For players in the Americas, is Europe still the promised land for club football?

Based on the 2016 Copa América? Short answer: Yes.

368 players who played in leagues across 47 countries made up the sixteen teams that arrived in the United States in June to compete in the Copa América Centenario.

Usually held every four years, an off-cycle tournament was planned this year to celebrate the historic 100th anniversary of the inception of the Copa America in 1916.

“The World’s Best”: The 2016 Copa América Centenario marked the 100th anniversary of the tournament

Who’s competing and how did they get there?

All ten teams from the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) were automatically included:

Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Paraguay

Peru

Uruguay

Venezuela

Six teams from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) all earned their spot in the tournament in different ways:

USA (Host Nation, qualifies automatically)

Mexico (Winners of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup)

Costa Rica (Winners of 2014 Copa Centroamericana)

Jamaica (Winners of 2014 Carribean Cup)

Haiti (Winners of Copa América Centenario qualifying play-offs)

Panama (Winners of Copa América Centenario qualifying play-offs)

The competing nations at the 2016 Copa América Centenario

Sixteen countries, divided into four groups, featuring players that spent the regular season spanning leagues as prestigious as the English Premier League to leagues as…um…new as the Indian Super League. There were even a couple players at the tournament not contracted to a club team.

At the start of the tournament, the top 10 countries where Copa America players played their club football were:

Mexico (38) England (35) U.S.A. (34) Spain (28) Brazil (19) Bolivia (18) Italy (18) Peru (18) France (17) Argentina (14)

As of the start of the tournament, 41% of all players competing at the 2016 Copa America played their club football in Europe! England, Spain, Italy, and France unsurprisingly all near the top of the charts given their leagues’ status as world leaders in both footballing talent and money.

South America and North America were responsible for 30% and 27% of the players at the tournament, respectively. The Mexican domestic leagues seemed to be a bright spot for talent in the Americas — leading all nations in representation at the tournament (albeit with a little over a third of the players representing Mexico).

Asia was a distant 4th with 8 players comprising 2% of all players competing.

A map of where all players at the 2016 Copa America play their club football

Quarterfinals

By June 15th, perennial powerhouses Brazil and Uruguay found themselves boarding planes home, having been dumped out of the tournament following disappointing showings in group stages. Joining them at the departures terminal were Bolivia, Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, and Paraguay.

12 teams moved on to compete in the quarterfinals: USA, Ecuador, Peru(!), Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela(!!), Mexico, and Chile — the reigning champions.

The number of countries where the remaining competitors plied their trade during the regular club season had dropped from 47 to 24.

The talent pools already seemed to be shrinking…or narrowing…

Unfortunately, any players previously without a team were now out of the tournament (and now really had…nothing).

As of the quarterfinals: where the remaining competitors play their club football

At this stage, the top 10 countries where the remaining players played their club football were:

Mexico (27) England (18) Spain (18) Peru (16) Italy (12) U.S.A. (12) Brazil (9) Colombia (9) Ecuador (8) Germany (8)

The top two of Mexico and England remained unchanged, but Ecuador and Peru’s progression to the Quarterfinals meant their representation at the tournament by and large stayed steady (thus rising relatively given the “homegrown” nature of their respective national teams). The Brazilian and American leagues could do nothing but sit back and watch as half of their club players exited the tournament.

Ezequiel Lavezzi of Argentina was the only player left who competed in Asia, currently playing his club football for Hebei China Fortune F.C.

European leagues’ dominant presence at the tournament continued to grow. By the quarterfinal stage, European leagues were now the home to 45% of the remaining players at the tournament. South America presence saw a slight uptick to 34% while North America were really affected by the departing teams, dropping to being the source of 21% of the players left. Ezequiel Lavezzi of Argentina was the only player left who competed in Asia, currently playing his club football for Hebei China Fortune F.C.

In the quarterfinal matches

the U.S.A. recorded an impressive victory over Ecuador to advance

Colombia had to work harder than expected to beat a scrappy Peru team on penalties

Argentina reminded Venezuela of their place on the world stage winning 4–1

and Chile embarrassed Mexico with a 7–0 rout to advance to the next round.

Semifinals

At this point, the competition had been reduced to four teams:

U.S.A. Colombia Argentina Chile

By the semifinals, (if not already), the prestige of European football is clearly evident.

As of the semifinals: where the remaining competitors play their club football

Of the 92 players on the 4 remaining teams, 49 played their club football in Europe. Over half of the remaining players were based in Europe.

The top 5 by this point, in terms of representation, were:

England (13) U.S.A. (11) Italy (10) Spain (10) Colombia (8)

The Finals

The favorites win out.

Argentina thrash the United States 4–0 and despite hours of weather delays, Chile beat Colombia 2–0.

The 2016 Copa America final now set up to be a repeat of the 2015 final where Chile beat Argentina on penalties.

What does the map look like at this point?

As of the finals: where the remaining competitors play their club football

Way less players!

Also, the influence of Europe is now impossible to miss with 65% of the players on the two finalist teams being based in Europe..

The top 5 represented countries in the remaining two teams were:

Spain (9) England (7) Italy (7) Chile (6) Argentina (4)

There’s a pretty clear pattern, here.

It is evident the best players in the world are making their way to Europe. The best teams are there. The best players on the best national teams are almost all based there. The reputation is there. The money is there.

As a footballer, is it even possible to achieve comparable success if you compete at the club level in North or South America.

Is it possible to compete with Europe on the club football stage?

I’m not so sure — but at the same time, take Argentina or Chile’s national team versus say…Spain or England.

Either way, if you want your national team to have a chance at success, your players still better be competing in Europe.