Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Foreign Premiership Players in 1992-93

Compared to the multi-national English Premier League of today, the first season of the Premiership had very few foreign players.

13 of the 37 foreign players from that season hailed from Scandinavia, and ...gasp... there were zero Brazilians and Argentinians in the league (and for that matter no West African or Asian players).

By today's standards it may be surprising to know that CONCACAF was the most represented region outside of Europe at that time with a whopping five players. How things have changed.


Pal Lydersen (Norway)
Erland Johnsen (Norway)
Frank Strandli (Norway)
Gunnar Halle (Norway)
Erik Thorstvedt (Norway)
Kare Ingebrigtsen (Norway)

John Jensen (Denmark)
Jan Molby (Denmark)
Peter Schmeichel (Denmark)

Anders Limpar (Sweden)
Patrik Andersson (Sweden)
Roland Nilsson (Sweden)

Ken Monkou (Holland)
Michel Vonk (Holland)
Hans Segers (Holland)

Mark Bosnich (Australia)
Jaston Kearton (Australia)

Craig Forrest (Canada)
Frank Yallop (Canada)

Thorvaldur Orlygsson (Iceland)
Gudni Bergsson (Iceland)

Stefan Beinlich (Germany)
Matthias Breitkreutz (Germany)

Dariusz Kubicki (Poland)
Robert Warzycha (Poland)

Roy Wegerle (USA)
John Harkes (USA)

Peter Ndlovu (Zimbabwe)
Bruce Grobbelaar (Zimbabwe)

Jan Stejskal (Czech)
Eric Cantona (France)
Istvan Kozma (Hungary)
Ronnie Rosenthal (Israel)
Nayim (Morocco)
Mark Tinkler (South Africa)
Dwight Yorke (Trinidad and Tobago)
Andrei Kanchelskis (Ukraine)

By Foreign Region
5 - CONCACAF
4 - CAF
2 - OFC
0 - AFC
0 - CONMEBOL

20 Foreign Countries Represented in 92-93

Since the initial 92-93 season an additional 65 countries have been represented for a total of 85.

MLS connections:

John Harkes (Played with DC, NE, and CLB, current announcer for Primetime ESPN MLS games)
Craig Forrest (announcer for Toronto FC on Rogers Sportsnet and CBC)
Frank Yallop (played with TB Mutiny and has managed San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy)
Robert Warzycha (played with Columbus Crew and recently named Manager of Columbus)
Roy Wegerle (played with Colorado, DC, and Tampa Bay)
Anders Limpar (played with Colorado)

Still Playing
Peter Ndlovu (Thanda Royal Zulu, South Africa)
Mark Tinkler (Whitby Town, NPL England 7th division)
Mark Bosnich (Central Coast Mariners, Australia)
Dwight Yorke (Sunderland, EPL)

7 comments:

  1. Steve,

    With Australia, it depends on how you look at it.

    Back in 1992 they were of course in Oceania but they are now in Asia (and they say the age of miracles is over)

    Bill

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  2. Bill,

    I pretty much confuse myself every time Australia comes up in a post. I think I've gone either way with it but lately, I've been putting Oz in the region they were a part of at the time.

    Well, in about 100 million years, plate tectonics will cause Australia to slam into Southeast Asia, so eventually it'll be far less confusing.

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  3. Another MLS Connection: Anders Limpar and Colorado Rapids

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  4. Just seeing if you were paying attention pjdinho. Not really, I missed it. Thanks for the heads up.

    Steve

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  5. Kåre Ingebrigtsen is Norwegian not Austrian.

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  6. Mark Tinkler wasn't South African. He was from Bishop Auckland. It was Eric Tinkler who played for Barnsley who was South African.

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