Group F players in the 2022-23 Champions League

[Obinna]

I took the 4 teams in our group (including us) and searched who is playing Champions League heading into the World Cup. On some level this is meaningless (obviously), but it was interesting to see how things panned out. For example, I was a little surprised to see Croatia will have more players in the competition than Belgium. It's also worth noting that Belgium and Croatia have a club who will compete in the competition, so that ups the numbers. Brugge specifically accounts for 40% of our players in the competition, funny enough.

Anyway, this is just for fun. My cut off was players who've been called to their respective national teams in the past 12 months, according to wiki. Also, note that I have put an asterik next to Arfield and Ziyech as both have technically retired from international duty, despite segments from Canadian and Moroccan fan bases surely hoping for them to reverse course and make themselves available for World Cup selection.

Feel free to discuss or make corrections, if necessary. 

...And Without further Ado:

 

Canada (5)

Davies - Bayern

Eustaquio - Porto

Buchanan - Club Brugge

Larin - Club Brugge

*Arfield - Rangers

Morocco (7)

Bounou - Sevilla

El Hadadi - Sevilla

En-Nesyri - Sevilla

Taarabat - Benfica

Mazraoui - Bayern

Hakimi - PSG

*Ziyech - Chelsea

Croatia (19)

Stanisic - Bayern

Caleta-Car - Marseille

Livakovic - Dinamo Zagreb 

Sutalo - Dinamo Zagreb 

Juranovic - Celtic

Barisic - Rangers

Kovacic - Chelsea

Brozovic - Inter

Modric - Real Madrid

Sucic - Red Bull Salzburg

Jakic - Eintracht Frankfurt

Ivanusec - Dinamo Zagreb

Orsic - Dinamo Zagreb

Grbic - Atletico Madrid

Musa - Benfica

Perisic - Tottenham

Colak - Rangers

Gvardiol - Red Bull Leipzig

Petkovic - Dinamo Zagreb

Belgium (17)

Batshuayi - Chelsea

Hazard - Dortmund

Hazard - Real Madrid

Lukaku - Inter

De Ketelaere - Milan

Witzel - Atletico Madrid

Saelemaekers - Milan

Vanaken - Club Brugge

Mechele - Club Brugge

Vertonghen - Benfica

Mignolet - Club Brugge

Meunier - Dortmund

Boyata - Club Brugge

De Bruyne - Manchester City

Origi - Milan

Carrasco - Atletico Madrid

Courtois - Real Madrid

Edited August 26, 2022 by Obinna

[Kadenge]

Borjan should have made it 6 if only Red Star didn't blow it vs Haifa. Although a good showing by Canada the number of CL players on the other 3 teams is an indication of how daunting Canada's group is. Top 5 league players on the other 3 teams as well.

[Blondo]

KDB and Courtois also were 2 of the 3 podium places in the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award that was given out (to Benzema) after the draw.

IIRC KDB said a few months ago that Benzema deserved to win it and, sorta tongue in cheek, Van Gaal added that Noa Lang had a better shot at winning the award as KDB is a midfielder (according to Van Gaal KDB was the player of the year).