It is easy to forget, as we reflect on the successes of the various World Cup nations, that the players have been selected from the clubs where they make their living. As club football has become more international, it is revealing to consider which clubs have been most influential over the history of the World Cup. The WorldCupStory Club index is calculated on both the minutes played and goals scored of each club's players across all of the countries in the World Cup.
In first place, and therefore the most influential club in World Cup history, is Inter Milan. Juventus players have played the most number of World Cup minutes, but Inter are only about 4% behind and have a clear lead in the number of goals scored. Juve come in at number 2 and Bayern Munich complete the podium places.
Using criteria of 10,000 minutes played and 10 World Cup goals, or an equivalent score on the index, there are 31 clubs qualifying for the table below. For each of these 31 clubs, a World Cup XI dream team has been selected, as shown on each club's page.
| Rank | Club | Teams | Players | Mins | Goals | Home | Capt | Top Minutes | Most Goals | Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inter Milan | 18 | 83 | 29765 | 67 | 53% | 55 | Giuseppe Bergomi | Ronaldo | 65141 |
| 2 | Juventus | 13 | 82 | 31146 | 49 | 73% | 54 | Gaetano Scirea | Paolo Rossi / Salvatore Schillaci | 57018 |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | 12 | 57 | 27386 | 55 | 74% | 38 | Franz Beckenbauer | Gerd Müller | 56426 |
| 4 | Real Madrid | 12 | 67 | 24903 | 59 | 62% | 48 | Roberto Carlos | Davor Suker | 56055 |
| 5 | Barcelona | 12 | 84 | 25361 | 54 | 63% | 27 | Carles Puyol | Rivaldo | 53873 |
| 6 | AC Milan | 21 | 71 | 23894 | 26 | 57% | 45 | Paolo Maldini | Florin Raducioiu | 37622 |
| 7 | Penarol | 2 | 56 | 14251 | 37 | 99% | 8 | Ladislao Mazurkiewicz | Oscar Míguez | 33787 |
| 8 | Cologne | 2 | 27 | 12995 | 28 | 99% | 13 | Wolfgang Overath | Hans Schäfer | 27779 |
| 9 | Manchester United | 16 | 57 | 15927 | 21 | 47% | 21 | Bobby Charlton | Bobby Charlton | 27015 |
| 10 | Ajax | 11 | 52 | 14396 | 23 | 70% | 21 | Ruud Krol | Johan Neeskens | 26540 |
| 11 | Botafogo | 2 | 38 | 11684 | 28 | 99% | 4 | Jairzinho | Jairzinho | 26468 |
| 12 | Roma | 9 | 45 | 14165 | 20 | 49% | 14 | Cafu | Rudi Völler / Falcao | 24725 |
| 13 | Liverpool | 16 | 52 | 12949 | 18 | 45% | 14 | Steven Gerrard | Michael Owen | 22453 |
| 14 | Atletico Madrid | 9 | 37 | 7615 | 28 | 43% | 2 | Diego Forlán | Diego Forlán / Christian Vieri | 22399 |
| 15 | Arsenal | 17 | 45 | 13138 | 17 | 29% | 5 | Robin van Persie | Thierry Henry / Dennis Bergkamp | 22114 |
| 16 | PSV Eindhoven | 12 | 41 | 13425 | 15 | 51% | 6 | Phillip Cocu | Ralf Edström | 21345 |
| 17 | Vasco da Gama | 1 | 33 | 6508 | 28 | 100% | 12 | Dirceu | Ademir | 21292 |
| 18 | Honved | 2 | 24 | 6506 | 28 | 100% | 12 | József Bozsik | Sándor Kocsis | 21290 |
| 19 | Nacional | 2 | 54 | 12093 | 16 | 99% | 9 | Julio Montero Castillo | Pedro Cea | 20541 |
| 20 | Tottenham Hotspur | 16 | 49 | 11252 | 17 | 55% | 14 | Gary Lineker | Gary Lineker | 20228 |
| 21 | Benfica | 10 | 36 | 8500 | 21 | 60% | 11 | Maxi Pereira | Eusébio | 19588 |
| 22 | River Plate | 2 | 48 | 12436 | 13 | 87% | 14 | Ubaldo Fillol | Daniel Passarella / Leopoldo Luque | 19300 |
| 23 | Valencia | 9 | 37 | 8292 | 18 | 43% | 4 | Mario Kempes | Mario Kempes | 17796 |
| 24 | Hamburg | 8 | 30 | 10212 | 14 | 67% | 13 | Uwe Seeler | Uwe Seeler | 17604 |
| 25 | Flamengo | 1 | 30 | 7943 | 18 | 100% | 2 | Zico | Leônidas | 17447 |
| 26 | Monaco | 15 | 32 | 8873 | 16 | 55% | 8 | Manuel Amoros | Jürgen Klinsmann | 17321 |
| 27 | Fiorentina | 10 | 37 | 7329 | 18 | 59% | 1 | Giancarlo Antognoni | Gabriel Batistuta | 16833 |
| 28 | Chelsea | 20 | 45 | 10902 | 11 | 31% | 9 | Ricardo Carvalho | Hernán Crespo | 16710 |
| 29 | Kaiserslautern | 12 | 26 | 8166 | 15 | 65% | 6 | Fritz Walter | Miroslav Klose | 16086 |
| 30 | Everton | 14 | 29 | 8335 | 13 | 35% | 2 | John Heitinga | Gary Lineker | 15199 |
| 31 | Santos | 2 | 17 | 6024 | 17 | 100% | 17 | Pelé | Pelé | 15000 |
A note on interpretation: 83 Inter Milan players from 18 countries have played 29,765 World Cup minutes, scoring 67 goals. 53% of that playing time has been by Italian players and on 55 occasions Inter Milan players have captain their countries in World Cup matches. Of all Inter Milan players, Giuseppe Bergomi has played the most minutes and Ronaldo has scored the most goals. Overall, Inter Milan score 65,141 points on the club index.
- Inter are top on goals and captaincy
- Juventus are top on playing time
- Barcelona have had the most players selected for World Cup squads
- AC Milan players have represented the most countries
- Arsenal have the lowest playing time, 29%, by players from its home country
- each minute of Flamengo's 7,943 minutes was played by Brazilians
You can see who the World Cup stars have been for these clubs, by clicking through to their dream team pages.
Does this list or the ranking surprise you? Would you expect to see Kaiserslautern making the list, but not Werder Bremen or Borussia Dortmund? And no place for Lazio or Porto?
