This weekend has been a celebration of the English Premier Leagues's opening fixtures. One reason some of us love this league is how the list of its players span the globe - the world nature of the world's game is well-represented indeed.
Ollie Williams at the BBC has prepared a wonderful article that displays how the clubs in this season's English Premier League have changed over the last 20 years in their makeup of foreign vs UK players.
For two different league seasons, data are used to compare the number of foreign-born players with the number of players born in the UK. This comparison is done with the current (2009-10) season and the 1989-90 season rosters.
There is an interactive world map that displays the data of your choice. For example, if you choose Liverpool, you can see the location on the world map of where each of the current Liverpool players were born (not their current nationality) and also where the Liverpool squad members of 1989-90 were born. You can do this for each of the 20 clubs currently in the premier league. You can also show a map for the league clubs combined for both seasons.
The interactive makeup of the article really makes a difference.
Below are the simple numbers used in the interactive map.
Make of it what you will – it's all right there.
Nice job, Beeb.
Table of Current English Premier Clubs Showing UK vs Foreign-born Players: 1989-90 and 2009-10
(Clubs are listed in order of highest to lowest foreign-born component this season)
| 1989-90 | 2009-10 | |||||
| UK | Abr | %Abr | UK | Abr | %Abr | |
| Arsenal | 19 | 2 | 10% | 4 | 23 | 85% |
| Liverpool | 18 | 5 | 22% | 4 | 20 | 83% |
| Chelsea | 19 | 4 | 17% | 6 | 17 | 74% |
| Blackburn Rovers | 20 | 1 | 5% | 7 | 18 | 72% |
| Manchester City | 20 | 1 | 5% | 7 | 16 | 70% |
| Fulham | 21 | 1 | 5% | 8 | 16 | 67% |
| Portsmouth | 21 | 0 | 0% | 9 | 15 | 63% |
| Wigan Athletic | 19 | 0 | 0% | 9 | 14 | 61% |
| Manchester United | 20 | 1 | 5% | 11 | 17 | 61% |
| Bolton Wanderers | 19 | 1 | 5% | 13 | 12 | 48% |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 22 | 4 | 15% | 13 | 12 | 48% |
| Sunderland | 21 | 1 | 5% | 14 | 12 | 46% |
| Everton | 17 | 3 | 15% | 12 | 10 | 45% |
| Hull City | 20 | 3 | 13% | 14 | 11 | 44% |
| West Ham United | 21 | 1 | 5% | 12 | 9 | 43% |
| Aston Villa | 19 | 3 | 14% | 18 | 12 | 40% |
| Birmingham City | 19 | 0 | 0% | 18 | 9 | 33% |
| Stoke City | 21 | 1 | 5% | 16 | 8 | 33% |
| Burnley | 20 | 0 | 0% | 16 | 7 | 30% |
| Wolverhamption | 18 | 2 | 10% | 20 | 8 | 29% |
| TOTALS | 394 | 34 | 8% | 231 | 266 | 54% |
UK = number of players born in the United Kingdom.
Abr = number of players born outside the United Kingdom.
%Abr = percentage of the total number of players born outside the United Kingdom.
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