The Global Game

Such is the global nature of football, and the primacy of club football, that only about one-third of players play in a league from the same country as the one that they are representing in the 2022 World Cup. At times, the variance is stark. For example, not a single player in the Senegal team plays club football in Senegal. Even footballing powerhouses such as Argentina and Brazil have a poor club-country overlap, with just one and two players respectively out of a squad of 26 players.

Only four of the 32 countries at Qatar have 20 players or more who play in the same league as the country they represent: England and Germany

(which have strong leagues), and

Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Only a handful of top countries have a healthy presence from one club.

After that, it starts to disperse.