Representation of Leagues at the World Cups 2022, 2018, 2014

What is the representation of football leagues at the World Cup in Qatar?

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Comparing number of players participating in the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar to two previous editions we see that big 5 leagues are still lead in that area.

However, it is noticeable that England (Premier League & lower English divisions) has increased the distance to others. Increases are also noticeable in leagues of Germany, Italy, France, USA, Belgium, and Netherlands, but not such big as case of England. It should be noted worth that Italian leagues have huge representation although Italy doesn’t have national team on the FWC Qatar.

The position of the Russian League fell dramatically. This is obvious result of the war (not only because of suspension of Russian national team, but also because of the massive escape players from Russian league).

Very large increased of players has brought by Qatari league, but the main reason of that comes from the domestic clubs concept of the national team.

Number of players representing leagues

		League	2022 Qatar 🇶🇦			2018 Russia 🇷🇺		2014 Brazil 🇧🇷
1	ENG		163	19,64%	↑↑	129	17,53%	120	16,33%
2	ESP		86	10,36%	↑	81	11,01%	65	8,84%
3	GER		80	9,64%	↑↑	67	9,10%	77	10,48%
4	ITA		70	8,43%	↑↑	58	7,88%	82	11,16%
5	FRA		58	6,99%	↑↑	49	6,66%	45	6,12%
6	USA		36	4,34%	↑↑	19	2,58%	21	2,86%
7	KSA		35	4,22%	↑↑	30	4,08%	1	0,14%
8	QAT		33	3,98%	↑↑	2	0,27%	3	0,41%
9	BEL		24	2,89%	↑↑	17	2,31%	12	1,63%
10	MEX		23	2,77%		23	3,13%	25	3,40%
11	TUR		19	2,29%		22	2,99%	26	3,54%
12	POR		19	2,29%	↑	18	2,45%	22	2,99%
13	NED		19	2,29%	↑↑	15	2,04%	20	2,72%
14	CRC		16	1,93%	↑↑	7	0,95%	10	1,36%
15	KOR		14	1,69%	↑	13	1,77%	7	0,95%
16	SCO		13	1,57%	↑↑	7	0,95%	4	0,54%
17	GRE		13	1,57%	↑↑	5	0,68%	13	1,77%
18	JPN		10	1,20%		15	2,04%	15	2,04%
19	IRN		9	1,08%		9	1,22%	14	1,90%
20	SUI		9	1,08%	↑↑	4	0,54%	12	1,63%
21	DEN		8	0,96%		8	1,09%	1	0,14%
22	TUN		8	0,96%	↑↑	6	0,82%	2	0,27%
23	BRA		7	0,84%		9	1,22%	11	1,50%
24	AUS		7	0,84%	↑↑	3	0,41%	7	0,95%
25	CRO		7	0,84%	↑↑	3	0,41%	5	0,68%
26	ARG		6	0,72%		9	1,22%	7	0,95%
27	POL		4	0,48%		4	0,54%	0	0,00%
28	AUT		4	0,48%	↑↑	2	0,27%	2	0,27%
29	ECU		4	0,48%	↑↑	0	0,00%	8	1,09%
30	SRB		3	0,36%		3	0,41%	0	0,00%
31	MAR		3	0,36%	↑↑	2	0,27%	0	0,00%
32	URU		3	0,36%	↑↑	2	0,27%	1	0,14%
33	RUS		2	0,24%		36	4,89%	34	4,63%
34	EGY		2	0,24%		10	1,36%	0	0,00%
35	CHN		2	0,24%		8	1,09%	6	0,82%
36	CMR		2	0,24%	↑↑	0	0,00%	2	0,27%
37	GHA		2	0,24%	↑↑	0	0,00%	1	0,14%
38	KUW		2	0,24%	↑↑	0	0,00%	1	0,14%
39	CYP		2	0,24%	↑↑	0	0,00%	0	0,00%
40	COL		1	0,12%		6	0,82%	4	0,54%
41	UAE		1	0,12%		2	0,27%	2	0,27%
42	HUN		1	0,12%	↑↑	0	0,00%	1	0,14%
43	PER		0	0,00%		6	0,82%	0	0,00%
44	PAN		0	0,00%		3	0,41%	0	0,00%
45	SWE		0	0,00%		3	0,41%	2	0,27%
46	UKR		0	0,00%		3	0,41%	9	1,22%
47	BUL		0	0,00%		2	0,27%	1	0,14%
48	CHI		0	0,00%		2	0,27%	5	0,68%
49	GUA		0	0,00%		2	0,27%	0	0,00%
50	ISR		0	0,00%		2	0,27%	2	0,27%
51	PAR		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	1	0,14%
52	GUI		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	0	0,00%
53	FIN		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	0	0,00%
54	HON		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	10	1,36%
55	ISL		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	0	0,00%
56	NGA		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	4	0,54%
57	NOR		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	6	0,82%
58	ROU		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	0	0,00%
59	RSA		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	2	0,27%
60	SVK		0	0,00%		1	0,14%	0	0,00%
61	ALG		0	0,00%		0	0,00%	2	0,27%
62	BIH		0	0,00%		0	0,00%	1	0,14%
63	CIV		0	0,00%		0	0,00%	1	0,14%
	SUM		830	100,00%		736	100,00%	735	100,00%

Table shows data as of November 18, 2022.

The Qatar and Saudi Arabia squads are made up entirely of players from the countries’ domestic leagues.

The Senegal, Wales and Canada squads not to include any players employed in their domestic leagues, but Wales and Canada have players from domestic clubs.

Most of foreign players are representing the big 5 leagues, as well as American, Portuguese and Turkish leagues.

All players data table you can find here.

Performance ranking of leagues on FWC 2022 – check it out.