The 1,125 Foreigners Who Have Played in the Premier League

[THFC6061]

Yep.

1,125 of them.

It should come as no surprise that Chelsea had the most (89) or that Frenchmen make up the largest contingent of foreigners in the Premier League (138 of them).

The players must meet both of the following two criteria:

1. Have played at least one Premier League game. Players who were signed by Premier League clubs, but only played in lower league, Domestic Cup competitions and/or European games, or did not play in any competitive games at all, are not included.

2. Are considered foreign, i.e., outside The United Kingdom and Ireland (the 'British Isles').

BY CLUB:

Chelsea 89
Liverpool 74
Arsenal 73
Bolton Wanderers 73
Manchester City 72
West Ham United 70
Tottenham Hotspur 67
Newcastle United 65
Portsmouth 64
Fulham 62
Blackburn Rovers 58
Manchester United 53
Middlesbrough 51
Everton 51
Aston Villa 49
Derby County 48
Sunderland 40
Southampton 39
Birmingham City 35
West Bromwich Albion 35
Charlton Athletic 34
Wigan Athletic 33
Leeds United 31
Coventry City 30
Sheffield Wednesday 26
Crystal Palace 26
Watford 21
Ipswich Town 20
Nottingham Forest 17
Leicester City 17
Reading 15
Wimbledon 15
Sheffield United 12
Barnsley 11
Norwich City 10
Stoke City 10
Hull City 9
Wolverhampton Wanderers 9
Bradford City 8
Queens Park Rangers 7
Oldham Athletic 4
Swindon Town 3
Burnley 0


BY COUNTRY:

France 138
Netherlands 76
Norway 49
Sweden 49
Italy 47
Denmark 44
Australia 40
Spain 40
Brazil 37
Portugal 37
Argentina 33
Germany 30
Jamaica 28
United States of America 26
Nigeria 22
Belgium 18
Cameroon 17
Czech Republic 17
Senegal 17
Croatia 16
Finland 16
Serbia 14
Switzerland 14
Greece 13
Iceland 13
Israel 12
Poland 11
Slovakia 11
Ghana 10
Morocco 10
South Africa 10
Uruguay 10
Côte d'Ivoire 9
Turkey 9
Romania 8
Trinidad and Tobago 8
Bulgaria 7
Canada 7
Hungary 7
Algeria 6
Austria 6
Ecuador 6
Korea, South 6
Mali 6
China 5
Colombia 5
Egypt 5
Georgia 5
New Zealand 5
Russia 5
Ukraine 5
Chile 4
Congo DR 4
Honduras 4
Latvia 4
Mexico 4
Saint Kitts & Nevis 4
Slovenia 4
Barbados 3
Guinea 3
Japan 3
Macedonia 3
Peru 3
Tunisia 3
Zimbabwe 3
Bermuda 2
Costa Rica 2
Cyprus 2
Grenada 2
Iran 2
Liberia 2
Paraguay 2
Sierra Leone 2
Togo 2
Angola 1
Belarus 1
Bolivia 1
Bosnia & Herzegovina 1
Cape Verde 1
Congo 1
Estonia 1
Gabon 1
Lithuania 1
Montserrat 1
Oman 1
Pakistan 1
Zambia 1
TOTAL FOREIGNERS 1,125


Link to all 1,125 Foreign Premier League players 1992-93 to 2008-09:http://www.myfootballfacts.com/PremierLeagueForeignPLayers1992-93to2008-09.html

[Harry Boulton]

37 Brazilians? Really? I never thought there'd been that many.

Wonder what percentage ofthem Harry Redknapp is responsible for........ :p

[Jimellow]

Would it be fair to say that the lower the number of foreigners a team has, the more likely they are to have developed their own talent?

[THFC6061]

I think that would be an oversimplification.

Many of the British-born players in the Premiership have been traded around to the larger clubs.

Teams like Watford, Swindon, Hull and Stoke probably have a far higher number of home-grown players than the more fashionable sides like Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Tottenham Hotspur.

[billyireland]

I think that would be an oversimplification.

Many of the British-born players in the Premiership have been traded around to the larger clubs.

Teams like Watford, Swindon, Hull and Stoke probably have a far higher number of home-grown players than the more fashionable sides like Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Tottenham Hotspur.Untrue. Man United currently have Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Brown, Fletcher, Evans & O'Shea as youth products - a total of seven (then there is also Welbeck, who many feel is going to be thrown into the fire this season). Stoke have three (Wilkinson, Dickinson & Griffin). Watford also have seven to be fair (O'Toole, Richard Lee, Jenkins, Doyley, Tommy Smith, Mariappa & Loach). Hull only have Nicky Featherstone, who has made a grand total of 8 senior league appearances for the club. The only youth player still at the club to make over 10 appearances for Swindon is Sean Morrison with 22.

There are as many Man Utd youth products (Pugh, Higginbotham, Shawcross) playing regularly for Stoke, as there are Stoke youth products (Wilkinson, Dickinson, Griffin)!

For all the criticism Ferguson gets about big money signings down the years, it is unfair to not notice the talent our youth academy has produced which have fleshed out our squad(s) and helped allow him to make such moves in the market. Currently we have a number of products at other Premiership clubs who have yet to reach 25 years of age: David Jones & Ebanks-Blake (Wolves), Eagles & Eckersley (Burnley), Campbell, Bardsley & McShane (Sunderland), Shawcross (Stoke), and Spector (West Ham) off the top of my head. Outside of West Ham, I would find it interesting to see if any other Premiership clubs can match this number of academy players in the top flight - including both still playing for that team and/or with other teams.?

Many of these are at newly promoted teams, and Campbell should get his first real crack at the top flight for Sunderland this year - so it's an exciting season personally, to see how most of these guys get on. Keep your eyes peeled for David Jones, delighted to see him get his career back on track at Wolves and he is a seriously talented footballer.

There are also Rossi, Pique & Keiran Richardson who while not directly from our academy spent a good deal of their developmental years at Old Trafford.

---

Also found it interesting that half the Premiership has had more foreign players than Man Utd, too (including the other big three, by 20-36 players)...

[ugen64]

Would it be fair to say that the lower the number of foreigners a team has, the more likely they are to have developed their own talent?

no. for example Arsenal have developed a surprising number of players that were just not quite good enough to break into a top 4 side. you can make a not-too-shabby starting eleven of Arsenal academy grads...

Stuart Taylor
Justin Hoyte - Matthew Upson - Matthew Connolly - Ashley Cole
Jermaine Pennant - Steve Sidwell - Fabrice Muamba - Jamie O'Hara
David Bentley
Jay Bothroyd

OK we don't have a striker.

My point is, if Arsenal were a mid-table / relegation battling side, we'd have a lot of Englishmen in the team. I think the biggest factor in what you are talking about is how much money the team has. Next is the manager (for instance Steve Bruce buys a lot more foreigners than Martin O'Neill). Third factor is where the team is in the league table, and only then do you get to the quality of the team's youth academy. Remember, there are only a handful of clubs in England (Middlesbrough, Man Utd) that have a significant number of starting players from *their own* youth academy. Teams like Chelsea rely on players from other youth academies (in their case West Ham).

[THFC6061]

One thing you should bear in mind when looking at the raw data of foreign players in the Premier League is the amount of time each club has spent there.

Only seven clubs have been ever-present since its formation in 1992-93:

Manchester United
Liverpool
Everton
Arsenal
Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa

It therefore stands to reason that these clubs will have significantly more Foreign players than clubs who spent only a few seasons in the Premier League.

[Slater582]

Thought this was interesting. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8182090.stm)