As the Fifa World Cup gets underway, we did a little research and asked: how well are member-run football clubs or clubs with some element of supporter involvement in their governance structure represented amongst the 32 countries taking part in the competition?
By Arik Rosenstein & Niamh O’Mahony
Europe and South America are particularly prominent, but it’s quite an impressive list: we counted no less than 141 players representing 45 clubs from 25 different national squads over in Russia.
2014 World Champions Germany lead the way with 16 players plying their trade at clubs with a democratic element; this, of course, is unsurprising given the country’s 50+1 regulation. Spain’s Real Madrid, meanwhile, has 15 of its players in action this summer.
Interestingly, though Sweden’s clubs abide by the 50+1 regulation, the Swedish national squad does not have a single player currently based with a club within their own country. Instead, the league is represented by two players, Iran’s Saman Ghoddos (Östersund FK) and Iceland’s Arnor Ingvi Traustason (Malmö FF).
Check out the full list below!
Argentina:
Marcos Acuña (Sporting CP)
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
Franco Armani (River Plate)
Enzo Perez (River Plate)
Maximiliano Meza (Independiente)
Eduardo Salvio (Benfica)
Cristian Pavon (Boca Juniors)
Australia:
Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin)
Robbie Kruse (VFL Bochum)
Jamie Maclaren (Hibernian)
Aziz Behich (Bursaspor)
Belgium:
Thomas Vermaelen (FC Barcelona)
Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Brazil:
Casemiro (Real Madrid)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Philippe Coutinho (FC Barcelona)
Paulinho (FC Barcelona)
Columbia:
Wilson Barrios (Boca Juniors)
James Rodriguez (FC Bayern Munich)
Yerry Mina (FC Barcelona)
Juan Fernando Quintero (River Plate)
Costa Rica:
Keylor Navas (Real Madrid)
Ian Smith (Norrköping)
Celso Borges (Deportivo La Coruna)
Bryan Ruiz (Sporting CP)
Croatia:
Ivan Rakitić (FC Barcelona)
Mateo Kovačić (Real Madrid)
Luca Modrić (Real Madrid)
Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen)
Ante Rebić (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Marko Pjaca (Schalke 04)
Domagoj Vida (Besiktas)
Denmark:
Michael Krohn Dehli (Deportivo La Coruna)
Jannik Vestergaard (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen)
Frederik Rønnow (Brøndby)
France:
Benjamin Pavard (VfB Stuttgart)
Raphäel Varane (Real Madrid)
Samuel Umtiti (FC Barcelona)
Ousmane Dembele (FC Barcelona)
Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich)
Germany:
Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern Munich)
Mats Hummels (FC Bayern Munich)
Thomas Müller (FC Bayern Munich)
Niklas Süle (FC Bayern Munich)
Jerome Boateng (FC Bayern Munich)
Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern Munich)
Sebastian Rudy (FC Bayern Munich)
Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen)
Marc-Andre ter Stegen (FC Barcelona)
Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04)
Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin)
Jonas Hector (FC Köln)
Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
Iceland:
Alfreð Finnbogason (FC Augsburg)
Rurik Gislason (SV Sandhausen)
Arnor Ingvi Traustason (Malmö FF)
Iran:
Saman Ghoddos (Östersund FK)
Japan:
Genki Haraguchi (Fortuna Dusseldorf)
Takashi Usami (Fortuna Dusseldorf)
Shinji Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund)
Yoshinori Muto (Mainz 05)
Takashi Inui (SD Eibar)
Yuyu Osako (FC Köln)
Makoto Hasebe (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Gotoku Sakai (Hamburger SV)
Yuto Nagatomo (Galatasaray)
Mexico:
Carlos Salcedo (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Diego Reyes (FC Porto)
Hector Herrera (FC Porto)
Jesus Manuel Corona (FC Porto)
Marco Fabian (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Raul Jimenez (Benfica)
Morocco:
Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid)
Amine Harit (Schalke 04)
Aziz Bouhaddouz (FC St. Pauli)
Nigeria:
Leon Balogun (Mainz 05)
Francis Uzoho (Deportivo La Coruna)
William Troost-Ekong (Bursaspor)
Shehu Abdullahi (Bursaspor)
Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor)
Poland:
Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern Munich)
Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund)
Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea City)
Portugal:
Rui Patricio (Sporting CP)
William Carvalho (Sporting CP)
Bruno Fernandes (Sporting CP)
Gelson Martins (Sporting CP)
Raphaël Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Rúben Dias (Benfica)
Ricardo Pereira (FC Porto)
Pepe (Besiktas)
Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)
Beto (Göztepe)
Senegal:
Salif Sane (Hannover 96)
Moussa Sow (Bursaspor)
Serbia:
Andrija Živković (Benfica)
Milos Veljkovic (Werder Bremen)
Filip Kostic (Hamburger SV)
Luka Jovic (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Marko Dmitrovic (SD Eibar)
Dusko Tosic (Besiktas)
South Korea:
Koo Ja Cheol (FC Augsburg)
Spain:
Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid)
Nacho (Real Madrid)
Lucas Vázquez (Real Madrid)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Marco Asensio (Real Madrid)
Isco (Real Madrid)
Gerard Piqué (FC Barcelona)
Sergio Busquets (FC Barcelona)
Jordi Alba (FC Barcelona)
Thiago (FC Bayern Munich)
Kepa Arrizabalaga (Athletic Bilbao)
Sweden:
Martin Olsson (Swansea City)
Kristoffer Nordfeldt (Swansea City)
Ludwig Augustinsson (Werder Bremen)
Albin Ekdal (Hamburger SV)
Switzerland:
Yann Sommer (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Nico Elvedi (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Denis Zakaria (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Josip Drmic (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund)
Roman Bürki (Borussia Dortmund)
Breel Embolo (Schalke 04)
Haris Seferovic (Benfica)
Gelson Fernandes (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Fabian Schär (Deportivo La Coruna)
Johan Djourou (Antalyaspor)
Uruguay:
Guillermo Varela (Peñarol)
Cristian Rodríguez (Peñarol)
Luis Suarez (FC Barcelona)
Nahitan Nández (Boca Juniors)
Martín Campaña (Independiente)
Gastón Silva (Independiente)
Maxi Pereira (FC Porto)
Sebastián Coates (Sporting CP)
Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray)
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