The unprecedented timing of the 2022 Qatar World Cup means the number of players each team has at the tournament could have a serious impact on the rest of their season.
More players at the tournament means more players who are at risk of getting injured and are not getting the same chance to rest after a brutal calendar so far in 2022/23.
Here is a look at which teams have got the most players at the World Cup this winter and how important those players are to the team in question.
The team with the most players who were selected in the 26-player squads for the World Cup in Qatar is Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga side have got an incredible 17 players that were chosen by their countries to play.
Later changes to the squad, such as Sadio Mane’s injury and Alejandro Balde’s inclusion for Spain, meant Barcelona rose to 17 players and Bayern Munich dropped to 16, but we are going from original call-ups to keep it simple.
The players in question span eight different countries and seven of them are still at the tournament, having reached the quarter-final stage. Here are Bayern Munich’s World Cup representatives:
There is a very real chance that the France contingent will go all the way, so Julian Nagelsmann may be concerned about the fitness of his squad when play resumes in Germany.
The Premier League side that saw the most players depart for the World Cup in Qatar was Manchester City, who had just one fewer player called up than Bayern Munich. The Citizens players are spread over nine nations and 11 of them are still at the tournament at the quarter-final stage.
The 16 players in question are:
The next highest number in the Premier League is Manchester United with 14 players at the tournament, or 13 given Cristiano Ronaldo left the club while the tournament was in progress. Incredibly, only two of United’s representatives have been knocked out.
- Bayern Munich – 17 players
- Manchester City and Barcelona – 16 players
- Al Sadd – 15 players
- Manchester United – 14 players (Ronaldo included)
- Real Madrid – 13 players
- Chelsea -13 players
- Al Hilal – 12 players
- Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Atletico Madrid – 11 players
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