The 32 selections for the World Cup are known and even before a ball has been kicked, the first records are broken. We collected the most striking statistics here.
Statistics about Belgium
First the good news: no selection scored more international goals with all its players than Belgium. The 26 Red Devils going to Qatar have already scored 246 times. The number 2 Portugal follows at a considerable distance, with 192 goals (of which 117 for Cristiano Ronaldo).
The fact that Belgium is going to the World Cup with an ancient selection is also not entirely correct. On average, Belgians are 28 years 127 days old. 5 selections send out an older selection, including favorites like Brazil and Argentina. The oldest selection is that of Iran (29 years and 153 days), the youngest that of Ghana (25 years 108 days).
At the moment, Enzo Scifo is the Belgian who played most often at a World Cup: he participated 17 times, spread over 4 World Cups. Thibaut Courtois is the only Belgian who played every match at the past 2 World Cups. He is currently in 12 World Cup matches and can therefore match Scifo in a quarterfinal and surpass it in a semifinal.
Will Thibaut Courtois soon knock Enzo Scifo off the throne?
Statistics about the Belgian league
- 19 foreigners active in Belgium
With Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Zeno Debast, Simon Mignolet and Hans Vanaken, the Belgian selection has 5 players from the Jupiler Pro League. In addition, another 19 foreign players from the Belgian league have received a convocation letter, a record.
If we leave out the 5 top competitions (Premier League, Serie A, Primera Division, Bundesliga and Ligue 1), Belgium is the leader with those 19 (together with the Turkish Süper Lig).
| “Belgian” foreigners at World Cup | ||
|---|---|---|
William Pacho | Ecuador | Antwerp |
Angelo Preciado | Ecuador | RC Genk |
Only Noah | The Netherlands | Club Brugge |
Vincent Jansen | The Netherlands | Antwerp |
Ali Gholizadeh | Iran | Charleroi |
gerardo arteaga | Mexico | RC Genk |
Andreas Skov Olsen | Denmark | Club Brugge |
Ayase UedaMore | Japan | Circle Bruges |
Daniel Schmidt | Japan | STVV |
Liam Fraser | Canada | Deinze |
Tajon BuchananMore | Canada | Club Brugge |
Cyle Larin | Canada | Club Brugge |
Salim Amallah | Morocco | Standard |
Bilal El Khannous | Morocco | RC Genk |
Samuel Gouet | Cameroon | KV Mechelen |
Denis Odoi | Ghana | Club Brugge |
Elisha Owusu | Ghana | AA Gent |
Abdul Manaf Nurudeen | Ghana | eupen |
| Kamal Sawah | Ghana | Club Brugge |
- Club Brugge purveyor to the court
7 clubs from the Jupiler Pro League have no World Cup visitors: OH Leuven, Seraing, KV Oostende, Zulte Waregem, Kortrijk, Union and Westerlo.
Cyle Larin and Tajon Buchanan, the Canadians from Club Brugge.
Even more statistics
So far, the players who have participated in 5 World Cups could choose colors, because there were only 4: Lothar Matthäus, Antonio Carbajal, Rafael Marquez and Gianluigi Buffon.
Now 4 more players are added. With Andres Guardado and Guillermo Ochoa, there are again 2 Mexicans (who are now already 4) and Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are also starting their 5th World Cup.
If Messi reaches the (consolation) final and plays all matches, he will also surpass Matthäus with the most matches at a World Cup. That record now stands at 25.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi start their 5th World Cup
Six 18-year-olds are also traveling to the World Cup, including Spaniard Gavi and German striker Youssoufa Moukouko. The latter is still 17 years old, but he celebrates his 18th birthday on the day of the opening match.
Those who want to buy the entire Belgian selection would have to pay 563.20 million euros for it, which means that the Red Devils are 9th in that ranking. At the very bottom we find Qatar, with a selection that is barely worth 14.90 million euros.
Yet the main supplier to the clubs does not come from the Premier League. Bayern Munich just beats Manchester City and Barcelona with 17 World Cup visitors.
Remarkable: at 4 we find the Qatari Al-Sadd. This is largely due to the fact that all players of the national team of Qatar play in their own country. The national coach of Saudi Arabia also only looked for it in his own country. On the other side we find Senegal, which does not bring a single player from its own league.
