World Cup 2022 had largest number of foreign born players- report

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar had the largest share of foreign-born players in the tournament’s history International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has revealed.

Approximately 137 of the 830 players, which is about 17 per cent of all the players were representing countries in which they were not born.

Countries such as Morocco and Qatar had the highest number of foreign-born players while across European national teams, of players who were not foreign-born, many were of African descent.

According to IOM, the Dubai tournament highlighted some of the benefits of migration with many players of West African descent, for example, proving critical to national teams in Europe.

“National teams across the world comprise players of diverse backgrounds, including players representing countries in which they were not born, and others who are children of migrants,” the agency said in its 2024 World Migration Report.

“Several star players on the French team, including Kylian Mbappé (pictured) and Paul Pogba, have family links to the West Africa sub-region.”

Migration agency

However, the United Nations migration agency cautioned that for the vast majority of young people in the sub-region with the desire to play football in Europe, the opportunities to migrate and successfully join football clubs in regions such as Europe are extremely limited.

IOM said that for most, their aspirations are often fraught with significant risks and dangers.

“Migrant smugglers and traffickers can take advantage of their dreams to play in big leagues in Europe, luring thousands from the sub-region with false hopes of becoming professional footballers.

“Often masquerading as football agents, they charge large sums of money to facilitate their journeys to Europe, only to abandon them upon arrival; other such migrants end up as victims of forced labour or sexual exploitation, among other abuses and violations,” the report indicated.