Clubs With the Most Players at the World Cup

What clubs have the most players at the World Cup? Learn which teams are the best-represented at the World Cup and which leagues have the most as well!

The World Cup is a chance for the best players in the world to take time away from domestic football and represent their respective national teams. With this in mind, it’s interesting to look at the clubs with the most players at the World Cup.

This blog covers the best-represented clubs in the world, the leagues with the most players, and which nations called up the most players from their own domestic leagues. Keep reading to learn more about World Cup players and their clubs!

Or, if you’re already backing certain teams or players across the tournament, explore the latest World Cup betting odds for all the matches as they happen.

The best-represented clubs at the World Cup

Below is a table summarising the clubs with the largest number of players attending the tournament and the percentage of the World Cup’s players who represent those clubs:

Topping the list is Manchester City, with 19 of their players heading to the tournament in North America. This makes them the club with the highest percentage of players at the tournament, at 1.52%, reflecting the number of elite players they hold in their squad.

The Sky Blues have many top stars attending, many of whom could play every minute of their nation’s World Cup matches. This includes the likes of Erling Haaland with Norway, Marc Guehi with England, Bernardo Silva with Portugal, and Josko Gvardiol with Croatia. However, they also have more youthful players who will be looking to establish themselves in their national team’s setups such as Nico O’Reilly with England and Rayan Cherki with France, just to name a few.

German giants Bayern Munich then narrowly follow with 17 of their own players, again showing the amount of talent they have at their disposal. Bayern’s percentage of the World Cup’s players is slightly less than that of Man City, standing at 1.36%. England’s number nine, Harry Kane, will no doubt be hunting down a second World Cup Golden Boot after his first in 2018. Luis Diaz will represent Colombia, while Michael Olise and Dayo Upamecano will play for France, and they have six representatives for Germany (Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Jonathan Tah, Leon Goretzka, Aleksandar Pavlovic, and Jamal Musiala).

The bronze position goes to PSG, who have 16 players attending. The French champions have many key players for France such as Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaire-Emery, and Lucas Hernandez. With 15, Arsenal also have French representation from William Saliba, but have more England mainstays like Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, alongside Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke.

Matching the Gunners are La Liga winners Barcelona, who will also be represented by 15 players on the international stage. This is largely made up of Spanish players, with eight attending. This includes the teenage sensation Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Pedri, Gavi, Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo, Eric Garcia, and goalkeeper Joan Garcia. Barca do, however, have their new signing Anthony Gordon representing England and Raphinha playing on the wing for Brazil as well.

Al-Hilal, Atletico Madrid, Crystal Palace, and Manchester United all have 12 players attending the World Cup. Many of Al-Hilal’s contingent will be playing for Saudi Arabia, with seven of their 12 representing the nation. They do, however, also have French left-back Theo Hernandez and Portugal midfielder Ruben Neves attending. Atletico Madrid’s players are mostly Argentine, with Julian Alvarez, Thiago Almada, and Nahuel Molina being the most notable of the five that have been called up. Manchester United have players representing a mix of nations, but Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo will hope to help the Three Lions’ search for silverware. Similarly, Crystal Palace have also had their players called up for a variety of nations, but positive seasons for Jean-Philippe Mateta and Maxence Lacroix have seen them be included in the France squad.

Three teams have had 11 players called up – Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund, Turkish side Galatasaray, and Premier League stalwarts Tottenham Hotspur. German players make up the biggest portion of Dortmund’s players at the World Cup, with four individuals being called up (Waldemar Anton, Nico Schlotterbeck, Felix Nmecha, and Maximilian Beier), with Austrians Carney Chukwuemeka and Marcel Sabitzer also representing. Galatasaray then have more than half of their total (six) heading off to play for Türkiye, including Yunus Akgun and Ugurcan Cakir. Among the Spurs stars featuring, expect to see new signings Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi (the latter being a last minute call-up to the Argentina squad).

Finally, there are several teams with ten players off to the World Cup. This includes European giants Real Madrid and AC Milan, Fenerbahce, PSV Eindhoven, and Slavia Prague. Liverpool miss out but notably their players make up a decent portion of the Netherlands’ first team with Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, and Cody Gakpo called up. Real Madrid stars Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni will be playing for France, both of whom will want to avenge their disappointment of losing to Argentina in 2022. Then Italian outfit AC Milan will be represented by players such as the Croatian veteran Luka Modric and Portuguese winger Rafael Leao.

