At a time when the topics of ‘club versus country’ and ‘homegrown talent’ are being hotly debated across the continent’s most famous footballing nations, our infographic investigates the nationalities of the stars set to compete for the top clubs during the 2013/14 Champions League season.
Top of the list is Spain, which has 44 players involved, with only Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain not fielding a Spanish player. Over 18% of all the players in the top 10 squads are Spanish, which is a particularly impressive number when you consider that Spain’s La Liga only provides 2 of our elite 10 UEFA Champions League sides. Second place is Germany, which accounts for just over 14% with 33 players in these squads. It is represented by Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, the current title holder.
In joint third place are England, France and Brazil. 40% of Europe’s elite teams are from England’s Premier League – Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal. However, only 8.9% of players in the 10 squads are English, and none of these 21 players listed represent an elite club outside of their home country. France’s player ratio is the same as England’s, but is more impressive given that only 1 of the elite teams herald from France. This is evidence that France’s top stars spread themselves across Europe’s top clubs rather than staying with home nation clubs. Despite not being European, Brazil provides as many players to these elite clubs as France and England, a further demonstration of their nation’s incredible influence on the sport of football.
The players we have listed in our infographic are based on the A-list squads submitted to UEFA for the group stages of this season’s Champions League. For further clarification on registration issues please see article 18 of the UEFA regulations.