On top! São Paulo still lead Brazilian clubs in World Cup call-ups | OneFootball

With the World Cup about to begin and the squads already called up and confirmed for the tournament, São Paulo remained the Brazilian club with the most players called up in the history of the competition.

With Bobadilla’s call-up to the Paraguayan national team, Tricolor reached 54 players called up since the first World Cup in 1930. Two clubs closed the gap: Botafogo and Flamengo, now with 50 names each represented in World Cups.

Flamengo made a big jump in the ranking by having nine players called up to represent their countries at this 2026 World Cup, while Botafogo, like São Paulo, had only one — midfielder Danilo, who was called up by Ancelotti to represent Brazil.

Tricolor’s all-time record for the most players called up in a single World Cup edition came in 1986, with six names. Telê Santana called up Careca, Falcão, Müller, Oscar, and Silas for the Brazilian national team, while star player Darío Pereyra represented Uruguay at the tournament held in Mexico.

Throughout history, 24 Brazilian clubs have had players called up to some national team in World Cups, with the most recent to join the list being Bragantino, thanks to striker Isidro Pitta being called up by Paraguay in 2026.

The last time São Paulo had players called up to represent Brazil, however, was quite a while ago. In 2006, for the World Cup in Germany, goalkeeper Rogério Ceni and defensive midfielder Mineiro were Tricolor’s representatives in the failed campaign of the team coached by Carlos Alberto Parreira.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.