Arsenal and Liverpool had the most English players involved in the competition…
The Champions League group stage ended on Wednesday night, and even though most of the English clubs went through to the next stage there is some bad news for the nation…
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England have one of the smallest amounts of players to have taken part in the Champions League so far, and are beaten by nations with far smaller populations such as Portugal and the Netherlands. Here are the top ten…
10) Belgium/Russia, 19 players (each)
Belgium and Russia are far smaller nations in terms of population and love of football respectively, and it is not a good sign that they get so close to England in their numbers of players.
9) England, 21 players
We come to England… Chelsea and Manchester City’s squads full of foreign imports will have had an effect, and Arsenal and Liverpool have their fair share of foreign stars, too. This will need to improve if the national team ever wants to compete with the best again.
8) Netherlands, 22 players
The Netherlands are a prime example of a nation that still creates great players with a weak domestic league. England could take a lot of tips from their Dutch counterparts.
7) Argentina, 24 players
A country from another continent has more players in European competition than England. Roy Hodgson will not be impressed by this, although most of Argentina’s best ply their trade over here.
6) Italy, 26 players
The Italians will be disappointed with the low number of players that they have. It is largely due to the decline of their club football in the last decade.
5) Portugal, 34 players
Despite having a tiny population compared to other countries, the Portuguese are ahead of larger nations. Their players even have to compete against the large number of South American stars
that join their biggest clubs Benfica and Porto.
4) France, 37 players
You would think that the number of French players would suffer in the same manner as the English due to having high spending PSG and Monaco amongst their representatives. However, their numbers are made larger by their footballers abroad, such as Samir Nasri, Franck Ribery, Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema.
3) Germany, 51 players
Germany’s top class academy system is reflected in their amount of players in Europe’s top competition. Both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have far more German players than English clubs have English players.
2) Brazil, 68 players
Despite being from an entire other continent, Brazilians have come to dominate European football. Their numbers are boosted by the large numbers that play in Eastern Europe for teams such as Shakhtar Donetsk.
1) Spain, 75 players
Spain are helped by having Athletic Bilbao competing for them, as the club have a ruling that only players with Basque heritage can play for them and most of the region is in the country. They also benefit from having many players playing in other nations.