FIFA World Cup 2010: Where the Players are Based

FIFA World Cup 2010 is all about national pride and getting together to celebrate national teams, for those lucky enough to have one in the tournament, or adopting a national side to support for those who don’t.

However, there are many millions of fans of club football out there who have their favourite players from their favourite clubs. Many leagues are represented too at World Cups, and 2010 is no exception.

As part of the build up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, The Global Herald provides this unique insight into the players club football with this statistical analysis of where the players themselves are based.

FIFA World Cup 2010 – Where They Play their Club Football

299 clubs from exactly 53 countries will send players to FIFA World Cup 2010, below we provide some insight into which clubs and national leagues are sending the most players to FIFA World Cup 2010.

Most Represented National Leagues

English leagues have the most players at the FIFA World Cup 2010, with 117 players who ply their trade in England registered to take part in the 2010 tournament three days before the tournament begins. Germany is the next most represented, with 84, followed by Italy (80), Spain (59) and France (46), next comes Netherlands (34) and Japan (25).

Where Players are Based - FIFA World Cup 2010 Pie Chart

Most Represented Clubs – FIFA World Cup 2010

Perhaps unsurprisingly – for many consider them the best club in the world at present, having won the UEFA Champions League in 2009, and reaching the Semi-Final in 2010 – Barcelona (Spain) are the most represented club at FIFA World Cup 2010, with 13 players. Chelsea (England) are next with 12, and would have been the lead club but for the withdrawal of Michael Ballack and Jon Mikel Obi in recent weeks.

Interestingly, both Chelsea and Barcelona have won domestic doubles this season, and success does seem to tally with World Cup attendence, as the clubs next in line have generally performed well in recent seasons, too.

Liverpool (England) also have 12 players at South Africa, while beaten UEFA Champions League finalists Bayern Munich are next up with 11 players World Cup 2010.

UEFA Champs Inter Milan (Italy) are in a group of four clubs next who send 10 players – including Arsenal (England), Panathanaikos (Greece) and Real Madrid (Spain).

Top 30 Clubs Sending Players To World Cup 2010

All of the top 30 clubs (numerically) sending players to FIFA World Cup 2010 send more than 5 players each. Below is a table of these 30 clubs.