Thursday, October 2, 2008

UEFA Champions League: Players from Low-Ranked Nations

I've always found it interesting to see players from lower-ranked soccer nations playing in big time games with their clubs. These are all of the players on the 2008/2009 Champions League Rosters that come from nations that are currently FIFA ranked at least 50 or higher.

FC Bate Borisov (Belarus) and Anorthosis Famagusta FC (Cyprus) are both comprised of a majority of players from low ranking nations. Somewhat surprisingly, CFR Cluj (Romania), only has two players from lower ranked nations on their roster, one being Lars Hirschfeld (Canada), the only non-Mexican CONCACAF player in the competition.





Manchester United
Park Ji-Sung - South Korea (51)
Ryan Giggs - Wales (53)
Manucho - Angola (58)

AS Roma
Mirko Vučinić - Montenegro (136)

Olympique Lyonnais
Miralem Pjanić - Bosnia and Herzegovina (75)

Bayern Munich
Daniel van Buyten - Belgium (55)

Werder Bremen
Claudio Pizarro - Peru (73)
Said Husejinović - Bosnia and Herzegovina (75)
Martin Harnik - Austria (101)

Sporting Clube de Portugal
Simon Vukčević - Montenegro (136)

CFR Cluj
Yssouf Koné - Burkina Faso (64)
Lars Hirschfeld - Canada (81)

PSV Eindhoven
Balázs Dzsudzsák - Hungary (50)
Edison Méndez - Ecuador (52)
Reimond Manco - Peru (73)

Zenit St. Petersburg
Kim Dong-Jin - South Korea (51)
Lee Ho - South Korea (51)
Nicolas Lombaerts - Belgium (55)

AaB Aalborg
Siyabonga Nomvethe - South Africa (70)

Anorthosis Famagusta FC
8 players from CYPRUS (65)
Klimenti Tsitaishvili - Georgia (77)
Arjan Beqaj - Albania (102)
Siniša Dobrasinović - Montenegro (136)

Arsenal
Aaron Ramsey - Wales (53)
Emmanuel Adebayor - Togo (78)

Barcelona
Aliaksandr Hleb - Belarus (57)
Eiður Guðjohnsen - Iceland (107)

FC Basel
Orhan Mustafi - Macedonia (56)

FC Bate Borisov
All but 4 Players from Belarus (57)
Lasha Dekanosidze - Georgia (77)

Dynamo Kiev
Maksim Shatskikh - Uzbekistan (59)
Malkhaz Asatiani - Georgia (77)

Fiorentina
Stevan Jovetic - Montenegro (136)

Juventus
Hasan Salihamidžić - Bosnia and Herzegovina (75)
Alex Manninger - Austria (101)

Olympique de Marseille
Charles Kabore - Burkina Faso (64)
Karim Ziani - Algeria (76)
Bostjan Cesar - Slovenia (79)
Lorik Cana - Albania (102)

Panathinaikos
Bryce Moon - South Africa (70)
Andreas Ivanschitz - Austria (101)
Mate Junior Simao - Mozambique (103)

Shakhtar Donetsk
Marcelo Moreno - Bolivia (71)

Steaua Bucharest
Ricardo Pedriel - Bolivia (71)

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