Diarmuid
Gillingham
Twitter-
@ThisIsDiarmuid
Leading on from what we read at in part 1, which you can find here In part two I will examine the effects of population on the standard of club and national football in a country as well as examining the correlation between economic prosperity and success on the football pitch. Finally, both part 1 and 2 will be summed up in a few conclusions at the end. But first of all, the effect of foreign players in leading national leagues will be examined.
Effect % Of Foreign Players In Leading National Leagues.
With the recent success of both Spanish clubs and in particular the
national team it should come as no surprise that out of Europe’s top 5 leagues,
La Liga has the fewest % of foreign players at 42.8%. While England and Italy
whose national teams have struggled in recent times have the highest % of
players playing in their top leagues at 69.2% and 55.5%. Surprisingly 49.2% of
players in the German Bundesliga are foreign, placing them smack in the middle
of Italy and Spain. In terms of Europe’s
top 5 leagues there is a clear correlation between the success of the national
team and the number of foreigners in a league. To put it bluntly, less
foreigners means a stronger national team. Outside of Europe’s top 5 leagues we
must have different expectations. In club leagues with lower standards such as
Belgium, Portugal, Austria and the Czech Republic their national teams are
helped if their players move abroad to the top 5 leagues. Players get to play
against the best domestically and in the Champions League which is a huge
advantage when major competitions such as the World Cup come around.
Effect of Population On The Standard Of Club and National Football
Bigger populations tend to mean more players and more investment which
means more quality players, which means a better standard. Although this is not
always the case, take the United States for example. The US failed to qualify
for Russia 2018 despite having a much bigger population than their qualifying
opponents. On top of this the national team sits 25th in the current
FIFA rankings. While Major League Soccer has improved in recent years, it is
unlikely to ever reach the heights of Europe’s top 5 leagues, despite these
countries having smaller populations.
It is interesting to note according to UEFA rankings, Europe’s top four
leagues are La Liga (Spain) 1st, Premier League (England) 2nd, Seria A (Italy)
3rd and Bundesliga (Germany) 4th. But these four nations
are in the opposite order in terms of population. Germany 80.67 million, Italy
60.6 million, England 53.01 million and Spain 40.56 million. These four
countries have some of Europe’s biggest populations. With a population of 45
million, just a million short of Spain, again it could be said that the both
Ukrainian national team and club league under perform. Countries with relatively
small populations and over achieve include Switzerland whose national team have
a world ranking of 8th.
Dose The Standard Of Living Have An Effect On The Success Of The National
Team?
In extreme cases yes. Countries such as Germany and France have very high
standards of living and they have both strong national and club football leagues.
While on the other hand countries such as Uganda have a relatively poor
standard of living and is not known for its high standards of football to say
the least. But there are exceptions on both sides. According to the World
Economic Forum the five countries with the highest standard of living are; 1st
Norway, 2nd Iceland, 3rd Luxembourg, 4th
Switzerland and 5th Denmark. Only Switzerland can boast to be home
of one of Europe’s top 14 football leagues. But, the Swedish and Icelandic
national teams make it into FIFA’s top 20 national sides. On the other end of
the scale, Egypt who are ranked 70th for developing countries from
the World Economic Forum have just qualified for the World Cup with the help of
potential Premier League player of the year Mo Salah. But just like Ronaldo for
Portugal and Lewandowski for Poland, Salah can be seen as a potential
outlier.
Conclusions
If your country of a small population, accept that your club league will
never be able to compete with the likes of the Premier League and La Liga.
Focus on developing players early on and encourage moves to Europe’s top 5
leagues. It will help your national team.
There is a correlation in Europe between a large population, a successful
national team and club league but it can’t be seen as a guarantee of success. Small
countries such as Belgium prove success is possible. Countries outside of
Europe with huge populations such as the USA, China and India fail to compete
at the highest level of football.
Countries of Europe’s top 5 leagues have a lot of power determining the
success of their national teams. The more foreigners in these leagues the
weaker the national team will become. Outside of the top five leagues, the
opposite is often true. . Players from these countries should join Europe’s top
5 leagues to reach their potential and improve their national sides.
If Europe’s top 5 leagues continue to buy the best foreign talent, the
gap between those top 5 leagues and the rest will likely get wider but it
should make international football more competitive.
Outliers for example a few special players, can have a major impact on
trends. Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Mo Salah and the Brazilian cohort
at Shakhtar Donetsk the stand out examples.
The standard of living in a country does have some causation of the
standard of football in a country but it is not a guarantee of success or an
automatic death sentence in the hope of success.
Entire Results
Table 2;
Diarmuid
Gillingham
Twitter-
@ThisIsDiarmuid
