By David Gold
September 12 – More players from Spain will participate in this season’s European Champions League than any other, with 81 players, and France close behind on 78, a new survey published today has revealed.
Spain’s presence highlights the country’s growing dominance of international football, with current European Champions Barcelona boasting a large number of home grown players.
An increasing number of Spanish stars are participating in Europe for foreign clubs, with Fernando Torres set to be in action for Chelsea alongside new signing Juan Mata (pictured).
Brazil is also heavily represented once more, with 69 players, though the growing number of Brazilians returning to their homeland has reduced their presence in the competition.
Interestingly, the two tallest squads go head-to-head when the competition gets underway tomorrow as Chelsea play host to German side Bayer Leverkusen.
Barcelona have the shortest squad, over seven centimetres shorter than Bayer Leverkusen’s, and they also have the third most experienced squad, behind AC Milan and Chelsea.
With the oldest squad in the competition at an average of 29.69, AC Milan will hope age will not harm their chances when they open their campaign against the holders tomorrow night.
These figures were revealed in the Global Migration Report, published by CIES Player Observatory, which also shows other interesting trends, most notably the number of Brazilians returning home to play in the Brasiliero championship – 135 – with the country’s currency rapidly strengthening.
Brazil is still the biggest exporter of talent though, with 280 players leaving the country last year to ply their trade overseas, closely followed by Argentina, with 215.
Many clubs worldwide recruit Brazilian talent, but a swing towards other South American nations could be the result of Brazil’s increasing ability to retain its best players.
Serbia exported a phenomenal 150 players and Copa America winners Uruguay saw 96 footballers leave for pastures new.
One of the teams picking up exports, Italian side Udinese, have also underlined their status as Europe’s top centre of development for foreign players, with 23 players either exports or re-exports.
The club has been a prolific developer of youngsters from across the world, with a scouting network monitoring every match worldwide in a bid to find the next Alexis Sanchez, their former Chilean winger who left for Barcelona this summer.
Portuguese sides are also key in the development of young talent, particularly from South America, with Benfica and Porto also a first port of call for a number of exports according to the report.
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