No Real Madrid Players in Spain's Squad
A Spanish first, with comparisons to Scotland’s World Cup squads
For the first time in World Cup history, the Spain squad will not feature a Real Madrid player. This will be Spain’s 17th World Cup appearance, across the tournament’s 23 editions, although that figure might have been higher had the Spanish Civil War not have blocked their entry in 1938.
Spain are one of only eight nations to have won the World Cup, having lifted the trophy in 2010. That side was arguably the best squad in the world, and included five Real Madrid players: Iker Casillas, Raúl Albiol, Sergio Ramos, Álvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso.
Real Madrid have had a poor season, finishing eight points adrift of champions Barcelona and ending the campaign without a trophy. As a result, Los Blancos have agreed a deal to bring José Mourinho back to the Bernabéu on a two-year contract this summer.
That difficult club campaign has coincided with no place in the Spain squad for Dani Carvajal, Dean Huijsen, Álvaro Carreras or Gonzalo García. There will still be Real Madrid players in action at the World Cup, just none for Spain. The club has seven representatives across six nations, including France’s Kylian Mbappé, England’s Jude Bellingham and Scotland’s next tormentor, Brazilian superstar Vinícius Júnior.
This summer’s tournament may make for less enjoyable viewing for patriotic Real Madrid fans, given the club’s long association with the Spanish national team. It will sting even more that eight members of the Spain squad come from Madrid’s great rivals, Barcelona.
Most Represented Clubs
Barcelona’s eight players are the largest representation from any single club in any squad at this World Cup, ahead of the seven Bayern Munich players named in Germany’s squad. Eight is around the usual level for the most-represented club within a World Cup squad, although the high of 13 occurred only four years ago: at the last World Cup, half of Qatar’s squad came from Al-Sadd.
Scotland’s Equivalent
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Scotland's Coefficient to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.