There are 62 players in the World Cup who spent the 2017-18 season in English football outside of the Top 6. The list includes an eclectic array of nationalities from Tunisian to Costa Rican, playing in the Premier League to League 1. Sure, some players may have contracts with football powers like Chelsea and PSG, but the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek (England) and Grzegorz Krychowiak (Poland) spent the season outside of the Top 6, competing for their clubs’ Premier League survival.
Krychowiak, unfortunately, witnessed his loaned club fall out of the first division while Bryan Oviedo (Costa Rica) was relegated for the second consecutive year at Sunderland and will be using this World Cup as a tool to bounce back to the Prem.
But before we get into the nitty-gritty of what each of these players will do after the World Cup, let’s track them all down and keep tabs on them during the World’s most-watched tournament.
Some interesting takeaways from this list include where a lot of the World Cup talent is coming from outside of the Top 6. Leicester jumps off the page. Obviously stars like Kasper Schmeichel (Denmark), Shinji Okazaki (Japan) and Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria) highlight the nine Leicester players in the World Cup. But, arguably, their best player in club competition, Jamie Vardy, could be on the outside looking in for the English matchday squad.
Here we go. The list of 62.
Argentina
Manuel Lanzini – West Ham United
Australia
Tim Cahill – Millwall
Jackson Irvine – Hull City
Mile Jedinak – Aston Villa
James Meredith – Millwall
Aaron Mooy – Huddersfield Town
Mathew Ryan – Brighton & Hove Albion
Belgium
Nacer Chadli – West Brom Albion
Columbia
Jose Izquierdo – Brighton & Hove Albion
Costa Rica
Bryan Oviedo – Sunderland
Denmark
Kasper Schmeichel – Leicester City
Jonas Knudsen – Ipswich Town
Mathias Jørgensen (Zanka) – Huddersfield Town
Henrik Dalsgaard – Brentford
Jonas Lossl – Huddersfield Town
England
Jordan Pickford – Everton
Nick Pope – Burnley
Jack Butland – Stoke City
Harry Maguire – Leicester City
Ruben Loftus-Cheek – Crystal Palace (On loan from Chelsea)
Jamie Vardy – Leicester City
Egypt
Ahmed Hegazy – West Brom Albion
Ahmed Elmohamady – Aston Villa
Sam Morsy – Wigan Athletic
Ramadan Sobhi – Stoke City (Just moved to Huddersfield)
Iceland
Johann Gudmundsson – Burnley
Birkir Bjarnason – Aston Villa
Gylfi Sigurdarson – Everton FC
Hordur Magnusson – Bristol City
Jon Bodvarsson – Reading
Iran
Ashkan Dejagah – Nottingham Forrest
Japan
Shinji Okazaki – Leicester City
Maya Yoshida – Southampton
Mexico
Javier Hernandez – West Ham
Raul Jimenez – Wolverhampton (On Loan from Benfica)
Morocco
Romain Saiss – Wolverhampton
Nigeria
Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi – Leicester City
Kelechi Iheanacho – Leicester City
Peru
André Carrillo – Watford City (On loan from Benfica)
Poland
Jan Bednarek – Southampton
Grzegorz Krychowiak – West Brom Albion (On loan from PSG)
Kamil Grosicki – Hull City
Bartosz Bialkowski – Ipswich Town
Lukasz Fabianski – Swansea City
Portugal
Joao Mario – West Ham (On loan from Inter Milan)
Cedric – Southampton
Adrien Silva – Leicester City
Senegal
Badou Ndiaye – Stoke City
Cheikh N’Doye – Birmingham City
Cheikhou Kouyaté – West Ham
Idrissa Gueye – Everton
Alfred N’Diaye – Wolverhampton (On loan from Villarreal)
Mame Diouf – Stoke City
Serbia
Luka Milivojevic – Crystal Palace
Aleksandar Mitrovic – Fulham (On loan from Newcastle)
Dusan Tadic – Southampton
Marko Grujic – Cardiff City (On loan from Liverpool)
South Korea
Ki Sung-yueng – Swansea City
Sweden
Martin Olsson – Swansea City
Sebastian Larsson – Hull City
Pontus Jansson – Leeds United
Kristoffer Nordfeldt – Swansea City
Switzerland
Xherdan Shaqiri – Stoke City
Tunisia
Yohan Benalouane – Leicester City
Wahbi Khazri – Sunderland (On loan at Rennes)