Most World Cup drivers: Barcelona ousted FC Bayern as reserve champions

Dortmund in top 15

After the injuries to Sadio Mané and Valencia’s José Gayà, FC Bayern is no longer the club with the most retirements for the 2022 World Cup. No football club now has as many World Cup drivers as FC Barcelona, ​​where Alejandro Balde (19), the 17th Barça professional to be called up for the tournament. This number, which Munich could not maintain until the start of the World Cup on Sunday, was celebrated by the Catalans on Friday as the all-time record for a single club at a World Cup.

Like the Munich 16 players, the English champions continue to offer Manchester City, whose league, the Premier League, is unrivaled in terms of the value of the players sent. You can follow the players of the individual clubs in terms of appearances and goals at any time during the tournament in our TM statistics.

Bayern still have twice as many players from the squad as non-nominated professionals. With the Senegalese Mané, eight players are missing from the current team, including the two reserve goalkeepers and two Austrians, whose country could not qualify. Man City is in the total value of the World Cup drivers with 855 million euros, an average of 53.44 million euros, now well ahead of Munich with 784 million euros (ø 49.00 million euros). The eleven stars from Paris Saint-Germain around Neymar and Kylian Mbappé produce the highest average with 54.27 million euros. The most valuable Bayern representative is DFB youngster Jamal Musiala (100 million euros).

After the number of professionals playing in the German leagues in South Africa (84) had decreased continuously since 2010, the number of World Cup participants from the Bundesliga and 2nd division rose again for the first time compared to 2018. Instead of 67, there are now 80, of which three from the lower house are present: the Australian Jackson Irvine (FC St. Pauli), the Japanese Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Düsseldorf) and the Cameroonian Gael Ondoua (Hannover 96). This year, however, a total of 96 more squad positions are available. This time the national coaches were able to nominate 26 instead of 23 players.

World Cup players from English clubs break 4bn – Over 2bn total value from Spain

The world’s top market for World Cup releases remains England. The most players from the English professional leagues are in Qatar with over 160. The almost 140 kickers from Premier League clubs alone have a total value of a good 4.2 billion euros. The football leagues from Spain (86) continue to release the second most players, but only five more than in 2018. The increase in the national leagues (from 67 to 80) is therefore significantly higher. In terms of total market value, players from Germany’s top division are behind Spain’s LaLiga with around €2.2 billion at over €1.9 billion.

Fourth place in an international comparison is occupied by 70 players employed in Italy. Series A has a market value contribution of around EUR 1.25 billion, with the “Squadra Azzurra” itself not being included. Defending champions France have the fifth most participants in World Cup squads at 58, while the Équipe Tricolore are the national team among top European nations that have the fewest players from their own league (6) in Qatar. The French association called up four players from FC Bayern alone.

Note: This text first appeared on Transfermarkt on 11/16/2022 and has been updated.

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