We all love to rank things, right? Here, we list the top 10 football teams in Central and North America, according to the Opta Power Rankings.
Want to know who the best teams in the world are? Opta Analyst has you covered.
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to nearly 13,500 domestic men’s football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
These Opta Power Rankings are updated daily and currently rank teams from 183 different countries and 413 unique domestic leagues, providing a truly global rating system in men’s football.
We wanted to look at the rankings by continent, though. So, here is the list of the top-10 ranked football clubs in Central and North America.
Click below for a full explanation on how the Opta Power Rankings are calculated.Opta Power Rankings Explained
10. Philadelphia Union | Rating: 81.9 | Global Rank: 147
Despite being one of the biggest cities in the United States, Philadelphia wasn’t represented when Major League Soccer initially launched in 1996.
But 12 years later, after a supporters group called Sons of Ben convinced MLS that there was sufficient interest, Philadelphia Union were confirmed as the league’s 16th franchise. They began playing in 2010.
Glory hasn’t been easy to come by, claiming their first successes in 2020 as they took the Supporters’ Shield – for best overall record in the MLS regular season – and topped the Eastern Conference, which they repeated in 2022 en route to their Eastern Conference play-offs triumph.
Their position in the top 10 among Central and North American teams currently will be aided by the fact they lead the Eastern Conference again.
9. Inter Miami | Rating: 82.0 | Global Rank: 146
Arguably MLS’s most recognisable club these days, Inter Miami began competing in the 2020 season after a David Beckham-fronted investment group were awarded the league’s 25th franchise two years earlier.
Ever since their foundation, Inter have successfully attracted big-name players coming to the end of their careers, with Blaise Matuidi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez all among them.
But it was the 2023 arrival of Lionel Messi that really transformed the team’s fortunes, on and off the pitch. While his presence helped their value soar, on the grass he inspired them to Leagues Cup success, plus the Eastern Conference (regular season) in 2024. That also coincided with them earning the Supporters’ Shield.
That success secured the privilege of taking the ‘host’ spot at the 2025 Club World Cup, making them one of three MLS teams to participate in the newly expanded competition, while they are flying high in the Eastern Conference once again.
8. Tigres | Rating: 82.4 | Global Rank: 136
Although Tigres have played top-flight football for the majority of the past half century, it’s only really in the last 15 years that they’ve become one of the leading forces in Mexican football, their 2011 Apertura success being their first league title since 1982.
They’ve since added five Apertura or Clausura – the half-season tournaments that Liga MX is comprised – titles and four Campeón de Campeones – played between the winners of the Apertura and Clausura – crowns.
Tigres have also attracted attention for some of their ambitious transfers; France striker André-Pierre Gignac joined in 2015 at the height of his powers and is still there, having become their record goalscorer, while he also helped lure Florian Thauvin – a World Cup winner – in 2021.
Continental success has been achieved, too. They won the CONCACAF Champions League (now Champions Cup) for the first time in 2020, and the Campeones Cup – contested by the winners of the MLS Cup and Campeón de Campeones – in 2018 and 2023. Most recently, they finished fourth in the Liga MX Clausura 2025 but lost in the semi-finals of the final phase.
7. Vancouver Whitecaps | Rating: 82.6 | Global Rank: 130
The Vancouver Whitecaps have existed in various iterations since the 1970s, but the MLS franchise of the same name was only established in 2009 before beginning to compete two years later.
Tangible success has been minimal for the Whitecaps, with their only trophy wins (four) coming in the Canadian Championship, a cup competition contested only by Canadian clubs. The Whitecaps, Toronto FC and Montréal are the only teams to have won it.
However, the Whitecaps lead the MLS Western Conference and reached the final of the CONCACAF Champions Cup this season. They were beaten 5-0 by Mexico’s Cruz Azul, though getting so far was still a notable achievement.
6. Monterrey | Rating: 82.7 | Global Rank: 127
If Tigres can be credited with testing the waters with respect to bringing recognisable talent from European clubs to Liga MX, then their Nuevo León neighbours Monterrey have truly pushed the boat out.
