A new analysis of World Cup squads has uncovered a startling trend: the number of players born outside their national team's borders has surged by more than 40 per cent since 2010. And at the heart of this diaspora lies an uncomfortable truth: British football's academy system has become a factory for the world, churning out talent that then slips through the national team's fingers.
Sources close to FIFA's data office confirm that of the 736 players registered for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, 173 were born in a country different from the one they represent. That is up from 121 in 2010. The pattern is most pronounced in Africa and Asia, where players born in Europe but eligible through ancestry or naturalisation now dot squads from Senegal to South Korea.
But it is the United Kingdom that stands out. The FA's vaunted youth development programmes have produced a generation of players who, for various reasons, end up wearing other jerseys. England's own loss is the world's gain. Consider: the 2022 World Cup featured 27 players born in England but representing other nations, including Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly (born in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, but of Senegalese descent) and Jordan Ayew (born in Marseille). But the numbers are higher when you tally all UK-born players: 34, including Scotland's own exported talent.
This is not a simple story of failed dual-nationality captures. It is about the globalisation of football labour and the willingness of smaller nations to scout the British lower leagues and academies. 'The academies here are second to none,' a senior scout for a European club told me. 'They produce technically sound, physically robust players. But the path to the England first team is blocked for many. So they take other routes.'
Documents obtained by this newspaper show that the FA has been aware of this trend for years. Internal memos from 2018 note the 'leakage' of talent and propose a review of eligibility rules. But little has changed. The FA's public stance is one of pride: 'We are delighted to see the impact of English football development on the global game,' a spokesperson said. But privately, sources say there is concern that England's own depth is being undermined.
The numbers bear this out. In 2010, nine players born in the UK played for other World Cup nations. In 2022, that figure is 27. That is a tripling in just twelve years. And it is not just fringe players. Some have become stars: Italy's Jorginho, born in Brazil but raised in Italy, is a cautionary tale. But he is not UK-born. The UK's exported talents are more like Wales' Ethan Ampadu (born in Exeter) or Scotland's Scott McTominay (born in Lancaster). These are players who could have played for England but chose otherwise.
The trend raises uncomfortable questions about the concentration of wealth and opportunity in global football. The Premier League's financial muscle has sucked in talent from across the world, but it has also created a glut of homegrown players who cannot get a game. The Football League, meanwhile, has become a farm system for nations with less clout. 'It's a pipeline,' a football agent said. 'Clubs here sign teenagers, develop them, then release them. Those players end up in lower leagues abroad, get capped, and suddenly they are World Cup players.'
The FA may applaud its role in spreading the beautiful game, but the numbers suggest a more complicated reality. British football is exporting talent at a rate that outstrips any other nation. And while the world benefits, England's own pool narrows. The next time a Ghanaian or Jamaican player with a British accent scores at a World Cup, remember: he might just have been developed in a system that could not keep him.
