2026 FIFA World Cup stats

[ionelv]

Although there will be only 48 teams that go to the final tournament, currently there are 42 qualified teams and a further 22 teams vying for the final 6 spots. One stat that I calculated myself is the top leagues that the current squads (as listed on wikipedia) play in from all 64 teams (qualified or still in the running). Here are the top 20 countries that host the current squads (with number of players of 1478 found, percentage and top league countries):

261 17.659 England
108 7.30717 Germany
105 7.10419 Italy
90 6.08931 France
73 4.93911 Spain
59 3.99188 Saudi Arabia
57 3.85656 Turkey
49 3.31529 United States
48 3.24763 Egypt
40 2.70636 Netherlands
35 2.36806 Qatar
35 2.36806 Mexico
35 2.36806 Brazil
34 2.30041 Scotland
26 1.75913 United Arab Emirates
25 1.69147 Iraq
24 1.62382 Iran
23 1.55616 Czech Republic
20 1.35318 Romania
18 1.21786 South Africa

Notes about the above stats:
1. Czechia, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Iraq are still on the bubble and one will surely miss the final tournament (as Turkey and Romania will play against each other and only one can advance). Italy, a three-time champion, already missed the last two final tournaments in 2018 and 2022. Romania last participated in the final tournament in 1998, Turkey in 2002, Czechia in 2006, and Iraq in 1986.
2. United Arab Emirates are eliminated from the 2026 final tournament already.
3. 43% of the players in the current 64 squads are playing the top 5 leagues in Europe (with some players probably playing in the 2nd tier leagues of these countries).
5. A further dive into the top 5 leagues (plus NL as an interesting outlier) showing the top 3 qualified/almost-qualified contributor countries to these leagues:

==> england_leagues.txt <==
# England_national_football_team: 24
20 England
# Jamaica_national_football_team: 26
15 England
# Netherlands_national_football_team: 21
13 England

==> france_leagues.txt <==
# Senegal_national_football_team: 26
10 France
# France_national_football_team: 22
7 France
# Ghana_national_football_team: 19
6 France

==> germany_leagues.txt <==
# Germany_national_football_team: 24
19 Germany
# Austria_national_football_team: 24
14 Germany
# Switzerland_national_football_team: 23
10 Germany

==> italy_leagues.txt <==
# Italy_national_football_team: 25
20 Italy
# Croatia_national_football_team: 21
6 Italy
# Norway_national_football_team: 23
5 Italy

==> nl_leagues.txt <==
# Curaçao_national_football_team: 21
10 Netherlands
# Japan_national_football_team: 22
4 Netherlands
# Netherlands_national_football_team: 21
3 Netherlands

==> spain_leagues.txt <==
# Spain_national_football_team: 24
15 Spain
# Argentina_national_football_team: 19
4 Spain
# Switzerland_national_football_team: 23
3 Spain

Comments

[ioplokon]

I don't know anything about footbridge, but if you are looking for football fans/statheads on here/, redfiona99 posts about the world cup every year. (I mainly am not looking forward to traffic/transit - tho Canada vs Italy should be a trip...)

[ionelv]

Thanks for the tip. As to traffic/transit, there will be some additional traffic in Vancouver and Toronto during the cup (mid June to mid July) where a few games will be held (and Vancouver metro being the only Canadian base camp), but not anywhere else within Canada (e.g. Montreal).

[ionelv]

More WC stats: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQVEZnK1uXKTifUlxjnmAm-VgrFdOvhrT2_9dxBxdNFbtA9IcqkVVnJeLWi26Ue7Fb2IRnaBmkRKqV7/pubhtml

[ionelv]

More WC data/discussion: https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1417227.html