The World Cup pits nation against nation in a quest to find the world's most accomplished footballing country. However, the sport known as the 'world game' definitely lives up to it's name as we look at the trends relating the country a player represents with the country they live in and play in week by week.
Here are some interesting stats based on the preliminary squads list on Wikipedia as of May 27, 2014, to which I applied some basic python scripting.
Home Grown
These teams in the round of 32 have the highest number of players based in their country of origin.
Squad Size
Home Grown
%
Russia
24
24
100
England
23
22
95.65
Italy
30
27
90
Germany
27
20
74.07
Mexico
23
16
69.57
Iran
30
19
63.33
Spain
29
17
58.62
Netherlands
30
16
53.33
Home Away From Home
On the other end of the scale, these countries' national teams have the lowest number of locally based players.
Squad Size
Home Grown
%
Ghana
26
1
3.85
Uruguay
25
1
4
Cameroon
28
2
7.14
Ivory Coast
28
2
7.14
Bosnia and Herzegovina
30
3
10
Columbia
30
3
10
Belgium
24
3
12.5
Argentina
26
4
15.38
Algeria
30
5
16.67
Nigeria
30
5
16.67
Brazil
23
4
17.39
Cashed Up Clubs
These clubs are home to the most number of Brazil bound players.
Bayern Munich
15
Manchester United
14
Barcelona
13
Real Madrid
13
Napoli
13
Juventus
13
Chelsea
12
Manchester City
12
Liverpool
10
Arsenal
10
Atlético Madrid
10
Paris Saint-Germain
10
Best Places to Play
These countries are the ones whose national leagues contain the most number of Brazil-bound players.
England
121
Italy
96
Germany
87
Spain
70
France
54
Russia
38
Mexico
31
Netherlands
28
Turkey
28
USA
25
Portugal
22
Biggest Losers
These are the countries whose national leagues have the most players in the world cup, without the country making it to Brazil.
Turkey
28
Ukraine
10
Scotland
7
China
6
Norway
6
Wales
5
Austria
3
Canada
3
Qatar
3
Saudi Arabia
3
Sweden
3
United Arab Emirates
3
Lone Star
Some countries are not so attractive to the big names. These countries' leagues have just one single player representing Brazil.
Being a massive football (soccer) fan, I jumped at the chance to head over to Birmingham for the weekend to see an Aston Villa game. It was really nice to catch up with family who lives there, and Aunty Chris gave us a nice tour around the city centre, which was absolutely packed due to the German Christmas markets that were in town. The markets were actually pretty good and authentic compared to the markets we saw in Germany and Austria last Christmas. We also spent some time shopping in the Bullring shopping centre, and went to a nice Indian restaurant on Broad St, a busy district with plenty of restaurants and nightlife.
On Saturday afternoon, we caught the train out to Villa Park for the match. The train was crammed from wall to wall but the journey was only 10 or 15 minutes, and the atmosphere was positive with many people in their supporter's gear. Even playing against bottom of the table Sunderland, the stadium was quite full with around 32000 attending. There was a lot of fuss going on in one corner of the stadium which we later found out was due to Prince William, who is apparently a big Aston Villa fan, being spotted at the game. Too bad for him, the game ended up being a fairly uninspiring 0-0 draw. Nonetheless, it was a great experience to be at the game and witness the English passion for football and their home team.
Over the last 2 weeks the Euro 2012 football championship has been on. There was a lot of hype during the buildup around the chances of the Dutch team. Pubs and cafes were covered with orange and big inflatable footballs, and had areas set-up with big TVs for everyone to watch the games. Even though they were highly rated coming off a grand-final berth in the last world cup, the locals seemed more hopeful than expectant about the chances of their national team. They had good reason for this pessimism- Oranje were eliminated in the group stage without having scored a single point, and only 2 goals in the For column- second last only to tournament minnows Ireland who exceeded their expectations with just a single goal.
There were a few brief 'did you watch the game last night' chats, but no-one really wanted to talk about it. The orange flags and streamers decorating all the pubs disappeared fairly soon after the exit of Oranje, and while there is still some interest in the remaining games (semi-finals and grand final remain as of today), I'm disappointed that I won't get to see the orange army support their team in a big match.
