‘By far the greatest team, the world has ever seen…’

It’s a chant heard on nearly every terrace, no matter the division.

Yet, it can only be true for one club.

So if your club aren’t the ‘greatest,’ where do they sit in the ‘world rankings?’

In a list compiled by sports blogging website FiveThirtyEight you can see just that.

The list comprises of 628 clubs from across the globe, with the usual contenders at the top.

Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Liverpool occupy the top three, but what about Millwall and Charlton?

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According to the website, Millwall come in at 218th with Charlton trailing further down the list in 344th.

Quite a role reversal compared to the current Championship standings where the Addicks sit five places above the Lions in tenth place.

How?

The position is worked out based on a SPI rating which calculates the expected number of goals for and against.

“Every team has an offensive rating that represents the number of goals it would be expected to score against an average team on a neutral field, and a defensive rating that represents the number of goals it would be expected to concede,” the website says.

“These ratings, in turn, produce an overall SPI rating, which represents the percentage of available points the team would be expected to take if that match were played over and over again. A win is worth three points, a tie one and a loss zero.”

These rankings are continuously changing from week to week and even the most-fickle of fans will take any such list with a pinch of salt, albeit they’ll no doubt welcome the bragging right.

End of season predictions

The polling also gives it’s prediction of how the Championship will look come the end of the season.

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Both Millwall and Charlton avoid relegation, an achievement both clubs would take at the beginning of the season, but would Addicks boss Lee Bowyer be happy with a 19th place finish after their flying start?

The Lions however may feel their predicted 14th placed finish would be a more realistic outcome of a season which they’ve endured an indifferent start to the campaign.

Millwall may sit above Charlton in the poll, but on November 9 the Addicks faithful may have the last laugh as they travel to The Den in the eagerly anticipated London derby.