Thursday, March 6, 2008

World Clubs that Rely on Foreign Players

This is the follow up post to the World Clubs with Home Grown Players table. This table covers the opposite side of things, looking at the clubs in each league that rely most heavily on international talent to fill their rosters. (The percentage represents number of "foreign" players on each club)







































































































%
Club
Country
92%
Arsenal FC
England
89%
Inter Milan
Italy
79%
Hearts
Scotland
74%
Roda JC
Holland
68%
Real Madrid
Spain
68%
Energie Cottbus
Germany
68%
C.S. Maritimo
Portugal
60%
FC Moscow
Russia
53%
DC United
USA
50%
AS Monaco
France
46%
Viborg FF
Denmark
46%
Viking FK
Norway
43%
Djurgården
Sweden
27%
Veracruz
Mexico
17%
Melbourne Victory
Australia
15%
JEF United
Japan
15%
Boca Juniors
Argentina
13%
Internacional
Brazil
9%
Suwon Bluewings
Korea


This really shows that England does have a bit of a problem fielding English players in the top flight, not that that wasn't already a well-known fact. The premiership was top of this foreign list and bottom of the home grown list.

I never realized it, but Argentina and Brazil hardly have any foreign players in their domestic leagues. I always assumed that the top talent in South America headed to those leagues, but apparently that's not the case. I guess if you're good enough you just go overseas anyways.

The MLS numbers were somewhat difficult to get a concrete number for since many of the final first team squads haven't been fully decided at this point in the preseason.

Any thoughts? Are foreign players taking opportunities away from home grown players, or are they making world leagues more competitive and entertaining?

1 comment:

  1. Most likely both. It seems like it is both a symptom and a disease. Scotland has seen a resurgence in talent partly due to efforts the league made to strengthen their youth squads. It still wasn't enough to get them back to being real world contenders, but it is a step in the right direction.

    With expansion, I don't have a problem bringing in more foreign players. There needs to be more effort to train the youth at the same time, though. The MLS is at least moving that direction.

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