The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has published its next club ranking of the 350 best clubs on the planet for January 2005. For Ukrainian clubs, compared with the TOP-350 of a month ago, practically nothing has changed. Ukraine is still represented by five clubs, in all except Kyiv's "Dynamo," which retained 72nd position in the ranking. Dnipropetrovsk's "Dnipro" and Donetsk's "Shakhtar" each lost one position (respectively, from 60th to 61st and from 61st to 62nd), as well as minor movements for Donetsk's "Metalurh" (from 274th place to 286th) and Mariupol's "Illichivets" (from 325th to 331st).
The first position was secured by Argentina's "Boca Juniors," pushing aside Spain's "Valencia." England's "Manchester United" rose from third place to second. "Monaco" immediately rose to third place (from eighth), and the fourth-fifth spots were occupied by the former leaders Valencia and Brazil's "Santos." The opponents of Ukrainian clubs in European cups have the following positions: "Villarreal" - 12th, "Schalke" - 24th, "Partizan" - 59th.