Defining the “World” in the Club World Cup

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Hooligan Soccer

·22 de junio de 2025

Defining the “World” in the Club World Cup

To paraphrase the Bard, good ol’ Willie Shakespeare: “All the world’s a pitch, and the men and women soccer players.” While we know the 32 teams represent all six confederations from around the globe, let’s dig into the numbers a bit deeper.

Those 32 teams actually represent 20 different countries. Brazil sent four teams, the U.S.A. has three and Portugal, Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Argentina and Mexico sent two teams each. Single club nations include: New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Austria and France.

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But within those clubs, how much global diversity is there?

Staying Local

Obviously with soccer being a global sport, players from all over the world move between clubs. No team is comprised of 100% local talent, but here are the teams with the highest local percentages:

River Plate 83% All the non-Argentinians are from South American countries. Given how frequently Argentinians feature in other clubs’ lineups, it makes sense that they would be mostly native.
Urawa Red Diamonds 82% It should be noted that their starting eleven typically features four of their six non-Japanese players
Fluminense 80% Brazilian team, natural they have lots of native players.
Flamengo 78% Brazilian team, natural they have lots of native players.
Ulsan HD 77% Just like Urawa, Ulsan’s starting line-up features four of their seven foreigners.
Mamelodi Sundowns 76% The club features 2 Brazilians and Argentinians. All the rest come from African countries.
Boca Juniors 75% See the River Plate notes above.

Playing Global

And on the opposite end, here are the teams with the fewest local players (national totals exclude the home country):

Chelsea 40% France is the most represented (7 players), but there are 13 different countries overall.
Atlético Madrid 40% The largest non-Spanish block is Argentinian (6). The head coach Diego Simeone is Argentine and has been in his position for many years. Recruitment from that country is deeply ingrained in the club. France is the next highest number (3).
Paris Saint-Germain 37% Portuguese (4) and Brazilians (3) make up the largest blocks. PSG has the fewest number of nations on their roster from this list: only 9.
Al Ain 36% Argentinians are the largest block (4) In total they have 14 different countries represented.
LAFC 33% With 17 different nations on their roster, LAFC wins the prize for the most diverse team. France and Brazil each have two players.
Juventus 33% They have players from 14 different nations. France and Portugal each have 3 reps.
Manchester City 25% They also have players from 14 different nations. Following a familiar pattern with other clubs, Brazilians and Portuguese lead (3 each). But there are a large number of national pairs from: Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Croatia, Germany and Belgium.
Red Bull Salzburg 22% Seriously, what is it with the number 14? Salzburg also hit this threshold. Shockingly, not one Brazilian or Portuguese player! They have a lone Argentinian. Germany, Denmark and Mali lead with 4 players each.
Inter Miami 20% There are more Argentinians (9) than Americans (6). Spain and Uruguay each have 2 players; 13 different nations are on the roster.

The World’s Stage

In total, 76 nations are represented on the rosters of these Club World Cup teams, 35% of the world’s total. That makes the CWC the most nationally diverse soccer tournament in the world. Before you pipe with “what about the Olympics?” remember that only sixteen teams qualify for that contest.

Unsurprisingly, the two largest nations by overall percentage are Brazil (15%) and Argentina (10.5%). Sure, these two nations sent six clubs to the tournament, padding up their numbers. But clubs from abroad also recruit heavily from both. 91% of CWC teams have either a Brazilian, Argentinian, or both on their roster. The only ones who don’t? Al Ahly, Auckland City and Bayern Munich.

The five nations with the most players who did NOT send a club are: