Dubai: Of the 92 players left in the World Cup ahead of Tuesday and Wednesday’s semi-finals between France and Belgium, and England and Croatia, 40 ply their trade in the English Premier League (EPL).
That is a percentage of 43.5 per cent and is greater than all the EPL’s rival top five leagues with the French and Spanish leagues only having 12 players left in, Germany having nine and Italy having eight.
After this, Belgium, China and Croatia’s domestic leagues each have two representatives still in the last four, and Scotland, Russia, Austria, Turkey and the Ukraine each have one.
England and Belgium make up the two teams with the most EPL players, England having all 23 based in England and Belgium having 11, France have five and Croatia just one.
These stats prove that the Premier League hasn’t lost it’s ground as the world’s best league, despite Spanish clubs dominating European competition by winning seven of the last 10 Champions League titles (the last five of which have been in a row) and nine of the last 15 Europa League titles.
It also quashes the argument that players based in England struggle to compete at international competitions due to the lack of a winter break.
