Euro 2008 - Premier League players fail to shine

Eurosport - Tue, 24 Jun 13:09:00 2008

Some may well view the Premier League as the best league in the world, but if Euro 2008 is anything to go by, it still has some way to go.

FOOTBALL 2008 Euro 2008 Turkey Tuncay Sanli - 0

The English top flight is famed for its ability to attract the best players from around the world but while they may shine for their club sides, the vast majority of Premier League players have failed to propel their countries to success in Austria and Switzerland.

Out of the 48 players who started the competition as Premier League players, just eight remain on active duty at the semi-final stage. And of those eight, just four are classed as starters - Michael Ballack, Fernando Torres, Emre and Tuncay (pictured).

But while 'England's finest' are seriously under-represented in the final stages of the tournament, the same cannot be said for some of the rather more unfashionable European leagues.

The German, Turkish and Russian leagues contribute a total of 63 players in the semi-final nations' squads with a further 21 provided by Spain's Liga. France's Ligue 1 has one sole representative in the final four - Turkey's Mevlut Erdinc who plays for Sochaux.

Perhaps it is time to start reassessing where the power actually lies in European football.

Premier League players still in action at Euro 2008:

SPAIN: Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Fernando Torres (Liverpool) GERMAN: Michael Ballack (Chelsea) TURKEY: Emre Belozoglu (Newcastle United), Tuncay Sanli (Middlesbrough)

And those who have already returned home:

FRANCE: William Gallas (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Chelsea) AUSTRIA: Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough) CROATIA: Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Luka Modric (Tottenham Hotspur), Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth) CZECH REPUBLIC: Petr Cech (Chelsea), Marek Matejovsky (Reading), Milan Baros (Portsmouth) GREECE: Giorgos Samaras (Celtic), Stelios Giannakopoulos (Bolton Wanderers - released) NETHERLANDS: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa), Mario Melchiot (Wigan Athletic), Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic) POLAND: Artur Boruc (Celtic), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal), Marek Saganowski (Southampton) PORTUGAL: Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Nani (Manchester United) SWEDEN: Andreas Isaksson (Manchester City), Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa - leaves July 1), Fredrik Ljungberg (West Ham United), Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City) SWITZERLAND: Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Johan Djourou (Arsenal), Gelson Fernandes (Manchester City)

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 6 of 6

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

  1. Football as a mans sport ceased many years ago. We Englishmen should go back to play the game as it used to be played. 11 players to start on each side and if any injuries happen the side carries on with ten men. For the European and World Cup games we could enter a woman's team because the modern game has become to soft for real men. REAL FOOTBALL SUPPORTER.

    From shirleyandbob425, on Tue 24 Jun 5:03PM

  2. This is just proof that 1 or 2 players don`t win a game but a complete team is what wins , regardless of the league...be it German , english ,russian, etc....

    From kaidrei3@ymail.com, on Tue 24 Jun 4:39PM

  3. these are stupid standings... who cares how many premier league players there are... the fact is that the premier league is the strongest in the world, and has the most atractive football to watch, some persons just can't stand that and are doing bullshit standings... ,champions league is the most important competition in the world, and the numbers speak for themselves, not euro, and CL has been dominated lately by english teams. and this comes from a romanian fan... football between nations is overrated. and FIFA and UEFA trying to impose those silly rules of 5+6 or 6+5 whatever are like the comunists. trying to control what shouldn't be controlled that's silly. i HOPE some day football will be at peace and evolve in its own rhytm. england have a lot of good players yet they failed to qualify for euros because they were not capable not because of the foreigners... football should remain as it is , the beautiful game of today

    From First L, on Tue 24 Jun 3:06PM

  4. should we really judge the premier league on the basis of how many players we have in the euro semis. the logic is duff, of course turkey/german/russian/spanish has loads of players represented, their still there. if england were there we would have 20+ players. plus how much can be proven in 4 games.

    From alificomc, on Tue 24 Jun 2:59PM

  5. lest we forget the fact that Englan itself is not even competing. The list above should be a LOT longer. It is why the Premiership is not, top to bottom, the best league. YES, it has 4 of the worlds best clubs, but from the 6 spot down it's pretty dire stuff.

    I think any team in EPL from 6 below would struggle in La Liga to stay up.

    From Jeffrey C, on Tue 24 Jun 2:32PM

  6. If Benitez was not in charge in Premier League, there would not even that much PL players in the semi-finals.

    From elgun1903, on Tue 24 Jun 2:26PM
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account