# Quick World Cup Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 15, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880 "2006-06-15T23:56:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/1 "2006-06-15T23:56:16Z")
The teams…are they composed of the best players from each country, or are the teams competing in the World Cup a team that beat other teams in their home country.
For instance, is the German team composed of best soccer players from all the German teams, or are they all from one team that got to represent Germany by beating all the other German national teams?
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### Author:  [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/2 "2006-06-16T00:02:06Z")
> [@DMark](#):
>
> The teams…are they composed of the best players from each country, or are the teams competing in the World Cup a team that beat other teams in their home country.
>
> For instance, is the German team composed of best soccer players from all the German teams, or are they all from one team that got to represent Germany by beating all the other German national teams?
No the coach for each national team selects what he feels are the best players for the World Cup squad.
The team isn’t set in stone either. During qualifying, the coach calls many different players up to give them a look. Then, before the cup he assembles his team for the tournament. The guys do not have to play in Germany for their professional team, they only need to be German citizens.
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/3 "2006-06-16T00:08:30Z")
Just to make it clear, the teams aren’t made up from players from the league sides of that country, but by players of that nationality. Thierry Henry, for example, plays for Arsenal, a team in the English leagues, but in the World Cup he’s in the France squad, since he’s french.
Sorry if that was obvious, but I couldn’t tell from your post whether you knew that.
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### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/4 "2006-06-16T03:26:45Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#):
>
> Just to make it clear, the teams aren’t made up from players from the league sides of that country, but by players of that nationality. Thierry Henry, for example, plays for Arsenal, a team in the English leagues, but in the World Cup he’s in the France squad, since he’s french.
>
> Sorry if that was obvious, but I couldn’t tell from your post whether you knew that.
No, it wasn’t obvious. I thought it was like - for instance, the Yankees win the World Series and then would go on to play the rest of the world in a big baseball finals. But you are saying for the world (cup) finals, they would pick the best baseball players in the US, regardless of which team they normally play for, and create a “new” team of Americans to play for the big finale.
Thanks for the info!
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/5 "2006-06-16T04:08:46Z")
In fact, most if not all teams contain players from the big European leagues. E.g. Drogba, of Chelsea, is at the World Cup playing for the Ivory Coast. And the majority of the Trinidad & Tobago team are British-born players of Trinidadian origin (it’s not necessarily about nationality, but also about parentage).
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/6 "2006-06-16T06:10:25Z")
> [@DMark](#):
>
> But you are saying for the world (cup) finals, they would pick the best baseball players in the US, regardless of which team they normally play for, and create a “new” team of Americans to play for the big finale.
No, he’s saying they’d pick the best American (in nationality) baseball players regardless of whether they are currently playing for a US, Canadian, Japanese, or other team. So not "in the US’, but “from the US”.
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### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/7 "2006-06-16T06:57:11Z")
In fact, in the US, the MLS (pro soccer league) is still playing games during the World Cup, even though some of their players are missing. I believe about half the players on the US team come from MLS (the rest are good enough to play in other (European) leagues).
The MLS, unlike most of the world’s leagues, runs during the summer at the moment. This is largely due to the lack of dedicated stadiums. In some cities, they’re using the (American) football stadiums for their games (the NFL runs from September-January). There are plans (and pressure from FIFA ) to change this, with dedicated stadiums or new leasing agreements in the next few years. Most likely, the MLS won’t be playing during the next World Cup (whether or not the USA qualifies).
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### Author:  [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/8 "2006-06-16T09:41:31Z")
> [@panamajack](#):
>
> The MLS, unlike most of the world’s leagues, runs during the summer at the moment. This is largely due to the lack of dedicated stadiums. In some cities, they’re using the (American) football stadiums for their games (the NFL runs from September-January). There are plans (and pressure from FIFA ) to change this, with dedicated stadiums or new leasing agreements in the next few years. Most likely, the MLS won’t be playing during the next World Cup (whether or not the USA qualifies).
Doesn’t MLS rather than the clubs “own” the players too?
My friend was trying to explain the US transfer system to me, but I was too drunk to understand at the time.
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/9 "2006-06-16T10:16:26Z")
> [@DMark](#):
>
> I thought it was like - for instance, the Yankees win the World Series and then would go on to play the rest of the world in a big baseball finals.
The closing thing to a tournament like that is the on-again/off-again Club World Championship, which FIFA have been trying to foster interest in for a few years, with little success so far. In 2005 it resurfaced as an annual knockout tournament involving the champion teams of each regional federation. South American champions Sao Paulo won, for what it’s worth, which isn’t much.
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/10 "2006-06-16T17:32:09Z")
> [@Szlater](#):
>
> Doesn’t MLS rather than the clubs “own” the players too?
>
> My friend was trying to explain the US transfer system to me, but I was too drunk to understand at the time.
MLS holds all the player contracts, yes, and so trades inside the league are determined by the league office. European teams wishing to acquire an MLS player are required to negotiate with the league office.
There are also limits on the number of foreign-born players each team may have on its roster.
[http://experts.about.com/q/Professional-Soccer-European-1848/Differences-MLS-EPL-operations.htm](http://experts.about.com/q/Professional-Soccer-European-1848/Differences-MLS-EPL-operations.htm)
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### Author:  [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/11 "2006-06-16T17:52:48Z")
> [@brianjedi](#):
>
> MLS holds all the player contracts, yes, and so trades inside the league are determined by the league office. European teams wishing to acquire an MLS player are required to negotiate with the league office.
>
> There are also limits on the number of foreign-born players each team may have on its roster.
>
> [Dotdash](http://experts.about.com/q/Professional-Soccer-European-1848/Differences-MLS-EPL-operations.htm)
Who gets the transfer fees?
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-world-cup-question/360880/12 "2006-06-16T18:37:13Z")
> [@Szlater](#):
>
> Who gets the transfer fees?
My guess would be that they’re equally distributed among the teams, but I don’t know for sure.