World Cup 2022: Virgil van Dijk tops list of outfield minutes in 2022 by World Cup players
- Published
Captain Harry Kane has played more minutes (4,380) in 2022 than anyone else in the England squad
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Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk has played more minutes in 2022 than any outfield player at the World Cup, says research group CIES Football Observatory.
The Netherlands centre-back has played 5,160 minutes this year - second only to Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan.
Harry Kane (4,830) has had the most minutes of any England player; Brennan Johnson (4,101) leads in Wales' squad.
Footballers union Fifpro said earlier this month that players are being "pushed past acceptable limits".
The CIES Football Observatory study, external ranked each country at the finals by the average number of minutes played by members of their squad in 2022 before the World Cup started. It focused only on players who had featured in the first round of group games in Qatar - from 20-24 November.
Team (top eight) | Minutes (average) | Highest | Minutes | Lowest | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portugal | 3,378 | Joao Cancelo | 4,468 | Joao Felix | 2,205 |
Brazil | 3,329 | Alisson Becker | 5,070 | Fred Rodrigues | 2,199 |
Mexico | 3,258 | Guillermo Ochoa | 4,590 | Hirving Lozano | 2,089 |
Germany | 3,216 | Joshua Kimmich | 4,424 | Youssoufa Moukoko | 1,667 |
Croatia | 3,181 | Dominik Livakovic | 4,920 | Dejan Lovren | 1,544 |
Netherlands | 3,168 | Virgil van Dijk | 5,160 | Memphis Depay | 1,166 |
England | 3,149 | Harry Kane | 4,830 | Callum Wilson | 997 |
France | 3,131 | Hugo Lloris | 4,350 | Ibrahima Konate | 2,094 |
Of the 32 countries at the finals in Qatar, 10 had a player with the highest number of minutes who had featured in the Premier League in 2022.
As well as England and Wales, they included Portugal (with Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo), Brazil (Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson), France (Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris) and Spain (Manchester City midfielder Rodri).
Also on that list were Denmark (with Nice's former Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel), Ghana (Leicester defender Daniel Amartey), and Senegal (Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy).
Canada goalkeeper Borjan, who plays club football in Serbia for Red Star Belgrade, had clocked up the most minutes of any World Cup player in 2022 with 5,430.
The fact that Liverpool's Van Dijk and Alisson had played more minutes than their World Cup team-mates in 2022 followed the club's run to the finals of last season's EFL Cup, FA Cup and Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp's side have also reached the fourth round of the EFL Cup this season, as well as the last 16 of the Champions League, after the early rounds of the cup competitions were squeezed into an already tight schedule.
Concerns were raised about the number of matches Premier League clubs were being expected to play over a short time period in the run up to the World Cup, following a spate of injuries to high profile players.
Chelsea defenders Reece James and Ben Chilwell were ruled out of the England squad with injury, as was Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
A report by players' union Fifpro earlier in November said an "unsustainable" workload placed on players in the run up to the Qatar World Cup had risked damaging players' physical and mental health and put their "career longevity at risk".
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