The Most Professional Players by Country
If you have ever wondered which country has the most professional players, you will be delighted to know you have landed in the right place.
Using data from the respected CIES Football Observatory, we will show you how many professional footballers play in leagues worldwide.
The data focuses on games played during 2019 in 132 top or second-tier leagues from 93 countries covering all continents.
We also look at which nations produce the most players across the leagues featured in the study.
Professional Players by Nation
Here are the details of players fielded during 2019 in domestic league matches.
Professional Players Worldwide
Having identified how many professional footballers play in each nation, we now look at which countries have the most players plying their trade worldwide.
Brazil is famed for producing talented footballers, so it is no surprise that 2,742 players from the country played in the leagues featured in the study.
Argentina was next on the list with 2,330 players, while France, Colombia and Spain round off the top five.
Despite being dubbed ‘the home of football’, England’s tally of 1,228 players was only good enough to secure seventh place in the standings.
Seven non-European countries are ranked in the top 20 – Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, United States, Mexico and Japan.
The absence of African countries is explained by the difficulties associated with accessing information on line-ups fielded by teams.
However, in terms of nations providing players for overseas leagues, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast all feature in the top 20.
Top 5 Football Countries by Titles
Now we know which countries produce the most professional players, it is time to look at how that information equates to major titles.
We have scoured the record books to identify the top five countries based on major trophies won and Balon D’or awards claimed by individual players.
| Major Trophies & Balon D’or Awards | |
| Argentina | 24 |
| Brazil | 19 |
| Italy | 11 |
| France | 11 |
| Germany | 10 |
