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World Cup 2014 final - Germany vs Argentina: Which league has the most players in tonight's final?

Where do all the protagonists in tonight's big game play their club football?

Charles Reynolds

Monday 14 July 2014 01:56 BST

Lionel Messi and Thomas Muller have shone brightest for Argentina and Germany respectively on their way to the World Cup final (Getty Images)

The World Cup final represents the peak of the international game - after four years of waiting and then four frantic weeks of football, two nations go head to head for the ultimate prize.

LIVE: Germany vs Argentina latest

But of course international football is not the be all and end all of the game, for the majority of the the year these players are involved in the hurly burly of club football, with leagues and cups to be won.

So, I hear you cry, which league has provided the most players to tonight's final? Is it the Premier League, the self-styled 'best league in the world'?

Well, given the two finalists, the results are not at all surprising - Germany's involvement has of course propelled the Bundesliga to the top of the charts, with 16 of the 46 players involved, but who makes up the other positions?

World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Red faced

Vincent Tan, owner of relegated Cardiff City, is proved wrong again: red shirts do not increase the chances of success. Red was the most popular first-choice shirt colour in the tournament. Nine teams picked it, yet five, including big guns Spain and Portugal, failed to get out of their groups. Two more fell in the second round, and the furthest any crimson campaigners got was the quarter-finals – Ivory Coast and Belgium.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Don’t get carried away

Not for the first time at a World Cup, the number of goals (added to by Netherlands' 5-1 thrashing of Spain) in the first round sparked talk of a new record. But the group stages are no guide for the latter rounds, and the goal rush dried up once the sudden-death reality of the knockouts took hold.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Letter of advice

To succeed in these finals you needed your nation’s name to start with a letter in the first half of the alphabet, Algeria (pictured) being the most surprising. Of the 32 nations, only nine started with a letter in the latter half of the alphabet. Of those, five got through to the second round, but out of eight quarter-finalists only Netherlands represented N-Z.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Well done Jose

For Jose Mourinho to get £50 million from PSG for David Luiz looks great business. The Chelsea manager’s chief concern was always the Brazilian centre-half’s defensive ability, and the semi-final against Germany, when he effectively abandoned his post, graphically proved Mourinho’s point.

GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images

World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Spain lacked energy

Spain’s feeble performance, especially against the Netherlands, proved that at the top level age isn’t as important as freshness. Many of their players are in their prime and playing for top clubs. And it was not exactly an old team. But success can sap a player’s energy as much as age.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Europe can win away

The fact that this World Cup was only a Javier Mascherano tackle and a penalty shoot-out away from being a third successive all-European final shows the old belief that only South American teams win on that continent needs updating. It wasn’t the climate that prevented the Netherland’s best player, Arjen Robben, scoring a late winner against Argentina.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Hair cuts both ways

The jury is out on whether changing your hairstyle aids success. Ronaldo’s zig-zag didn’t help him or Portugal, while Neymar’s blond tint presaged his injury and Brazil’s 1-7 thrashing. But Argentina defender Martin Demichelis has been reborn as a player since he lost his ponytail. The newly shorn Marouane Fellaini must be hoping for the same at Old Trafford.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Messy not Messi

The “vanishing foam” may have kept defensive walls back 10 yards at free-kicks, but it did nothing to help the free-kick taker strike the ball cleanly. The ball had to be kicked through the ring of foam circling the ball, splattering it everywhere.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Money talks in Africa

Nigeria’s Stephen Keshi (above right) became the continent’s first manager to reach the second round, where there were two African teams for the first time. It should have been a landmark tournament; instead three federations got involved in financial disputes as the old problems resurfaced.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

A star is born

Given the media globalisation of the club game, it seemed rather old-fashioned to imagine a hitherto unregarded player making himself properly known at a tournament. But in this World Cup James Rodriguez (right) of Colombia has gone from the fringes of the elite to worldwide superstar.

