The FBref portal, which deals with various surveys and statistical data, published how many representatives (players) each country has in the top 5 leagues in Europe. Senegal is at the very top of that list (10th with 51 players) surrounded by European powerhouses Portugal (9th with 60 players) and Belgium (11th with 44).The Spaniards are unrivaled, as in previous research of this kind, with 517 footballers in the strongest leagues. Then come the French (451) and the Italians (346). The fourth and fifth positions belong to the Germans (284) and the English (275). All the other countries have much fewer representatives.##EDITORS_CHOICE##For example, countries from outside Europe are led by Brazil which is the only one with over 100 players in the “top five” leagues.As far as African nations go – the western part of the continent dominates, followed by the northern African countries. Next in line after Lions of Teranga are Ivory Coast (17th with 35 players), Morocco (21st – 29), Nigeria (23rd – 28), Mali (24th – also 28) and Ghana (25th – 27).Algeria is close by (28th with 24 players), Cameroon follows (30th – 23) and then African participation on the list starts dropping significantly.Tunisia (44th with 10 players), Guinea (47th – 9) and Togo (48th – also 9) close off the top 50 section of the list.*Number of players also includes those who are official members of clubs that play in ‘top five’ European leagues but are on loan in a non-top-five league
