Premier League dominates the rest of Europe at Euro 2016

The English Premier League is widely regarded as the best football league in Europe and the latest statistics appear to strengthen this belief.

That’s because Grosvenor Casinos have analysed all the players set to compete at this summers European Championships to find out in which league they play at club level and used the information to create this excellent Club vs Country interactive map.

The data is fascinating as it shows that while the England national team may not be the bookies favourites to lift the trophy this summer, England is still the boss when it comes to attracting the majority of the top talent.

Interestingly, 25% [138] of the 552 players competing at Euro 2016 ply their trade in the English leagues [including Swansea and Cardiff] with the vast majority of those playing in the English top flight making the Premier League the most prestigious league in Europe.

Germany, the defending World Champions and many people’s favourites to win Euro 2016, are a distant second with just 12% [65] of the players coming from the German leagues. This means the English league’s will provide over double the number of players for Euro 2016 compared to Germany.

Spanish football has dominated the domestic European cups in recent years and they have two of the best teams in the world in Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, just 6.3% [35] of the players competing at Euro 2016 ply their trade in the Spanish domestic leagues – which is below the Turkish Super Lig which has 36 players.

It’s also interesting to note that 6 of the Spain squad represent Premier League clubs on a weekly basis while none of the English squad even plays their domestic football outside of England.

So with the English leagues providing four times the number of players compared to Spain for Euro 2016, surely this is proof enough that the Premier League is overall a far stronger league compared to La Liga?

While that may be true, the data has also highlighted once again that the FA aren’t doing enough to protect our homegrown talent as so many foreign players are now playing in the English leagues meaning fewer young English talents are able to break through.

Top Ten Countries/Leagues by players attending Euro 2016
Country/League	No. of players
England (& Wales*)	138 (25%)
Germany	65 (12%)
Italy	57 (10%)
Turkey	36 (6.5%)
Spain	35 (6.3%)
Russia	31 (5.6%)
Ukraine	21 (3.8%)
France	17 (3.1%)
Czech Republic	16 (2.9%)
Switzerland	15 (2.7%)

* England and Wales are combined to represent the Premier League.

The data also shows that 7 of the top 20 teams ranked by players attending Euro 2016 come from England. Liverpool and Italian Champions Juventus jointly hold the honour of having the most players representing their countries in France this summer with 12 each while Tottenham and Real Madrid come a close second with 11.

Manchester United [10], Southampton [7], Arsenal [7], Chelsea [6] and Manchester City [6] make up the seven Premier League clubs in the top 20 while Spain’s La Liga has just two sides in the mix in Barcelona and Real Madrid.

So I think it’s safe to say that the Premier League dominates the rest of Europe at Euro 2016 this summer. Let’s just hope the English national team can finally do us proud and bring bring home the trophy!