Barcelona are more heavily represented in Qatar than any club has been at any previous World Cup finals. They benefit from an injury while Bayern suffer.
Here are the clubs sending most players to the tournament…
1) Barcelona – 17
Barca had already broken their own record for representation at at a World Cup finals prior to Alejandro Balde being called up to replace Valencia’s Jose Gaya. Never before has a single club sent more players to a World Cup.
Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Alejandro Balde, Ansu Fati, Eric Garcia, Gavi, Pedri, Ferran Torres (Spain), Ronald Araujo (Uruguay), Andreas Christensen (Denmark), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlands), Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Ousmane Dembele, Jules Kounde (France), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Raphinha (Brazil), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany).
=2) Bayern Munich – 16
Bayern would have matched Barca’s record had Sadio Mane not have to withdraw from the Senegal squad after undergoing knee surgery. The Bundesliga giants are the club most represented in both the Germany and France squads.
Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, Jamal Musiala, Manuel Neuer, Leroy Sane, Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich (Germany), Dayot Upamecano, Benjamin Pavard, Kingsley Coman, Lucas Hernandez (France), Alphonso Davies (Canada), Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Cameroon), Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Josip Stanisic (Croatia)
=2) Manchester City – 16
City are the Premier League club with most players heading to Qatar and they are the most represented side in the England squad. Pep Guardiola will be watching with a glass of red in his hand hoping his players avoid injury.
Kyle Walker, John Stones, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips (England), Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva (Portugal), Rodri, Aymeric Laporte (Spain), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium), Ederson (Brazil), Ilkay Gundogan (Germany), Manuel Akanji (Switzerland), Nathan Ake (Netherlands), Julian Alvarez (Argentina)
4) Al-Sadd – 15
Half of the Qatar squad is made up of players from the ninth-placed side in the 12-team domestic league. The hosts’ 26-man selection is taken entirely from the Qatar Stars League with third-placed Al-Duhail the next best represented with six players.
Saad Al Sheeb, Meshaal Barsham, Pedro Miguel, Musaab Khidir, Tarek Salman, Boualem Khoukhi, Abdelkarim Hassan, Ali Asad, Mohammed Waad, Salem Al Hajri, Mustafa Meshaal, Hassan Al Haydos, Akram Afif (Qatar), Andre Ayew (Ghana), Jung Woo-young (South Korea)
5) Manchester United – 14
Three United players in each of the England, Portugal and Brazil squads – though the representation in the Portugal squad will drop if they sack Cristiano Ronaldo mid-tournament, as they definitely should.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot (Portugal), Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford (England), Raphael Varane (France), Christian Eriksen (Denmark), Tyrell Malacia (Netherlands), Facundo Pellistri (Uruguay), Casemiro, Fred, Antony (Brazil), Lisandro Martinez (Argentina)
6) Real Madrid – 13
There is currently much fretting going on around the France squad after Karim Benzema was forced out of his first full session with the defending champions. Real currently have more players in the France and Brazil squads than the Spain party.
Marco Asensio, Dani Carvajal (Spain), Karim Benzema, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni (France), Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard (Belgium), Eder Militao, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo (Brazil), Luka Modric (Croatia), Antonio Rudiger (Germany), Federico Valverde (Uruguay)
=7) Chelsea – 12
Chelsea would have been further up this list, level with Al-Sadd, had they not struggled with injuries in recent weeks. Ben Chilwell and Reece James would almost certainly have gone with England while N’Golo Kante misses out for France.
Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Conor Gallagher (England), Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal), Cesar Azpilicueta (Spain), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Christian Pulisic (USA), Kai Havertz (Germany), Matteo Kovacic (Croatia), Hakim Ziyech (Morocco), Denis Zakaria (Switzerland)
=7) Al-Hilal – 12
Similar to Qatar, the Saudi Arabia squad is made up entirely of domestic-based players, with a dozen coming from Saudi Pro League champions Al-Hilal
Mohammed Al-Owais, Yasser Al-Shahrani, Ali Al-Bulaihi, Mohammed Al-Breik, Saud Abdulhamid, Salman Al-Faraj, Mohamed Kanno, Abdulellah Al-Malki, Abdullah Otayf, Nasser Al-Dawsari, Salem Al-Dawsari, Saleh Al-Shehri (Saudi Arabia)
Six teams have 11 players heading to Qatar: Tottenham PSG, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Atletico Madrid.
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