The Mixed-Up Geographic Allegiances of World Cup Soccer

The World Cup, which begins this week in stadiums across Brazil, is a battle of nations. But the top football leagues in the world are far more geographically concentrated. Over the next few weeks, footballers who play together professionally during the regular season will soon find themselves pitted against one another on opposite sides of the field.

UCLA planning doctoral student Patrick Adler crunched the numbers on how national team members for the 32 qualifying nations are distributed among the various professional leagues during normal play. A majority of World Cup team members play professionally for a club outside of their home country. Nearly two-thirds of the players taking to fields across Brazil this week normally wear the jerseys of teams based outside of their home country.