The proliferation of foreign players in the Premier League is an often covered subject on radio phone-ins and blogs like this one. I thought rather than offering the same glib observations on foreign players in the 'English game' I'd offer some facts on the number of non-English (and non-British) players who currently ply their trade in the Premier League today (or to be more specific last season).

The proliferation of foreign players in the Premier League is an often covered subject on radio phone-ins and blogs like this one. I thought rather than offering the same glib observations on foreign players in the 'English game' I'd offer some facts on the number of non-English (and non-British) players who currently ply their trade in the Premier League today (or to be more specific last season).

Who imports soccer players? Turns out, the leagues most dependent on foreign labor aren't necessarily the obvious ones. Here's a nifty graph from The Economist, showing the percentages and absolute numbers of foreign players in each league. These data come from a report released by the Professional Football Players Observatory, an academic research group.