Best and worst football locations per capita.

[chomsky89]

Both past and present. Teams and players.

An example of a player location is Salto, Uruguay. pop. 102.000. They had both Suarez and Cavani on the ballon d or shortlist one year.

A club example is Hoffenheim, Germany. Pop 3.000. Many seasons in Bundesliga.


What are some other locations/teams punching above/below their size?

And the culture matters of course. We are not saying that locations like Tokyo are punching below their weight because they have almost never had world-class players for such a massive city.

 

[V.O.]

Paramaribo, Suriname. Population 240k and produced Seedorf, Davids, Hasselbaink, Winter as well as the fathers of Gullit and Rijkaard.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Arjen Robben is from Bedum. That's like 3 houses and a church in total. So 1 in about 1000 Bedummers is as good as Robben.

 

[ggtnxbb]

On a country level - Croatia vs China / India

 

[Acrobat7]

Both past and present. Teams and players.

An example of a player location is Salto, Uruguay. pop. 102.000. They had both Suarez and Cavani on the ballon d or shortlist one year.

A club example is Hoffenheim, Germany. Pop 3.000. Many seasons in Bundesliga.


What are some other locations/teams punching above/below their size?

And the culture matters of course. We are not saying that locations like Tokyo are punching below their weight because they have almost never had world-class players for such a massive city.

It seems having a billionaire as a sugar daddy helps.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Both past and present. Teams and players.

An example of a player location is Salto, Uruguay. pop. 102.000. They had both Suarez and Cavani on the ballon d or shortlist one year.

A club example is Hoffenheim, Germany. Pop 3.000. Many seasons in Bundesliga.


What are some other locations/teams punching above/below their size?

And the culture matters of course. We are not saying that locations like Tokyo are punching below their weight because they have almost never had world-class players for such a massive city.

Jose Leandro Andrade, the star player of the great 1920's Uruguay team, and Pedro Rocha the player of the tournament at the 1967 Copa America who also won 3 Libertadores and 2 Intercontinental Cups with Penarol in the 1960's were also born in Salto.

 

[Bert_]

Not sure it counts but worth a mention anyway, Celtic won a quadruple in 1967 with a squad composed entirely of Glaswegians

 

[chomsky89]

I read once that Bergen is the only European Quarter million + city never to have a player in the top 2 leagues (Premier League/la liga)

Not sure if it is true, but you would think a 300k city where football is the most popular sport would produce at least a squad player in the top 2 leagues now and then.

 

[harms]

An example of a player location is Salto, Uruguay. pop. 102.000. They had both Suarez and Cavani on the ballon d or shortlist one year.

Uruguay itself has the best shout for the best football country per capita. 2 World Cups, 15 Copas (6 more than Brazil and Argentina just overtook them in 2024 with their 16th win) and a plethora of world class players starting from Scarone & Nasazzi (and many more) through Enzo and then up to the modern greats like Suárez, Godin & Cavani. It's not just one golden generation, which sometimes happens even in relatively small countries, they're consistently relevant despite only having what, 3,5 million of overall population?