Even a major league player there
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Of the 1,248 footballers nominated for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States, 108 are playing in Germany – only English football is represented more frequently. The 18 current Bundesliga clubs alone account for 100 professionals, 16 of which actually send a player to the World Cup. Only 1. FC Köln and relegated 1.FC Heidenheim 1846 are not sending any of their players to the tournament.
At a glance: The nominees by league/club
17 professionals – one less after Lennart Karl (18) withdrew due to injury – come from FC Bayern Munich. Worldwide, only Manchester City, with 19, has more secondments than the record champions, whose professionals have a total market value of 813 million euros. Only the Man City professionals (1.08 billion euros), the 16 players from Arsenal FC (1.02 billion), the 15 professionals from Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain (1.05 billion euros) and the 14 from FC Barcelona (888 million euros) are more valuable.
With eleven postings, Borussia Dortmund has the second most from Germany after Bayern and is tied for ninth place internationally with Liverpool FC, Manchester United and Galatasaray. The Saudi top club Al-Hilal SFC sends the most professionals outside of Europe with twelve. From South America, Flamengo Rio de Janeiro is at the forefront with nine nominations, as is Egyptian top club Al Ahly FC from Africa. Deportivo Guadalajara from Mexico has the most secondments of all North and Central American clubs with five, while the New Zealand representative Auckland FC is represented from Australia/Oceania just as often.
Seven second division and one upper division professionals are going to the World Cup
Seven professionals come from the 2nd Bundesliga: Kiel’s Alexander Bernhardsson (27) for Sweden, Hanover’s Elias Saad (26, Tunisia) and Ime Okon (22, South Africa), Schalke’s Nikola Katic (29) and Edin Dzeko (40) for Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as Karlsruhe’s Dzenis Burnic (28) and Switzerland has striker Cedric Itten (29). nominated by relegated Fortuna Düsseldorf. An almost exception is Josué Duverger (26) from FC Cosmos Koblenz. The goalkeeper, who has been selected for Haiti, is one of only two players traveling to the World Cup from a fifth division. Koblenz competes in the Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar. New Zealand central defender Tommy Smith (36) from Braintree Town comes from the fifth-tier English National League.
The 100 Bundesliga professionals are currently only surpassed by the 162 from the Premier League. They are followed by LaLiga with 80 dismissals, Ligue 1 with 78 and Serie A with 66, although Italy is known to not have qualified.
