May 16, 2020 – While Brazil is the largest exporter of footballers, Croatia ranks in ninth place, according to the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES) based in Neuchatel, Switzerland.
Namely, 24 Sata reports that in its 55th monthly report, the CIES Football Observatory analyzed the contribution of footballers by country. They analyzed the origins of 55,865 footballers who played during the 2019 calendar year in 132 first or second leagues from 93 countries covering all continents.
Thus, the biggest exporter of footballers is Brazil. As many as 1,535 Brazilian footballers played abroad last year. In second place is France, which has 948 footballers outside the country. Argentina holds third place with 913 footballers.
Argentina is followed by England (554), Spain (525), Serbia (514), Germany (473) and Colombia (457).
Croatia comes in ninth place with 430 footballers who played abroad last year, and Uruguay is in the top 10 (358).
Let’s add that four African countries are in the top 20. Nigeria is in 11th place (365 footballers), Ghana is in 14th place (283), Senegal is in 18th place (191), and Ivory Coast is in 20th place (178).
Brazil is also the most represented country among the players from the 132 leagues studied. Last year, as many as 2,742 Brazilians played football – 1,207 in the first two classes of Brazilian football, and 1,535 abroad.
Just one other country had more than 2,000 footballers in 132 leagues analyzed – Argentina. Namely, in 2019, Argentina was represented by 2,330 players. In third place is the French (1,740), and in the top five are Colombia (1,536) and Spain (1,349).
In terms of the total number of footballers who play in the First HNL and other countries in the world, Croatia is in 13th place with 993 footballers.
Top 10 countries by the number of footballers playing abroad:
1. Brazil – 1,535
2. France – 948
3. Argentina – 913
4. England 554
5. Spain 525
6. Serbia 514
7. Germany 473
8. Colombia 457
9. CROATIA 430
10. Uruguay 358
Top 10 countries by the number of players:
1. Brazil – 2,742
2. Argentina – 2,330
3. France – 1,740
4. Colombia – 1,536
5. Spain – 1,349
6. Serbia – 1,337
7. England – 1,228
8. Germany – 1,096
9. Japan – 1,047
10. Netherlands – 1,039
11. Russia – 1,029
12. Uruguay – 1,014
13. CROATIA – 993
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