Only 8 teams at the 2026 World Cup have no foreign-born players in their squads

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature 48 national teams, and the tournament is already interesting not only from a sporting point of view, but also from a statistical one. One of the most curious indicators is the birthplace of the players included in the national team squads.

According to the presented statistics, only eight teams participating in the 2026 World Cup have squads in which every player was born in the country they represent. These teams are Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Panama, Brazil, Colombia, Austria, Czechia and Sweden.

That means only 8 of the 48 World Cup participants do not have any players in their squad who were born outside their country. The remaining teams, to varying degrees, rely on footballers who were born abroad but are eligible to represent the national team through origin, citizenship, family roots or other circumstances.

The situation with the Netherlands is particularly interesting. Formally, the Dutch team could be left out of the list of sides with a fully “local-born” squad, as midfielder Guus Til was born in Zambia. However, in his case it is more of a technical detail: the footballer was born there because of his father’s work, and by the age of three he was already living in the Netherlands, where he grew up and developed as a player.

One of the clearest examples of the opposite situation is Curaçao. Almost the entire squad of this team was born in the Netherlands: 25 players were born there. The only player born directly on the territory of the island nation is Tahith Chong, who was born in Curaçao’s capital, Willemstad.

This statistic clearly shows how global modern football has become. For many national teams, diaspora players have long been an important part of the squad. This is especially noticeable among countries with a long history of migration, former colonial ties or large diaspora communities in Europe.

The 2026 World Cup will be held in a new format with 48 teams, and details like this make the tournament even more interesting. Beyond the sporting battle, it will also show how much the very concept of a national team has changed in modern football.