The World Cup in Qatar began with a wide dominance of Bayern Munich as a supplier of manpower for the competition. But, with the fiasco of the selection of Germany, eliminated in the first phase, there was a stampede, and now the Englishmen from Manchester are in charge: City and United.
In the quarterfinals of the World Cup, there are 22 players from these two clubs, 11 on each side. The list discards Cristiano Ronaldo, who entered the Cup as a United player, but ended with the English club in the first week of competition.
But not all are starters in their respective teams. Of the 22, five are on the bench.
In all, there are 64 players playing in the Premier League, the English league, playing in the quarterfinals. England just doesn’t have the Bellingham midfielder playing in the local championship – he plays for Borussia Dortmund, from Germany.
With Argentina, the opposite is true. Of the 26 called up, only reserve goalkeeper Armani plays in his country of origin, for River Plate. Two operate in Manchester: Alvarez (City) and Lisandro Martínez (United).
The Brazilian team started the Cup with 12 Premier League players, but lost Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus, still in the group stage, because of an injury to his right knee.
After England, the team with the most players playing in the national championship is the Netherlands, with 12, seven of them at Ajax. There are only three in the Premier League, all defenders: Van Dijk (Liverpool), Nathan Aké (City) and Malacia (United).
Croatia, Brazil’s opponent in the quarterfinals, has six players in the national championship and only two in the Premier League: Kovacic, from Chelsea, and Perisic, from Tottenham, both starters in their respective teams and in the national team.
France has a wider distribution in its World Cup squad. Six play in the national championship, while five play in Germany and another five in Spain. Real Madrid’s Benzema is out injured.
But it is from France that the players with the most spotlight in these quarterfinals come out, all of them from PSG: Mbappé, Messi and Neymar.
Portugal, from the “unemployed” Cristiano Ronaldo, has its base operating in England. There are nine players, three from City, three from Wolverhampton, two from United and one from Fulham. Another seven play in the Portuguese Championship, including Gonçalo Ramos, a young standout for Benfica who stopped Cristiano Ronaldo and scored three goals in the 6-1 victory over Switzerland.
Morocco has players spread across several countries and only three that compete in the local championship. Goalkeeper Bono, the team’s highlight, plays for Spanish club Sevilla, where striker En-Nesyri also plays. Another highlight of the Moroccan team is midfielder Ziyech, who plays in the Premier League for Chelsea.
From Bayern Munich, there are only six players left of the 17 who started the World Cup, with three in France (Pavard, Upamecano and Coman), one in Croatia (Stanisic), one in the Netherlands (De Ligt) and one in Morocco (Mazraoui). .
Barcelona, which was the second team with the most players at the start of the World Cup, alongside Manchester City —both with 16—, also had a stampede with the Spanish elimination in the round of 16. Only five remained: the Brazilian Raphinha, the French Koundé and Dembélé, and the Dutch Depay and De Jong.
The rival of the Catalan team, Real Madrid, also saw a massive departure from its players in the World Cup. He started with 13, but now he has six: three in the Brazilian national team (Éder Militão, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo), two in France (Camavinga and Tchouameni) and one in Croatia (Modric) – seven counting Benzema, who, despite having left Qatar due to injury, was not formally cut from the French list and, in theory, could return to the World Cup if he recovers.
From Brazilian football, they only follow Weverton, goalkeeper of Palmeiras, and Flamengo players Éverton Ribeiro and Pedro. All of them with at least a few minutes played in Qatar. The Uruguayans Arrascaeta and Varela, from Flamengo, and Canobbio, from Athletico Paranaense, and the Ecuadorian Arboleda, from São Paulo, were on the way.
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