The Spanish club Barcelona entered the history of the World Cup football tournaments, after Luis Enrique, coach of the Spanish national team, decided to include left-back Alejandro Balde in the “La Roja” list in the World Cup Qatar 2022, to succeed the injured Jose Gaia.
Enrique Gaia was excluded from the squad in Doha as a result of his right ankle injury, according to what the Spanish Federation announced, to be replaced by young Barcelona player Baldi.
17 players from Barcelona in the World Cup in Qatar
My country became the 17th player from Barcelona to participate in the 2022 World Cup, which is a world record, as no previous version witnessed the presence of this number of one team during the competitions.
With the announcement of the official lists of the World Cup in Qatar, the German team Bayern Munich was the most represented team with 17 of its players in the World Cup, but the injury of its Senegalese star Sadio Mane reduced the number to 16.
🔥 ¡Primer equipo with 17 convocados in una misma edición in toda the history of the Copa del Mundo!
🤯#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/N7flnQKYvr
- FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) November 18, 2022
On the other hand, there were 16 players from Barcelona, the same number of players from Manchester City, England, but the entry of my country after Gaia's injury made the Catalan team at the forefront of the most represented clubs in the World Cup in Qatar.
Barcelona players are divided into 8 teams: Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay, Poland, Brazil and Denmark.
Spain's national team list includes 8 Blaugrana players: Jordi Alba, Eric Garcia, Sergio Busquets, Pedri, Gavi, Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, and Baldi.
As for the rest of the players, they came as follows: Jules Conde and Osman Dembele (France), Frenkie de Young and Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Mark Ter Stegen (Germany), Ronald Araujo (Uruguay), Andreas Christensen (Denmark), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Ravenha (Brazil).
The news of Gaia's exclusion and replacement by Baldi comes 5 days before Spain's first match in the Qatar Finals against Costa Rica, in Group E, which also includes Germany and Japan.
Any team has the right to amend the 26-man squad for the finals 24 hours before the date of the first match.
And Barcelona can reap the largest share of the money allocated to clubs during the 2022 World Cup, under the “Club Benefits” program, according to which about $ 209 million is distributed to all teams represented by players during the World Cup.
FIFA stated - through its official website - that it will pay compensation to the clubs for every day that their players stayed during the tournament matches, including the preparatory period that precedes the start of the World Cup.
How is each club's share calculated?
FIFA looks at the number of players participating in the World Cup from each club, and the number of days each player spends in the World Cup, and Nekho pays $8,530 per player per day.
The International Federation of Football Associations begins to calculate the period, two weeks before the opening match, until the day after the player’s departure, after his country’s national team has been eliminated from the finals.
FIFA does not require the player to participate with his country’s national team in the World Cup. Once he is selected in the final list of the national team, the club is entitled to obtain this money.
The money is initially transferred to the club’s local federation, and then entered into its account after the World Cup.