The domestic leagues with the most players at the World Cup

Now that we’ve quickly run through the teams with ten or more players at the World Cup, let’s look at which leagues have the most:

By some margin, the Premier League (166) has the biggest number of players heading to the World Cup, which is 76 more than the next highest. This is no surprise, with six teams from England’s top flight having more than ten players called up to their national teams, really showing how the league attracts the best players in world football.

The silver medal is then awarded to the Bundesliga (90), after Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have more than ten players each attending the World Cup. Despite some stating it’s a ‘one team league’ due to Bayern’s domination, there are plenty of internationals playing across the division for other teams. This is shown by Bayer Leverkusen with Jarrell Quansah (England), Borussia Mönchengladbach with Joe Scally and Gio Reyna (USA), Eintracht Frankfurt with Ritsu Doan (Japan), and RB Leipzig with the sought-after winger Jan Diomande (Côte d’Ivoire).

Third place is then Ligue 1 (79), sitting only 11 players behind second place. Though a good portion come from PSG, many others come from sides like Monaco, who have Côte d’Ivoire’s Simon Adingra and USA’s Folarin Balogun.

Surprisingly, La Liga (76) only makes it into fourth place, albeit narrowly missing out on third by three players. The two rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid combine to make around a third of this total (25), but Atletico Madrid’s 12 along with Athletic Club providing multiple players like Nico Williams, Unai Simon, and Aymeric Laporte to the Spanish squad boosts the overall figure.

The final of the top five leagues, the Serie A (65), ends in fifth position, with 5.21% of the World Cup’s player total coming from Italy’s top division. Interestingly, AC Milan are the only team from the league with ten or more players playing at the tournament – though you can’t help but feel their numbers have been hurt by Italy failing to qualify for the competition given that many Italians feature in their home league.

Just outside the top five leagues is then the MLS (44) and Saudi Pro League (43), which are only separated by one player! Inter Miami are represented by Argentina and football legend Lionel Messi, who will want to become a two-time World Cup winner, while Portugal’s figurehead Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Al-Nassr and will be pushing for his first tournament win.

Surprisingly, England’s second division, the EFL Championship (41), has as many players going as Turkey’s top division, the Süper Lig (41). This just goes to show the level of English football compared to other top divisions around Europe, with a high number of players from the Championship being considered good enough to compete at the highest level.

Finally, the Eredivisie (32) ranks tenth among the divisions with the most players attending the World Cup. PSV Eindhoven are responsible for almost a third of this number (10), with USA’s Sergino Dest and Ricardo Pepi playing for the side, alongside Croatian Ivan Perisic, who will likely be one of the players attending their last World Cup.

Countries who called up the most players from their own domestic league

Finally, let’s look into which nations seem to prioritise calling up players from their own domestic leagues over players that have gone off to play abroad:

Though not a giant of global football, Qatar (25) is the nation that tops this statistic, with only one player of their 26-man squad not playing in Qatar’s top flight. Hommam Al Amin is the only exception, as he plays in the Spanish second division for CyD Leonesa.

Closely following in joint second are England and South Africa, who both have 21 players of their 26-man squad playing in their domestic leagues. The only exceptions for England are Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Anthony Gordon (Barcelona), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), and Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli). South African players who play abroad include the likes of Lyle Foster (Burnley), Mbekezeli Mbokazi (Chicago Fire), and Samukele Kabini (Molde FK).

Germany (20) have included many players from the Bundesliga as well, only taking a handful of players from foreign divisions. These include Florian Wirtz (Liverpool), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid), Malick Thiaw (Newcastle), Pascal Gross (Brighton), and Leroy Sane (Galatasaray).

Egypt (18), Iran (17), and Spain (17) closely follow. Egyptian stars such as Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) and Omar Marmoush (Manchester City) come from the Premier League, while Iran’s top players like Mehdi Taremi (Olympiacos) play in Europe. Spain also has a large Premier League contingent, as David Raya (Arsenal), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea), Pedro Porro (Tottenham), Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal), Rodri (Manchester City), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), and Yeremy Pino (Crystal Palace) all play in England’s top division.

Türkiye (15), Uzbekistan (15), and Mexico (14) then make up the final nations inside the top ten, with their players a little more spread across the globe.