World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Referees became softies

Allegedly on Fifa orders, so many fouls went unpunished by a book- ing for the perpetrator. The statistics also suggest leniency: 10 red cards (above) is fewer than any finals since 1986.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Fifa’s timely earner

The game’s governing body may be a “non-profit organisation”, but they are still very good at earning. That could be seen every time the sponsored watch-shaped stoppage-time board (above) was held up by the fourth official.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Corners are key

Set-pieces are supposedly the weapon of choice for weaker teams, but much of Germany’s potency derives from them. For all the squad’s talent, the key opening goals in both their quarter-final and semi-final were from corners.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Rotation is crucial

The three best-performing semi-finalists all shared one trait: they changed either formation or line-up in every match, making them very difficult to work out. It was a factor in why Argentina-Netherlands was so tense, and one explanation why Brazil fell apart. Without Neymar and Thiago Silva, they could not adapt.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Club and country

A club season is no guide to World Cup form. Steven Gerrard was immense for Liverpool, anonymous for England. On the other side of things, there is Sergio Romero . The goalkeeper only made three appearances for Monaco last season but has been one of Argentina’s stars.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Asia still minor

So much for the breakthrough of Asian football. All four teams finished bottom of their groups, without a win between them. It was so bleak that the South Korean Football Association even offered a collective bow of apology.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Oh lucky man

The records show that England had the seventh worst campaign of the 32 teams. Unlike those who outperformed him, such as Greece’s Fernando Santos and even Japan’s Alberto Zacceroni, Roy Hodgson has stayed in employment.

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World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Shoot-out kings

Argentina 1990 remain the only side to have won two shoot-outs in the same World Cup. So it was perhaps fitting that it was Alex Sabella’s side who prevented the Dutch team from emulating them (above). Argentina never looked like losing from the moment of the first penalty.

World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

Tweet tweet

The second semi-final offered a first, as Argentina tweeted their list of penalty takers. It almost felt like they were calling Louis van Gaal’s bluff. It’s hard to say whether it was a factor, but it did reflect how this World Cup has been dominated by social media.

World Cup 2014: 20 things we learned

No new balls please

Complaints about the ball have always been one of the tournament’s clichés, but not this time, with a complete absence of discussion about it. The ball is doing exactly what it is meant to, meaning attackers are more comfortable with it.

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The World Cup final by league:

Bundesliga - 16

Bayern Munich: Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, Mario Gotze.

Borussia Dortmund: Roman Weidenfeller, Kevin Grosskreutz, Mats Hummels, Erick Durm.

Hannover 96: Ron-Robert Zieler

Schalke 04: Benedikt Howedes, Julian Draxler.

SC Freiburg: Matthias Ginter

Borussia Monchengladbach: Christoph Kramer

Howedes is the only first-team regular who plays in Germany outside of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund

Serie A - 10

Internazionale: Hugo Campagnaro, Ricardo Alvarez, Rodrigo Palacio

Napoli: Federico Fernandez, Gonzalo Higuain

Catania: Mariano Andujar

Lazio: Lucas Biglia, Miroslav Klose

Sampdoria: Shkodran Mustafi

Premier League – 7

Arsenal: Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil, Lukas Podolski

Manchester City: Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Sergio Aguero

Chelsea: Andre Schurrle

Mesut Ozil is one of a growing number of German stars at Arsenal

La Liga – 5

Real Madrid: Sami Khedira, Angel Di Maria

Barcelona: Javier Mascherano, Lionel Messi

Celta Vigo: Augusto Fernandez

Khedira is the only German to play in Spain

Portuguese – 2

Benfica: Enzo Perez

Sporting: Marcos Rojo

Argentina Primera – 3

Boca Juniors: Augustin Orion, Fernando Gago

Newell's Old Boys: Maxi Rodriguez

Ligue 1 – 1

Paros Saint Germain: Maxwell

Russian Premier – 1

Zenit Saint Petersburg: Ezequiel Garay - 1

Garay joined Zenit during the World Cup campaign

Mexican League – 1

Monterrey: Jose Maria Basanta

Germany take on Argentina in the Maracana tonight at 8pm

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