That’s how high the legionnaires’ quota is

The German national team will play the next World Cup qualifier in North Macedonia that evening. As is so often the case, the DFB team relies on a large Bayern block. The record champions are the top European club that is most heavily influenced by local players.

For years this has been the self-image of the Munich management team and can now also be statistically proven. The sports researchers at the Center International d’Etude du Sport (CIES) have examined how high the proportion of foreigners in European football is. At FC Bayern, legionnaires accounted for 38.9 percent of all game minutes on the first six match days of the Bundesliga season. Other clubs from the UEFA elite achieved values ​​of well over 50 percent in the comparable period.

Chelsea in second place in Europe

Manchester United (54.8 percent) and FC Barcelona (58 percent) are closest to Bayern. At the other end of the spectrum, on the other hand, are Manchester City (78 percent) and Atletico Madrid (77.8 percent), the champions of England and Spain. The proverbial bird shoots the Champions League winner Chelsea FC, which is only surpassed by Udinese Calcio among the 98 clubs from the five top leagues: 86.8 percent of all the games of Thomas Tuchel’s team were accounted for by legionnaires. Meanwhile, FC Bayern is not only outside the general trend in a European comparison, but also in the Bundesliga.

Only three clubs more German than FC Bayern

With Union Berlin, SC Freiburg and VfL Bochum, only three clubs have a low legionnaire quota. Last year’s runner-up, RB Leipzig, on the other hand, is among the top 10 clubs with the most games for non-local professionals with almost 80 percent in the top leagues. Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund also had a two-thirds majority for legionnaires at the start of the season. There is still only one ‘FC Deutschland’ among the top clubs in the Bundesliga.

The legionnaires quota in the first games of the season

18. Union Berlin, 25.1 percent of all game minutes played by legionnaires

17. SC Freiburg, 33.8 percent

16. VfL Bochum, 34.6 percent

15. FC Bayern, 38.9 percent

14. SpVgg Greuther Fürth, 40.3 percent

13. Hertha BSC, 44.4 percent

12. VfB Stuttgart, 46.2 percent

11. FSV Mainz 05, 49.8 percent

10. 1. FC Cologne, 50.3 percent

9. TSG Hoffenheim, 51.3 percent

8. Borussia Mönchengladbach, 53.6 percent

7. Arminia Bielefeld, 60.5 percent

6. FC Augsburg, 61.9 percent

5. VfL Wolfsburg, 64.9 percent

4. Borussia Dortmund, 68.0 percent

3. Bayer Leverkusen, 71.1 percent

2. Eintracht Frankfurt, 72.4 percent

1. RB Leipzig, 79.1 percent

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