RIYADH: As the Round of 16 got underway at this World Cup, the official Saudi Pro League account announced there were 11 players still representing the league remaining in the competition.
Four teams had one SPL player each, while three had two or more players in their squads.
Two of those four teams met head-to-head in the Round of 16, with England and Mexico playing out a thrilling clash at the Azteca Stadium. Al-Ahli’s Ivan Toney was the only SPL player in the Three Lions squad, while Al-Qadsiah’s Julian Quinones served as El Tri’s representative, scoring in the first half to bring Mexico back into the game.
Egypt had Nabil Donga, who played for Al-Najma this season, while Al-Hilal’s Theo Hernandez represented France.
Turning to the teams with two players each: Morocco and Brazil.
Al-Hilal’s Yassine Bounou continued to excel in goal for the Atlas Lions, keeping a clean sheet against Canada after his penalty heroics against the Netherlands. Marwan Saadane from Al-Fateh was also part of the Morocco squad.
For the Selecao, Jeddah rivals Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli each had one player representing their clubs on the world stage: Fabinho and Roger Ibanez respectively.
Finally, the team that entered the Round of 16 with the most foreign players representing the SPL was Portugal: Ruben Neves from Al-Hilal, Joao Felix from Al-Nassr — and, of course, the only player to score at six different World Cups, Al-Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
This placed the SPL eighth among all leagues with players in the Round of 16, based on the number of foreign players represented.
The Premier League topped the rankings with 68 players, followed by La Liga on 37. Serie A came in third with 34, Ligue 1 in fourth with 32, while the Bundesliga had 24. The remaining leagues rounding out the top eight were the MLS (15) and the Brasileirao (12).
With 11 players, the SPL beats the likes of the Portuguese, Dutch and Belgian leagues in terms of the number of foreign players representing the league at the World Cup Round of 16.