Their squad for the 2025 Club World Cup, for which they qualified by virtue of their 2021 CONCACAF Champions League success, includes Sergio Ramos, Sergio Canales, Olíver Torres and Lucas Ocampos, while Jesús Corona – who spent most of his career in Europe after coming through at Monterrey – was also re-signed in 2023. Oh, and Pep Guardiola’s former assistant, Domènec Torrent, is their manager.
Having been founded in 1945, Monterrey are northern Mexico’s oldest club. But much like their rivals, Tigres, most of their success is fairly recent. All but one of their five league titles have come since the turn of the century, while their five CONCACAF Champions League crowns were earned in the past 14 years.
5. Los Angeles FC | Rating: 82.8 | Global Rank: 126
LAFC began competing in MLS in 2018 as an expansion team and already have a rich history of signing high-profile players, with Gareth Bale, Olivier Giroud, Hugo Lloris, Giorgio Chiellini and Carlos Vela having all played for them.
They’ve also enjoyed a reasonable amount of success, lifting the MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup once apiece, while two of their three West Conference (regular season) wins have earned them the Supporters’ Shield (2019 and 2022). They also won the Western Conference play-offs in 2022 and 2023.
Currently among the chasing pack in the 2025 Western Conference, LAFC will be in Club World Cup action this summer. They qualified by virtue of beating Club América in a play-in game after Mexico’s León were barred due to multi-club ownership rules, as sister club Pachuca had already taken a spot. LAFC had finished runners-up to León in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League.
4. Columbus Crew | Rating: 83.0 | Global Rank: 116
One of the original 10 MLS clubs, Columbus Crew have – unlike many of their divisional rivals – actually been around for quite a while now.
They haven’t been hugely successful in that time, winning seven domestic titles and two continental crowns, though four of them have come in the past five years with the MLS Cup (2020, 2023), Leagues Cup (2024 and Campeones Cup (2021).
Currently, they are part of the chasing pack behind Philadelphia Union in MLS’s Eastern Conference.
3. Club América | Rating: 84.4 | Global Rank: 90
Mexico’s most successful club, and almost certainly its most recognisable, Club América are steeped in history and play in one of the most iconic stadiums in world football, the enormous Azteca in Mexico City (although it’s currently being renovated for the 2026 World Cup).
Their 16 domestic league titles, six Copa Mexico crowns, seven Campeón de Campeones successes and seven CONCACAF Champions Cup/Champions League triumphs are all either records or equal best.
They recently fell just short of their 17th league title; after finishing second to Toluca in the 2025 Clausura regular phase, they then lost to them 2-0 on aggregate in the decider of the final phase.
2. Toluca | Rating: 85.1 | Global Rank: 79
One of the seven Mexican clubs to have never been relegated from the top tier, Toluca are historic and among the country’s most successful teams. However, their recent Clausura triumph ended something of a barren run.
Before that, they’d not won a title of any kind for 15 years, having clinched eight between 2000 and 2010. Their 2025 success took them to 11 domestic league titles, a tally bettered only by América and Guadalajara.
Crucial to ending their drought were the goals of Portuguese striker Paulinho, who netted 27 times over the course of the Liga MX season.
1. Cruz Azul | Rating: 86.3 | Global Rank: 65
Currently, the highest-ranked Central or North American team in the Opta Power Rankings are Mexico’s Cruz Azul. In the global rankings, they place at 65.
Historically regarded as the third most popular club in Mexico after América and Guadalajara, Los Celestes have won nine domestic league titles and finished runners-up 12 times, more than any other club.
At continental level, however, no Mexican club have a better record in the CONCACAF Champions League/Champions Cup. Their seven crowns is a record shared with América, though Cruz Azul have reached the final (nine) more times.
Their most recent triumph in that competition came at the start of June when they thrashed the Whitecaps 5-0, likely having a major impact on their place in the rankings. In the 2025 Liga MX Clausura, they came third in the regular season before losing to América in the semi-finals.
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Opta Power Rankings: The Top 10 Football Teams in Central and North America Opta Analyst.
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