1/ Nice (infographic) essay about how migration has shaped the world cup. via @voxdotcom
At the inaugural World Cup, 5% of the players were foreign-born. For #FIFAWorldCupQatar2022, 16.5% of players were born overseas, an all-time high.
[vox.com/c/world/2022/12/8/23471181/how-migration-has-shaped-the-world-cup]
2/ For the African teams, 42% (almost half) of all the players are foreign-born.
Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil have no foreign-born players.
There are 38 French-born players outside the French team this year.
Number of foreign-born players in each team👇🏿
3/“African players were often called up to play for their colonizer in the WC before their countries’ independence, since FIFA didn’t recognize their homelands. Today, the trend is reversed the former colonies increasingly find French-born players with ancestral ties to Africa.”
4/ +
The US has fielded the most foreign-born players in the history of the world cup
5/ “Brazil, the team with the most championships, has never had a single foreign-born player in its history.”
This was one of the most surprising things I learned from reading the essay.
[vox.com/c/world/2022/12/8/23471181/how-migration-has-shaped-the-world-cup]