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

world leagues ranking

ESP 🇪🇸🇦🇩8610,36%8111,01%658,84%
3GER

world leagues ranking

GER 🇩🇪809,64%↑↑679,10%7710,48%
4ITA

world leagues ranking

ITA 🇮🇹708,43%↑↑587,88%8211,16%
5FRA

FRA 🇫🇷🇲🇨586,99%↑↑496,66%456,12%
6USA

USA 🇺🇸🇨🇦364,34%↑↑192,58%212,86%
7KSA

world leagues ranking

KSA 🇸🇦354,22%↑↑304,08%10,14%
8QAT

world leagues ranking

QAT 🇶🇦333,98%↑↑20,27%30,41%
9BEL

world leagues ranking

BEL 🇧🇪242,89%↑↑172,31%121,63%
10MEX

world leagues ranking

MEX 🇲🇽232,77%233,13%253,40%
11TUR

world leagues ranking

TUR 🇹🇷192,29%222,99%263,54%
12POR

world leagues ranking

POR 🇵🇹192,29%182,45%222,99%
13NED

world leagues ranking

NED 🇳🇱192,29%↑↑152,04%202,72%
14CRC

world leagues ranking

CRC 🇨🇷161,93%↑↑70,95%101,36%
15KOR

world leagues ranking

KOR 🇰🇷141,69%131,77%70,95%
16SCO

world leagues ranking

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

world leagues ranking

GRE 🇬🇷131,57%↑↑50,68%131,77%
18JPN

world leagues ranking

JPN 🇯🇵101,20%152,04%152,04%
19IRN

world leagues ranking

IRN 🇮🇷91,08%91,22%141,90%
20SUI

world leagues ranking

SUI 🇨🇭🇱🇮91,08%↑↑40,54%121,63%
21DEN

world leagues ranking

DEN 🇩🇰80,96%81,09%10,14%
22TUN

world leagues ranking

TUN 🇹🇳80,96%↑↑60,82%20,27%
23BRA

world leagues ranking

BRA 🇧🇷70,84%91,22%111,50%
24AUS

world leagues ranking

AUS 🇦🇺🇳🇿70,84%↑↑30,41%70,95%
25CRO

world leagues ranking

CRO 🇭🇷70,84%↑↑30,41%50,68%
26ARG

world leagues ranking

ARG 🇦🇷60,72%91,22%70,95%
27POL

world leagues ranking

POL 🇵🇱40,48%40,54%00,00%
28AUT

world leagues ranking

AUT 🇦🇹40,48%↑↑20,27%20,27%
29ECU

world leagues ranking

ECU 🇪🇨40,48%↑↑00,00%81,09%
30SRB

world leagues ranking

SRB 🇷🇸30,36%30,41%00,00%
31MAR

world leagues ranking

MAR 🇲🇦30,36%↑↑20,27%00,00%
32URU

world leagues ranking

URU 🇺🇾30,36%↑↑20,27%10,14%
33RUS

world leagues ranking

RUS 🇷🇺20,24%364,89%344,63%
34EGY

world leagues ranking

EGY 🇪🇬20,24%101,36%00,00%
35CHN

world leagues ranking

CHN 🇨🇳20,24%81,09%60,82%
36CMR

world leagues ranking

CMR 🇨🇲20,24%↑↑00,00%20,27%
37GHA

world leagues ranking

GHA 🇬🇭20,24%↑↑00,00%10,14%
38KUW

world leagues ranking

KUW 🇰🇼20,24%↑↑00,00%10,14%
39CYP

world leagues ranking

CYP 🇨🇾20,24%↑↑00,00%00,00%
40COL

world leagues ranking

COL 🇨🇴10,12%60,82%40,54%
41UAE

world leagues ranking

UAE 🇦🇪10,12%20,27%20,27%
42HUN

world leagues ranking

HUN 🇭🇺10,12%↑↑00,00%10,14%
43PER

world leagues ranking

PER 🇵🇪00,00%60,82%00,00%
44PAN

world leagues ranking

PAN 🇵🇦00,00%30,41%00,00%
45SWE

world leagues ranking

SWE 🇸🇪00,00%30,41%20,27%
46UKR

world leagues ranking

UKR 🇺🇦00,00%30,41%91,22%
47BUL

world leagues ranking

BUL 🇧🇬00,00%20,27%10,14%
48CHI

world leagues ranking

CHI 🇨🇱00,00%20,27%50,68%
49GUA

world leagues ranking

GUA 🇬🇹00,00%20,27%00,00%
50ISR

world leagues ranking

ISR 🇮🇱00,00%20,27%20,27%
51PAR

world leagues ranking

PAR 🇵🇾00,00%10,14%10,14%
52GUI

world leagues ranking

GUI 🇬🇳00,00%10,14%00,00%
53FIN

world leagues ranking

FIN 🇫🇮00,00%10,14%00,00%
54HON

world leagues ranking

HON 🇭🇳00,00%10,14%101,36%
55ISL

world leagues ranking

ISL 🇮🇸00,00%10,14%00,00%
56NGA

world leagues ranking

NGA 🇳🇬00,00%10,14%40,54%
57NOR

world leagues ranking

NOR 🇳🇴00,00%10,14%60,82%
58ROU

world leagues ranking

ROU 🇷🇴00,00%10,14%00,00%
59RSA

world leagues ranking

RSA 🇿🇦00,00%10,14%20,27%
60SVK

world leagues ranking

SVK 🇸🇰00,00%10,14%00,00%
61ALG

world leagues ranking

ALG 🇩🇿00,00%00,00%20,27%
62BIH

world leagues ranking

BIH 🇧🇦00,00%00,00%10,14%
63CIV

world leagues ranking

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.