Laura Melissa Alfonso Florido Number of players who played in previous FIFA World Cups In total, 235 of the players competing in this edition were also called up for least one previous FIFA World CupTM, even if not all of them played. Spain account for the most veterans with 16, followed by Uruguay with 15, Cameroon on 13 and Portugal and Switzerland with 12 apiece. Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon was an unused substitute at USA 1994 at the age of 20, before nine of the total 736 players at this year’s World Cup were even born. Mondragon also took part in the 1998 tournament, along with Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o and Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon (although the Azzurri goalkeeper didn’t take to the field in that campaign). Seventeen players in this edition were previously selected for the 2002 finals, although they don’t include anyone from the Brazil team that won the title that year. Three of those 17 players are making their return to the global showpiece after an absence of 12 years, namely Walter Ayovi of Ecuador (who hasn’t actually played in the event yet), Russia’s Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Belgium’s Daniel Van Buyten. Over ten per cent of the footballers participating in Brazil were also on the roster at Germany 2006 and more than a quarter (28.3 per cent) took part in the South African finals four years ago. Www.fifa
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 22:52:55 +0000
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