● The following are my personal rankings for each country. They're based off already existing rankings such as the Italian "Tradizione sportiva" or the Brazilian "Ranking Folha" and "Ranking Placar". Of course, I do have my own criteria.
● I take into account competitions at domestic, continental and international levels. Except where stated, I consider the following: domestic league winners to third placed; winners and runners-up for tournaments that have at least a semifinal round; winners only for competitions that are contested by two teams. Only number of seasons in the top tier league are considered for those teams that don't meet the main requirements. Teams must have at least five seasons in the top tier league to be included in a ranking.
● Teams can consist of mergers and predecessors, either official or spiritual. If two mergers played a top tier season at the same time, I consider only one season. If two mergers reached an achievement in the same competition (read previous paragraph) in the same year, I consider only the higher one.
● Certain competitions can have a different weight for countries of a continent compared to those of a different one. It depends on how important those competitions are considered in certain continents or countries. For example, the Intercontinental Cup/Club World Cup (2000-2023) is deemed more important for non-European teams than it is for European teams which understandably see the Champions League as the main competition for clubs.
● Each post is dedicated to a country and has all the competitions I considered to rank the teams. The rankings are split into two sections, the first consisting of the teams that would make an all-time top tier league for that specific country, selecting a convenient number of clubs that was or is still used in reality. If a post has two rankings, that's because it's possible to split the corresponding country's football history into two periods, for example "amateur and professional era". Given that the rankings are purely based on statistics, by no means are they supposed to reflect which teams are stronger, neither now nor overall.
This first post serves also as an index. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a PM in such a way that this thread contains only the rankings.
EuropeSouth America