Juventus are the club whose players have played the most number of senior international minutes in 2016. According to the CIES Football Observatory, 21 players from the Italian champions played for their senior national teams this year, totalling 157 international matches. In those games, Juventus players have played 12,454 minutes.
The Old Lady‘s first XI consists of players, almost all of whom are regular starters for their national side. Gianluigi Buffon and their back three of Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini were Antonio Conte’s first choice back three during Euro 2016. Other players like Miralem Pjanic, Gonzalo Higuain, Dani Alves and Patrice Evra have also been first-choice for their respective national teams.
Tottenham Hotspur are the first English club on the list – the Lilywhites are in second place just behind the Bianconeri, with the North London outfit’s players having played 12,009 minutes for their respective countries in 2016. For Tottenham, it was more the England players playing a lot of minutes for their country as Roy Hodgson went in to Euro 2016 with Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Kyle Walker, Dele Alli and Danny Rose all in his first-choice XI.
In the top ten, there are six English clubs, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Southampton and the two Manchester clubs giving Spurs company in the top ten. Liverpool find themselves in 14th place on the list, with their players having played 6,966 minutes.
The first club on the list from outside the famed top five European leagues is Fenerbahce, the Turkish club, who are 13th, with their players playing 7,011 minutes of international football.
The first non-UEFA club on the list is at 17th place – Thailand’s Muang Thong United. Laos’s Lao Toyota FC are not far behind at 22nd place. The two clubs have the largest contingent in their respective national teams.
Here are the top 25 clubs, in terms of the number of minutes their players have played senior international football in 2016:
| Club | Country | Players | Matches | Minutes |
| Juventus | Italy | 21 | 157 | 12,454 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | England | 19 | 155 | 12,009 |
| Barcelona | Spain | 20 | 134 | 10,802 |
| Arsenal | England | 18 | 127 | 10,034 |
| Real Madrid | Spain | 19 | 131 | 9,989 |
| Manchester United | England | 20 | 139 | 9,833 |
| Bayern Munich | Germany | 15 | 129 | 9,750 |
| Chelsea | England | 18 | 117 | 8,771 |
| Manchester City | England | 18 | 109 | 7,925 |
| Southampton | England | 13 | 95 | 7,565 |
| Atletico Madird | Spain | 17 | 104 | 7,483 |
| Inter Milan | Italy | 12 | 92 | 7,381 |
| Fenerbahce | Turkey | 18 | 94 | 7,011 |
| Liverpool | England | 22 | 106 | 6,966 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | Germany | 19 | 95 | 6,715 |
| Paris St. Germain | France | 16 | 85 | 6,693 |
| Muang Thong United | Thailand | 10 | 84 | 6,611 |
| Everton | England | 18 | 88 | 6,416 |
| West Bromwich Albion | England | 12 | 81 | 6,206 |
| Napoli | Italy | 17 | 88 | 6,158 |
| Roma | Italy | 18 | 86 | 6,121 |
| Lao Toyota | Laos | 12 | 74 | 5,809 |
| Sporting Lisbon | Portugal | 10 | 81 | 5,734 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | Ukraine | 12 | 74 | 5,718 |
| Borussia Dortmund | Germany | 19 | 84 | 5,529 |
In the top 25, Liverpool have the most players who have played international football, but it is evident that they didn’t play enough minutes – as a lot of their players like Divock Origi, Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne and Roberto Firmino are fixtures in their national squads but do not get as much playing time.
Another interesting point to note is that there is no club from the Americas in the top 50. The first club from either of the Americas are the Vancouver Whitecaps – who are at 62nd place. There is also only one club from South America in the top 100 – Bolivar FC from Bolivia. That goes to show how much of the highest quality South America has given to the European Leagues.
