Player representation by league system – FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar vs 2018 Russia and 2014 Brazil

Representation of football leagues at the World Cup in Qatar. Comparison with 2018 and 2014.

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

photo & video by my_life_in_qatar/

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

LeagueLeague2022 Qatar 🇶🇦2018 Russia 🇷🇺2014 Brazil 🇧🇷
1ENG

ENG 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿16319,64%↑↑12917,53%12016,33%
2ESP

ESP 🇪🇸🇦🇩8610,36%8111,01%658,84%
3GER

GER 🇩🇪809,64%↑↑679,10%7710,48%
4ITA

ITA 🇮🇹708,43%↑↑587,88%8211,16%
5FRA

FRA 🇫🇷🇲🇨586,99%↑↑496,66%456,12%
6USA

USA 🇺🇸🇨🇦364,34%↑↑192,58%212,86%
7KSA

KSA 🇸🇦354,22%↑↑304,08%10,14%
8QAT

QAT 🇶🇦333,98%↑↑20,27%30,41%
9BEL

BEL 🇧🇪242,89%↑↑172,31%121,63%
10MEX

MEX 🇲🇽232,77%233,13%253,40%
11TUR

TUR 🇹🇷192,29%222,99%263,54%
12POR

POR 🇵🇹192,29%182,45%222,99%
13NED

NED 🇳🇱192,29%↑↑152,04%202,72%
14CRC

CRC 🇨🇷161,93%↑↑70,95%101,36%
15KOR

KOR 🇰🇷141,69%131,77%70,95%
16SCO

SCO 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿131,57%↑↑70,95%40,54%
17GRE

GRE 🇬🇷131,57%↑↑50,68%131,77%
18JPN

JPN 🇯🇵101,20%152,04%152,04%
19IRN

IRN 🇮🇷91,08%91,22%141,90%
20SUI

SUI 🇨🇭🇱🇮91,08%↑↑40,54%121,63%
21DEN

DEN 🇩🇰80,96%81,09%10,14%
22TUN

TUN 🇹🇳80,96%↑↑60,82%20,27%
23BRA

BRA 🇧🇷70,84%91,22%111,50%
24AUS

AUS 🇦🇺🇳🇿70,84%↑↑30,41%70,95%
25CRO

CRO 🇭🇷70,84%↑↑30,41%50,68%
26ARG

ARG 🇦🇷60,72%91,22%70,95%
27POL

POL 🇵🇱40,48%40,54%00,00%
28AUT

AUT 🇦🇹40,48%↑↑20,27%20,27%
29ECU

ECU 🇪🇨40,48%↑↑00,00%81,09%
30SRB

SRB 🇷🇸30,36%30,41%00,00%
31MAR

MAR 🇲🇦30,36%↑↑20,27%00,00%
32URU

URU 🇺🇾30,36%↑↑20,27%10,14%
33RUS

RUS 🇷🇺20,24%364,89%344,63%
34EGY

EGY 🇪🇬20,24%101,36%00,00%
35CHN

CHN 🇨🇳20,24%81,09%60,82%
36CMR

CMR 🇨🇲20,24%↑↑00,00%20,27%
37GHA

GHA 🇬🇭20,24%↑↑00,00%10,14%
38KUW

KUW 🇰🇼20,24%↑↑00,00%10,14%
39CYP

CYP 🇨🇾20,24%↑↑00,00%00,00%
40COL

COL 🇨🇴10,12%60,82%40,54%
41UAE

UAE 🇦🇪10,12%20,27%20,27%
42HUN

HUN 🇭🇺10,12%↑↑00,00%10,14%
43PER

PER 🇵🇪00,00%60,82%00,00%
44PAN

PAN 🇵🇦00,00%30,41%00,00%
45SWE

SWE 🇸🇪00,00%30,41%20,27%
46UKR

UKR 🇺🇦00,00%30,41%91,22%
47BUL

BUL 🇧🇬00,00%20,27%10,14%
48CHI

CHI 🇨🇱00,00%20,27%50,68%
49GUA

GUA 🇬🇹00,00%20,27%00,00%
50ISR

ISR 🇮🇱00,00%20,27%20,27%
51PAR

PAR 🇵🇾00,00%10,14%10,14%
52GUI

GUI 🇬🇳00,00%10,14%00,00%
53FIN

FIN 🇫🇮00,00%10,14%00,00%
54HON

HON 🇭🇳00,00%10,14%101,36%
55ISL

ISL 🇮🇸00,00%10,14%00,00%
56NGA

NGA 🇳🇬00,00%10,14%40,54%
57NOR

NOR 🇳🇴00,00%10,14%60,82%
58ROU

ROU 🇷🇴00,00%10,14%00,00%
59RSA

RSA 🇿🇦00,00%10,14%20,27%
60SVK

SVK 🇸🇰00,00%10,14%00,00%
61ALG

ALG 🇩🇿00,00%00,00%20,27%
62BIH

BIH 🇧🇦00,00%00,00%10,14%
63CIV

CIV 🇨🇮00,00%00,00%10,14%
SUM830100,00%736100,00%735100,00%

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.