World Cup 2014: The Americas may be dominating in Brazil, but England, Germany and Italy can still claim supremacy when it comes to the World Cup
The Premier League has the second most of its domestic stars still competing in the World Cup semi-finals
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Your support makes all the difference.Despite the impressive showing of the Americas at this year’s World Cup, it seems Europe is still enjoying a certain domination over its continental rivals.
Brazil and Argentina could both reach the final, while Colombia, Chile and Uruguay all reached the knockout stages along with their northern counterparts Mexico, Costa Rica and the United States. With such success coming from those across the pond, a number of high profile European nations missed out on qualifying – namely England, Italy and defending champions Spain.
But there is one silver lining for Europe, in that their top flight leagues have the most players remaining in Brazil ahead of the semi-finals. With Brazil and Germany set to clash tonight and set-up a meeting next Sunday with the winners of Netherlands v Argentina tomorrow, who comes out on top in the table of the most players surviving from each domestic league?
Well, up until the end of the quarter-finals, the England Premier League had led the way, but much like the participation in the Champions League in recent years, it has been overtaken as the competition reaches the business end.
Germany’s Bundesliga currently has 23% of the 92 players remaining in Brazil turning out for their domestic sides, with nine regulars (Germany’s seven-man-strong contingent are joined by the Netherlands’ Arjen Robben and Dante of Brazil) set to be named in the squads to participate over the next week.
Italy’s Seria A and the Eredivisie of the Netherlands also rank highly, and it isn’t until you get to sixth position that you see a league outside of Europe featuring – namely Brazil’s Serie A – even though there are two South American sides left in the tournament.
So how do they rank?
Domestic leagues with the most players left in the World Cup:
1. Bundesliga (Germany) 21 players
2. Premier League (England) 18
3. Serie A (Italy) 13
4. Eredivisie (Netherlands) 10
5. La Liga (Spain) 8
6. Serie A (Brazil) 4
6. Ligue 1 (France) 4
8. Primera A (Argentina) 3
8. Primera Liga (Portugal) 3
10. Premier League (Ukraine) 2
10. Super Lig (Turkey) 2
12. Premier League (Russia) 1
12. MLS (United States) 1
12. Liga MX (Mexico) 1
12. Championship (England) 1
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