Stats: Which country's players played the most minutes in Champions League group stage?
The 2014/15 Champions League group stage came to a conclusion on Wednesday night and 16 teams have progressed to the knockout stages of the competition. While a majority of the teams that qualified were confirmed before matchday 6, the final match decided which teams topped their respective groups and who finished runners-up.
The Champions League has always been the main attraction for players choosing which club to play for and it has become quite evident with the number of foreign players in various top level leagues across Europe.
When you take a look at which country’s players have played the most minutes in all six matches combined, it is surprisingly not even a European country. It is the Brazilians who lead the way with a combined total of 22,659 minutes!
Spain come a close second with 21,933 minutes. Germany are way behind in third place with only 13,402 minutes. In the entire top 10, there are only eight European countries with Brazil and Argentina also in the mix.
England, with four teams in the Champions League group stage, has the least number of minutes accumulated in the top 10 with less than 6,000 minutes.
| # | COUNTRY | MINUTES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 22,659 |
| 2 | Spain | 21,933 |
| 3 | Germany | 13,402 |
| 4 | Portugal | 9,812 |
| 5 | France | 9,172 |
| 6 | Italy | 7,640 |
| 7 | Argentina | 7,384 |
| 8 | Belgium | 6,538 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 6,381 |
| 10 | England | 5,940 |
Stats from Opta