Top eight clubs with the most players in the Qatar World Cup 2022

Al Janoub Stadium Tour - FIFA World Cup
Al Janoub Stadium Tour - FIFA World Cup

The 2022 FIFA World Cup finally began yesterday with hosts Qatar and Ecuador playing out the first game.

For over a month, men’s professional football will be on pause as the World beams in on Qatar and the events unfolding there. To facilitate the tournament, clubs across Europe and the rest of the World have allowed their players to join their national teams.

Some of these players have many players involved with participating countries, while others have just a handful.

Here we look at the clubs with the most players.

Barcelona -17

The Catalan giants lead the chart for a single team with the most players in Qatar this year and at any previous World Cup finals. They have 17 players scattered across eight national teams in Qatar.

Never in history has a single club sent more players to a World Cup.

Alejandro Balde, Ansu Fati, Eric Garcia, Gavi, Pedri, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Ferran Torres–Spain. Ronald Araujo–Uruguay. Andreas Christensen–Denmark. Frenkie de Jong, Memphis Depay–Netherlands. Ousmane Dembele, Jules Kounde–France. Robert Lewandowski–Poland. Raphinha–Brazil. Marc-Andre ter Stegen–Germany.

Bayern Munich – 16

The Bavarians would have matched Barcelona’s record of 17 players had Sadio Mane not withdrawn from the Senegal squad because of injury.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side are the club most represented in the Germany and France squads.

Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, Jamal Musiala, Manuel Neuer, Leroy Sane, Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich–Germany. Dayot Upamecano, Benjamin Pavard, Kingsley Coman, Lucas Hernandez–France. Alphonso Davies-Canada. Matthijs de Ligt-Netherlands. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting–Cameroon. Noussaair Mazraoui–Morocco. Josip Stanisic–Croatia.

Manchester City – 16

Pep Guardiola’s side are leading the list of Premier League teams who have players in the World Cup. The Cityzens are also the most represented side in the England squad.

Kyle Walker, John Stones, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips–England. Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva–Portugal. Rodri, Aymeric Laporte–Spain. Kevin De Bruyne–Belgium. Ederson–Brazil. Ilkay Gundogan–Germany. Manuel Akanji–Switzerland. Nathan Ake–Netherlands. Julian Alvarez–Argentina.

Al-Sadd – 15

Ninth-placed Al-Sadd constitutes half of the Qatar squad in the World Cup. The hosts’ 26-man selection is taken entirely from the Qatar Stars League, with third-placed Al-Duhail the next-best represented with six players.

Saad Al Sheeb, Meshaal Barsham, Pedro Miguel, Musaab Khidir, Tarek Salman, Boualem Khoukhi, Abdelkarim Hassan, Ali Asad, Mohammed Waad, Salem Al Hajri, Mustafa Meshaal, Hassan Al Haydos, Akram Afif–Qatar. Andre Ayew–Ghana. Jung Woo-young–South Korea.

Manchester United – 14

For all their trouble this season, Manchester United still have over a dozen players in Qatar this year.

Three of their players can be found in each of the England, Portugal and Brazil squads.

Casemiro, Fred, Antony–Brazil. Lisandro Martinez–Argentina. Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Dalot–Portugal. Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw-England. Raphael Varane–France. Christian Eriksen–Denmark. Tyrell Malacia–Netherlands. Facundo Pellistri–Uruguay.

Real Madrid –13

Los Blancos could have had 14 players in Qatar had Karim Benzema not withdrawn from France’s squad due to injury.

The La Liga giants currently have more players in the France and Brazil squads than the Spain squad.

Marco Asensio, Dani Carvajal–Spain. Karim Benzema, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni–France. Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard–Belgium. Eder Militao, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo–Brazil. Luka Modric–Croatia. Antonio Rudiger–Germany. Federico Valverde–Uruguay.

Chelsea –12

Chelsea would have been further up this list, level with Al-Sadd, if not for recent injuries to Ben Chilwell and Reece James, while N’Golo Kante misses out for France with an old injury.

Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher–England. Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly–Senegal. Cesar Azpilicueta–Spain. Thiago Silva–Brazil. Christian Pulisic–USA. Kai Havertz–Germany. Ma6teo Kovacic–Croatia. Hakim Ziyech–Morocco. Denis Zakaria–Switzerland.

Al-Hilal – 12

The Saudi Pro League champions Al-Hilal have sent a dozen players to Qatar this year, with all players representing Saudi Arabia.

Nasser Al-Dawsari, Saleh Al-Shehri, Mohammed Al-Owais, Yasser Al-Shahrani, Mohamed Kanno, Ali Al-Bulaihi, Mohammed Al-Break, Salman Al-Faraj, Saud Abdulhamid, Abdullah Al-Malki, Abdullah Otayf, Salem Al-Dawsari.

Honourable mentions

Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham, Juventus, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, and Atletico Madrid have eleven players in Qatar.

Premier League leaders Arsenal have ten players, while Liverpool have just six representatives in Qatar.