Liga as they sit two points ahead of Barcelona and three above Atletico.
Marry that to the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League group stage draws all being completed and the landscape for the next nine months of club football has been laid bare for fans to see.
As such, now feels like a great time to take stock of which clubs across the world are the best in the business at the moment because even a few weeks into the season, it can be tough to tell which sides are truly impressing the most.
Stats name the world's top 30 teams
And while naming the world's top side will ultimately always be a subjective affair, that doesn't mean we can't come as close as possible to making it a matter of statistics by calling on the data analysts over at FiveThirtyEight.
One of the most revered statistical bodies in the beautiful game, FiveThirtyEight uses a complex algorithm - which you can learn more about here - to assess the defensive and offensive strengths of football teams.
This, in turn, can be used to make fascinating predictions about how entire competitions will play out, but today, we're focusing on the SPI ratings handed out to each of the teams that they assess from across the globe.
In other words, who are the best teams in the world according to their data? Well, let's find out by walking through their top 30 at the time of writing because it certainly makes for an interesting read.
30. AS Roma
Soccer Football - Serie A - Juventus v AS Roma - Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy - August 27, 2022 Roma coach Jose Mourinho during the match REUTERS/Massimo Pinca
29. Manchester United
28. Zenit St. Petersburg
27. Celtic
26. Athletic Bilbao
25. Real Sociedad
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Real Sociedad v FC Barcelona - Reale Arena, San Sebastian, Spain - April 21, 2022 Real Sociedad players pose for a team group photo before the match REUTERS/Vincent West
24. Brighton & Hove Albion
23. Sporting CP
22. Bayer Leverkusen
21. PSV Eindhoven
20. Benfica
Soccer Football - Primeira Liga - Benfica v Pacos de Ferreira - Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal - August 30, 2022 Benfica's David Neres celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
19. Napoli
18. AC Milan
17. FC Porto
16. Villarreal
15. Borussia Dortmund
Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Hertha BSC v Borussia Dortmund - Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany - August 27, 2022 Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus REUTERS/Annegret Hilse DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO.
14. RB Leipzig
13. Atletico Madrid
12. Inter Milan
11. Red Bull Salzburg
10. Arsenal
Soccer Football - Pre Season Friendly - Arsenal v Sevilla - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - July 30, 2022 Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring their fifth goal with Gabriel Martinelli to complete his hat-trick Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
9. Tottenham Hotspur
8. Chelsea
7. Ajax
6. Barcelona
5. Real Madrid
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Celta Vigo v Real Madrid - Estadio de Balaidos, Vigo, Spain - August 20, 2022 Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring their third goal with Luka Modric REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
4. Liverpool
3. Paris Saint-Germain
2. Manchester City
- Bayern Munich
Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Eintracht Frankfurt v Bayern Munich - Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt, Germany - August 5, 2022 Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane applauds fans after the match
Bayern the best in the business
Crash, bang, wallop. Where do we start?
So the general consensus in the world of data right now seems to be that Bayern, who have been given a fresh lick of paint this season with Matthijs de Ligt and Sadio Mane, have usurped City as the best club team in the men's game.
The Bavarians also happen to come top of FiveThirtyEight's Champions League projections.
Elsewhere, and the hype around Arsenal right now is apparent in the data, too, as they raise two fingers to the doubters by pushing themselves into the world's top 10 above the likes of Dortmund, Atletico and the Milan clubs.
But at the other end of the spectrum, United clearly still have some more work to do to turn the tide because to spy that they're barely in the top 30 right now and trailing behind Brighton really is damning.
Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Liverpool - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - August 22, 2022 Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo with manager Erik ten Hag before coming on as a substitute REUTERS/Phil Noble EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are evidently on the road to recovery in sixth, PSG look completely revitalised under Galtier, Porto are gradually sliding backwards and Celtic are really thriving with Ange Postecoglou in the hot seat.
However, as we all know, the stats don't always get it right in the world of football, so we'll have to see how the next nine months go before we definitively declare which teams are the best of the best.
But the stats don't half seem interesting in the mean time...
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