AUSTRALIA'S A-League has made the Top 20 of the world's top football divisions in a global survey, but only just.

The survey by World Soccer magazine gave each country's league points based on criteria such as attendances, finances, goals scored, competitiveness, successful managers, star players, and stadiums.

Top of the charts was Germany's Bundesliga, home of Bayern Munich, where matches enjoy average attendances of 45,116.

In second place was England's Premier League, ahead of Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A. Brazil's Brasileirão rounded out the top five.

Australia came in at joint 20th, alongside Colombia and Poland.

The survey assessed league income, goals per game, how many different clubs had won the title in recent years, how many major titles coaches had won, how many stadiums had been built since 2000, how many players had played in the 2010 World Cup, and clubs' competitiveness in their continent's major competitions.

WORLD SOCCER'S TOP 25 LEAGUES

1 Germany

2 England

3 Spain

4 Italy

5 Brazil

6 Mexico

7 USA

8 Holland

9 France

10 Argentina

11= Japan

11= Portugal

13 Russia

14 China

15= Belgium

15= Turkey

15= Ukraine

18 Sweden

19 Switzerland

20= Australia

20= Colombia

20= Poland

23= Ecuador

23= UAE

25= Paraguay

25= Scotland

25= South Africa

25= Uruguay

Originally published as Australia in top global leagues list