By David Butler
I've had various entries concerning the nationalities of footballers in the elite leagues in England, France, Spain and Germany. The graph below shows the number of nationalities that have featured in each of the 23 EPL seasons to date.
On my count, 111 nationalities have featured in total over the 23 seasons. This includes players from far away destinations such as Montserrat, Martinique, Pakistan and Iran. As expected, inward migration increased after the Bosman ruling as labour became increasingly mobile. The increase in the EPL's internationalisation (if 30 nationalities is not international enough) mostly occurred in the 1990's.
The number of nationalities peaked in 2012-2013 season but has declined considerably this season – are we starting to witness the effects of the 2008-2009 home-grown rules in the EPL?
I've had various entries concerning the nationalities of footballers in the elite leagues in England, France, Spain and Germany. The graph below shows the number of nationalities that have featured in each of the 23 EPL seasons to date.
On my count, 111 nationalities have featured in total over the 23 seasons. This includes players from far away destinations such as Montserrat, Martinique, Pakistan and Iran. As expected, inward migration increased after the Bosman ruling as labour became increasingly mobile. The increase in the EPL's internationalisation (if 30 nationalities is not international enough) mostly occurred in the 1990's.
The number of nationalities peaked in 2012-2013 season but has declined considerably this season – are we starting to witness the effects of the 2008-2009 home-grown rules in the EPL?
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