Premier League top of the pile

The Premier League has strengthened its position as the elite competition in world football, while the Championship is the second English league in the world's top 10.

That is by the league average of first-team starters by TransferRoom’s Player Ratings metric, in the latest rankings in January 2026.

The PL’s average is 83.5, up from 83.3 at the end of 2024, and its lead over second place has gone from 2.7 to 2.9.

The Championship's Player Rating average is 75.4, showing the far superior strength in depth of English football over its rivals.

TransferRoom’s data-led Player Ratings feature gives clubs and agents an at-a-glance guide to a player’s overall quality in the wider landscape of their domestic league and internationally.

It also provides a tool to measure the relative strength of different leagues. By calculating the average Player Rating of first-team starters in each competition worldwide, TransferRoom has produced a league table of leagues to show the best divisions by the overall quality of players in the global game.

Spain's La Liga is ranked second while Italy's Serie A moves above the German Bundesliga into third position. But Germany's 2. Bundesliga has moved up a place into 16th - the only other non top-flight league in the top 20.

Despite Paris Saint-Germain winning the UEFA Champions League and reaching the FIFA Club World Cup final, France's Ligue 1 is starting to get competition as the fifth-strongest league.

Brazil's Série A now only 1.3 behind the lowest-ranked of Europe's Big Five, after three Brazilian sides reached the FIFA Club World Cup quarter-finals in the summer of 2025.

The big movers

While the top 20 has largely remained consistent, the biggest movers up the rankings have been the Saudi Pro League, Major League Soccer and the Czech Liga.

Lionel Messi and MLS Cup champions Inter Miami have helped move the competition's ranking up three places to 18th.

Saudi Arabia's top league continues to make big waves and holds its highest position yet - 13th. Al-Hilal reached the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup last summer.

And a surprise mover has been Czech Republic's Czech Liga. Slavia Prague reached the UEFA Champions League this season, while rivals Viktoria Plzen and Sparta Prague are on course for progression to the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League and Conference League. And Plzen reached the last 16 of the Europa League last season.

How is the TR Player Rating calculated?

Broadly, a player's rating takes into account the following:

• The quality of the team he plays for
• How regularly he plays
• The standard of competition he plays against
• His individual performance statistics, weighted by the stats most relevant to his position

Our sophisticated algorithm based on millions of data points is constantly being updated, so the ratings adjust with every game.

TransferRoom's Player Ratings explained

How clubs and agents can accelerate their success on TransferRoom

Over 800 clubs and 550 Trusted Agencies worldwide get access to an unrivalled network of decision makers across 128 leagues. They can see real-time player data and market intelligence, such as the TransferRoom Player Ratings this list is built on.

The TransferRoom Player Rating is designed to give clubs and agencies a quick, easy-to-understand measure of a player’s quality, to help with the process of finding the right opportunities and level both for their players and the potential signings they are targeting.

They also have access to TransferRoom's Expected Transfer Value and a host of other tools to give them the edge in recruitment.

How to join TransferRoom

There are over 800 clubs worldwide using TransferRoom. You can find out how to join them here.

Agents, get access to the decision-makers at top clubs in over 130 leagues worldwide as a TransferRoom Trusted Agent. Find out more here.

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