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TAIPEI, Sept. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- New research, from StubHub, has analysed the preliminary squads for the Rugby World Cup 2019 to reveal which teams have the most players from other countries and, in turn, are the most multicultural.
Rugby union is one of the most multicultural international sports, with many players choosing to play for countries other than that which they were born in, but which teams boast the most players from other countries?
The Teams
While 17 out of the 20 teams look set to feature foreign-born players, none boast as many as Samoa, with more than half (61%) of their players being born outside of the country, which makes sense when you consider the islands are home to less than 200,000 people!
The 5 Squads With The Most Nationalities
1-2. |
United States and Italy - 9 |
3. |
Ireland - 8 |
4. |
Scotland - 7 |
5. |
Japan - 5 |
The 5 Squads With The Highest % Of Foreign-Born Players
The 5 Squads With The Highest % Of Native Players
Team |
Total Players |
No. of Nationalities |
Native Players |
Native Players (%) |
Foreign-Born Players |
Foreign-Born Players (%) |
Samoa |
33 |
3 |
13 |
39% |
20 |
61% |
Tonga |
31 |
3 |
16 |
52% |
15 |
48% |
Scotland |
44 |
7 |
23 |
52% |
21 |
48% |
Japan |
31 |
6 |
17 |
55% |
14 |
45% |
United States |
50 |
9 |
29 |
58% |
21 |
42% |
Australia |
34 |
6 |
22 |
65% |
12 |
35% |
Wales |
42 |
4 |
31 |
74% |
11 |
26% |
Ireland |
44 |
8 |
33 |
75% |
11 |
25% |
Italy |
44 |
9 |
33 |
75% |
11 |
25% |
England |
38 |
6 |
29 |
76% |
9 |
24% |
France |
37 |
6 |
31 |
84% |
6 |
16% |
Canada |
31 |
4 |
27 |
87% |
4 |
13% |
New Zealand |
39 |
4 |
34 |
87% |
5 |
13% |
Fiji |
42 |
3 |
38 |
90% |
4 |
10% |
Namibia |
50 |
2 |
46 |
92% |
4 |
8% |
South Africa |
39 |
2 |
38 |
97% |
1 |
3% |
Georgia |
43 |
2 |
42 |
98% |
1 |
2% |
Argentina |
46 |
1 |
46 |
100% |
0 |
0% |
Russia |
36 |
1 |
36 |
100% |
0 |
0% |
Uruguay |
34 |
1 |
34 |
100% |
0 |
0% |
Overall |
788 |
30 |
618 |
78% |
170 |
22% |
World Cup Nationalities
Looking at the latest announced squads by each team heading to the World Cup, we see that just over one in five players (22%) at the Rugby World Cup will have been born in a country/region other than the one that they'll be representing.
While 20 nations/regions will be competing at the tournament, there'll be players from 30 different nations/regions represented, including the likes of Germany, Cameroon, Algeria and Spain.
Overall there are 788 players in the preliminary squads, with 78% of these native (618) and 22% (170) foreign-born players.
Nation/Region |
Number of Players In The World Cup |
New Zealand |
91 |
South Africa |
62 |
England |
54 |
Argentina |
48 |
Namibia |
46 |
Fiji |
45 |
Georgia |
42 |
Ireland |
40 |
Russia |
37 |
Australia |
36 |
Uruguay |
34 |
Italy |
33 |
France |
32 |
United States |
32 |
Wales |
31 |
Canada |
28 |
Tonga |
27 |
Scotland |
23 |
Japan |
17 |
Samoa |
16 |
American Samoa |
2 |
Hong Kong |
2 |
New Caledonia |
2 |
Zimbabwe |
2 |
Algeria |
1 |
Cameroon |
1 |
Germany |
1 |
Guinea |
1 |
Papua New Guinea |
1 |
Spain |
1 |
The Rules
World Rugby's eligibility rules simply state that a player can play for a country that either:
However, certain countries do impose their own eligibility rules on top of this. For example, France requires players to hold French nationality, while Australian players based overseas have to have already played seven seasons in Australia and 60 games for the national team to be eligible.
The rules have often caused controversy, with Romania initially qualifying for the World Cup, before being disqualified for fielding ineligible players.
NOTES TO EDITOR
Methodology & Sources:
Squad lists and the majority of nationality data was sourced from Wikipedia.
For the full list of data and other sources used, click here.
The most recently available squads as of July 31st were used, which were as follows:
Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190917/2582998-1LOGO?lang=0
