European clubs are the winners in global competition

Club football has becomeso internationalised that squads can be drawn from 10 or more countries. At this World Cup, England's Chelsea had representatives in six of the eight teams that made the quarter-finals, as well as several more that didn't, such as Arjen Robben's Holland. But which club's players have had the most impact on Germany 2006?

A detailed Financial Times analysis suggests that footballers from two clubs - Chelsea and Italy's Juventus - have been the most effective, with the Turin side just pipping the Londoners at the top of the pile.

The analysis took account of a range of player contributions, good and bad, such as goals scored, assists, clean sheets, red and yellow cards and interventions in penalty shoot-outs. It included all matches up to and including the semi-finals - 62 in all.

Juventus's rating reflects Italy's success in the competition, particularly the near impenetrability of an Azzurri defence including Juve's Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta. But through Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira, the club is also well represented in the squad of the other finalist, France.

Clubs whose players had biggest impact at Germany 2006

Source: FT Research
Includes all matches up to and including semi-finals

The achievement of Juventus's players in putting it at the head of this list is, of course, ironic since the club is facing relegation in the corruption scandal engulfing the Italian game. If it iscondemned next season to Serie B, or worse, many of these stars would be expected to leave.

Italy was one of only two squads in Germany (the other being Saudi Arabia) composed entirely of players from clubs from their own country. Given the national team's success in the tournament, it is not surprising to find other Italian clubs high in the FT's list.

AC Milan - the club of Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso, but also of Brazil's Dida and Kaká and Croatia's Dario Simic - is ranked fifth in the table and Internazionale - Marco Materazzi, Luís Figo, Julio Cruz - sixth. The Milan club's tally was boosted by a strong showing by Fabio Grosso, the left-back whose exquisite goal broke the deadlock in Italy's semi-final against Germany. Grosso recently joined the club from Palermo.

English clubs feature prominently in the table, with Arsenal fourth and Manchester United eighth, in addition to Chelsea. More surprising is the relatively poor showing in the competition of players from Liverpool, who scrape into the top rankings in 19th place, not very far above Merseyside rivals Everton, for whom Australia's Tim Cahill and Portugal's Nuno Valente scored well.

Host Germany's achievement in reaching the semi-finals is also reflected, with five German clubs in the top 20, headed by Bayern Munich, the club of Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger, in third place.

Another surprise is the failure of Barcelona, the European champions, to make the top 10. This was attributable in part to the disappointing tournament endured by Ronaldinho, their Brazilian playmaker. Spain's failure to build on a promising start was another factor, as was the fieryPortugal versus Holland clash that saw two Barça players dismissed in rapid succession.

Olympique Lyon's improving status in the European game was reflected in its ninth-place ranking, one of only two French clubs in the top 20. As well as several bit players in the successful French squad, its position follows good scoring by Patrick Mueller, a member of the superbly disciplined Swiss back four, and Brazil's Juninho Pernambucano.

The only non-European club in the top 20 was Ecuador's LDU Quito. This reflected the South American country's strong start in the competition, defeating Poland and Costa Rica, but also the fact that so many of the top Argentinian and Brazilian players now earn their living in Europe.

When Brazil played France in a quarter-final, the two starting elevens consisted of three players each from AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Lyon; two each from Arsenal, Marseilles, Juventus and Chelsea; and one each from Barcelonaand Germany's Bayer Leverkusen. If club sides are becoming more international, the other side of globalisation's coin is that the international game is becoming ever more Europeanised.

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