The 2022 World Cup begins today. I was looking at the 32 squads and found some interesting data, regarding a) the number of players in a country’s squad who were born outside the country; b) the number of players in a country’s squad who play for clubs in that country; and c) the number of players in a country’s squad who have appeared in previous world cups for that country.
It was interesting to note that there are only 4 countries with no foreign born players – Argentina, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
There are 9 countries with 1 foreign born player –
Belgium (Amadou Onana – born in Senegal)
Costa Rica (Oscar Duarte – born in Nicaragua)
Denmark (Robert Skov – born in Spain)
England (Raheem Sterling – born in Jamaica)
Iran (Saman Ghoddos – born in Sweden)
Japan (Daniel Schmidt – born in USA)
Mexico (Rogelio Funes Mori – born in Argentina)
Netherlands (Luuk de Jong – born in Switzerland)
Uruguay (Fernando Muslera – born in Argentina)
The countries with most foreign born players are:
14 – Morocco
12 – Senegal (still to announce 26th member of squad)
12 – Tunisia
10 – Qatar
10 – Wales
Here is the data for all 32 teams, along with their FIFA codes, their groups, their current FIFA ranks and their managers/head coaches (indicating their country of origin – all-caps mean the person concerned had played official international matches for that country):
ARGENTINA (ARG)
Group C, Rank 3, Manager: Lionel SCALONI (ARG) age 44
Players born outside country: 0
Players playing in country: 0
Players in previous WC: 7
AUSTRALIA (AUS)
Group D, Rank 38, Manager: Graham ARNOLD (AUS) age 59
Players born outside country: 9
Players playing in country: 7
Players in previous WC: 8
BELGIUM (BEL)
Group F, Rank 2, Manager: Roberto MARTINEZ (esp) age 50
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 5
Players in previous WC: 16
BRAZIL (BRA)
Group G, Rank 1, Tite BACCHI (bra) age 61
Players born outside country: 0
Players playing in country: 3
Players in previous WC: 10
CAMEROON (CMR)
Group G, Rank 43, Rigobert SONG (CMR) age 46
Players born outside country: 9
Players playing in country: 2
Players in previous WC: 3
CANADA (CAN)
Group F, Rank 41, John HERDMAN (eng) age 47
Players born outside country: 7
Players playing in country: 10
Players in previous WC: 0
COSTA RICA (CRC)
Group E, Rank 31, Luis Fernando SUAREZ (col) age 63
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 17
Players in previous WC: 11
CROATIA (CRO)
Group F, Rank 12, Zlatko DALIC (cro) age 56
Players born outside country: 7
Players playing in country: 6
Players in previous WC: 8
DENMARK (DEN)
Group D, Rank 10, Kasper HJULMAND (den) age 50
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 2
Players in previous WC: 11
ECUADOR (ECU)
Group A, Rank 44, Gustavo ALFARO (arg) age 60
Players born outside country: 2
Players playing in country: 4
Players in previous WC: 3
ENGLAND (ENG)
Group B, Rank 5, Gareth SOUTHGATE (ENG) age 52
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 25
Players in previous WC: 13
FRANCE (FRA)
Group D, Rank 4, Didier DESCHAMPS (FRA) age 54
Players born outside country: 3
Players playing in country: 6
Players in previous WC: 11
GERMANY (GER)
Group E, Rank 11, Hansi FLICK (ger) age 57
Players born outside country: 2
Players playing in country: 18
Players in previous WC: 11
GHANA (GHA)
Group H, Rank 61, Otto ADDO (GHA) 47
Players born outside country: 8
Players playing in country: 2
Players in previous WC: 2
IRAN (IRN)
Group B, Rank 20, Carlos QUEIROZ (por) age 69
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 9
Players in previous WC: 16
JAPAN (JPN)
Group E, Rank 24, Hajime MORIYASU (JPN) age 54
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 7
Players in previous WC: 7
MEXICO (MEX)
Group C, Rank 13, Gerardo MARTINO (ARG) age 60
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 16
Players in previous WC: 10
MOROCCO (MAR)
Group F, Rank 22, Walid REGRAGUI (MAR) age 47
Players born outside country: 14
Players playing in country: 3
Players in previous WC: 8
NETHERLANDS (NED)
Group A, Rank 8, Louis VAN GAAL (ned) age 71
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 12
Players in previous WC: 3
POLAND (POL)
Group C, Rank 26, Czeslaw MICHNIEWICZ (pol) age 52
Players born outside country: 2
Players playing in country: 3
Players in previous WC: 10
PORTUGAL (POR)
Group H, Rank 9, Fernando SANTOS (por) age 68
Players born outside country: 6
Players playing in country: 7
Players in previous WC: 10
QATAR (QAT)
Group A, Rank 50, Felix SANCHEZ (esp) age 47
Players born outside country: 10
Players playing in country: 26
Players in previous WC: 0
SAUDI ARABIA (KSA)
Group C, Rank 51, Herve RENARD (fra) age 54
Players born outside country: 0
Players playing in country: 26
Players in previous WC: 9
SENEGAL (SEN)
Group A, Rank 18, Aliou CISSE (SEN) age 46
Players born outside country: 12
Players playing in country: 0
Players in previous WC: 6
SERBIA (SRB)
Group G, Rank 21, Dragan STOJKOVIC (YUG) age 57
Players born outside country: 4
Players playing in country: 1
Players in previous WC: 12
SOUTH KOREA (KOR)
Group H, Rank 28, Paulo BENTO (POR) age 53
Players born outside country: 0
Players playing in country: 14
Players in previous WC: 7
SPAIN (ESP)
Group E, Rank 7, Luis Enrique MARTINEZ (ESP) age 52
Players born outside country: 2
Players playing in country: 8
Players in previous WC: 6
SWITZERLAND (SUI)
Group G, Rank 15, Murat YAKIN (SUI) age 48
Players born outside country: 3
Players playing in country: 5
Players in previous WC: 11
TUNISIA (TUN)
Group D, Rank 30, Jalel KADRI (tun) age 51
Players born outside country: 12
Players playing in country: 8
Players in previous WC: 10
UNITED STATES (USA)
Group B, Rank 16, Greg BERHALTER (USA) age 49
Players born outside country: 5
Players playing in country: 9
Players in previous WC: 1
URUGUAY (URU)
Group H, Rank 14, Diego ALONSO (URU) age 47
Players born outside country: 1
Players playing in country: 3
Players in previous WC: 13
WALES (WAL)
Group B, Rank 19, Rob PAGE (WAL) age 48
Players born outside country: 10
Players playing in country: 4
Players in previous WC: 0
~ ©RSB
