Share of domestic players in the top 5 European football leagues

Paul Kemp Mar 29, 2023

The use of homegrown players in the Top 5 European football leagues has been a topic of discussion for a long time. In the past week, both Gareth Southgate and Roberto Mancini, the managers of England and Italy, complained about the low number of domestic players in the Premier League and Serie A. This prompted SportingPedia to look into the usage of local players in the different top five European leagues. After going through the numbers, it turns out that in the English elite level of football, only 43.7% of all the players who have recorded minutes this season have English passports. The difference between the Premier League and La Liga is staggering, as in Spain, 83.2% of all footballers, utilised throughout the 2022–23 season have Spanish citizenship.

Key Takeaways:

• The Premier League is the only league to see more foreign than domestic players
• The Spanish La Liga is head and shoulders above the other leagues when it comes to fielding a domestic player, eclipsing the 80%
• Ligue 1, Serie A, and the Bundesliga have registered numbers slightly above the 50% mark
• With 8.1%, the French players in the Bundesliga are the largest ‘minority’ in the Top 5 leagues
• Apart from the Premier League, English players make the top 10 nationalities only in the Bundesliga

France, Germany, Spain, and Italy have all won the World Cup in the XXI century. Only England constantly fails to bring home the most coveted trophy in football, and our latest report is offering a potential explanation.

The more players a nation has in the best football leagues, the better chance it has of developing world-class talent. The more top players, the stronger the national team. Looking at the numbers, it is no surprise that the French team was in the final of the last two editions of the World Cup, winning it in 2018 and finishing as runners-up just a few months ago in Qatar.

The data shows that French players are in the top 10 nationalities in each of the top five European leagues, and there is no other country with such an accomplishment.

Premier League: 43.7% domestic players

Only 43.7%, or 234 out of 535 players who have recorded minutes this season in the Premier League, have English citizenship. This is the lowest number of domestic players utilisation across Europe’s top 5 leagues and the main reason behind Gareth Southgate’s recent complaints. Even though the Premier League’s financial appeal attracts the best players from around the globe, the quantity of domestic players in the top English tier is just not enough. The next most-represented nations are Brazil, France, and Spain, all of which are between 6 and 7.3%.

Serie A: 50.2% domestic players

After Southgate, Roberto Mancini also complained in the media, and strangely or not, the Italian Serie A comes second right after the Premier League. Even though the Azzurri won Euro 2022, the Italian national side has failed to qualify for the last two editions of the World Cup. 282 Italians have featured in Serie A matches throughout the season so far. From the foreigners, only the French players account for more than 5%, with 6.4%, or 36 footballers, performing in Italy’s top flight.

Bundesliga: 51% domestic players

The Bundesliga has a better record in terms of domestic players’ usage than the Premier League and Serie A, but by a slight margin. 51%, or 264, of all 518 footballers used in league games have been German. The other most-represented nations in the Bundesliga have been France, Austria, and the Netherlands, with only the French players having a share bigger than 5%.

Ligue 1: 57.7% domestic players

The French Ligue 1 has seen 307 domestic players take part in games this campaign. This is the 2nd highest usage percentage of local footballers across the top 5 leagues in Europe. The reason behind the French national team’s success in recent years has a lot to do with the fact that the “French minorities” feature in the top 10 in each of the other four leagues. The other most utilised players at the French elite level have been from Brazil, Portugal, and Algeria.

La Liga: 83.2% domestic players

La Liga has the highest percentage of domestic players compared to all of the other top 5 European leagues. 410 different footballers with a Spanish passport have recorded minutes in La Liga this term. The number is almost twice as large as the 234 English players in the Premier League. Players from two South American nations are next as most used, with Argentines and Brazilians representing 7.5% and 5.7% of all footballers to record minutes in the 2022–23 La Liga season thus far.