List of foreign Premier League players

This is a list of foreign players in the Premier League, which commenced play in 1992. The following players must meet both of the following two criteria:

  1. Have played at least one Premier League game. Players who were signed by Premier League clubs, but only played in lower league, cup and/or European games, or did not play in any competitive games at all, are not included.
  2. Are considered foreign, i.e., outside the United Kingdom determined by the following:
A player is considered foreign if his allegiance is not to play for the national teams of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

More specifically,

  • If a player has been capped at international level, the national team is used; if he has been capped by more than one country, the highest level (or the most recent) team is used. These include British players with dual citizenship.
  • If a player has not been capped at international level, his country of birth is used, except those who were born abroad from British parents or moved to the United Kingdom at a young age, and those who clearly indicated to have switched his nationality to another nation.

Clubs listed are those for which the player has played at least one Premier League game – and seasons are those in which the player has played at least one Premier League game. Note that seasons, not calendar years, are used. For example, "1992–95" indicates that the player has played in every season from 1992–93 to 1994–95, but not necessarily every calendar year from 1992 to 1995. Therefore, a player should always have a listing under at least two years – for instance, a player making his debut in 2011, during the 2011–12 season, will have '2011–12' after his name. This follows general practice in expressing sporting seasons in the UK.

111 of the 207 foreign FIFA-affiliated nations have been represented in the Premier League. On 1 February 2020, Tanzania became the most recent country to be represented, with Mbwana Samatta making his league debut for Aston Villa against Bournemouth.

In bold: players who have played at least one Premier League game in the current season (2020–21), and are still at a club for which they have played. This does not include current players of a Premier League club who have not played a Premier League game in the current season.

Details correct as of 3 February 2021

Albania

Algeria

Riyad Mahrez was voted PFA Player of the Year after helping Leicester win the title in 2016

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Carlos Tevez won the Premier League at Manchester United and Manchester City
Sergio Agüero has won four Premier League titles with Manchester City, and is the highest scoring foreign player in Premier League history

Armenia

Australia

Mark Schwarzer is the only player from outside the United Kingdom to play over 500 Premier League matches

Austria

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Vincent Kompany captained Manchester City to win the Premier League title in 2012, earning him the accolade of Player of the Season
Eden Hazard was voted the Player of the Season after helping Chelsea to the Premier League title in 2015

Benin

Bermuda

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brazil

Edu was a member of the Arsenal "Invincibles" team which won the Premier League in 2004
Anderson won four Premier League titles with Manchester United
Rafael won three Premier League titles with Manchester United

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Geremi won two consecutive Premier League titles with Chelsea

Canada

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chile

China PR

Colombia

Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Curaçao

Until 2010 Netherlands Antilles

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Until 1992 Czechoslovakia

Petr Čech won four Premier League titles with Chelsea and holds the most Premier League clean sheets

Denmark

Peter Schmeichel won 5 Premier League titles with Manchester United and is the only goalkeeper to be voted Player of the Season

DR Congo

Ecuador

Antonio Valencia won the Premier League twice with Manchester United

Egypt

In 2017–18, Mohamed Salah won the PFA Players' Player of the Year and was the top scorer with a record breaking 32 goals.

Equatorial Guinea

Estonia

Faroe Islands

Finland

France

With 175 goals, all for Arsenal, Thierry Henry is the second highest-scoring foreign player in Premier League history
Nicolas Anelka won the Premier League at Arsenal and Chelsea
Gaël Clichy has won the Premier League with Arsenal and Manchester City. His part in Arsenal's 2004 triumph made him the youngest player with a winner's medal, a record now held by Phil Foden
Patrice Evra won the Premier League five times with Manchester United

Gabon

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the joint-top goalscorer in the Premier League in 2018–19, scoring 22 goals for Arsenal.

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Jens Lehmann, goalkeeper for Arsenal during their undefeated season in 2003–04
André Schürrle won the Premier League with Chelsea

Ghana

Michael Essien won the Premier League twice with Chelsea

Gibraltar

Greece

Grenada

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

Iran

Israel

Italy

Mario Balotelli won the Premier league with Manchester City in 2012.

Ivory Coast

Didier Drogba scored 104 Premier League goals, the most by any African player, winning four league titles for Chelsea.

Jamaica

Wes Morgan captained Leicester's title-winning team in 2016

Japan

Kenya

Korea Republic

Park Ji-Sung won the Premier League four times with Manchester United

Kosovo

Latvia

Liberia

Lithuania

Mali

Malta

Mexico

Javier Hernández won the Premier League twice with Manchester United

Montenegro

Montserrat

Morocco

Netherlands

Edwin van der Sar is the holder of the record for the longest Premier League clean sheet streak, while playing for Manchester United
Robin van Persie was Premier League top scorer in two consecutive seasons for two different clubs – Arsenal and Manchester United
Ruud van Nistelrooy was the top scorer and Player of the Season in 2002–03

New Zealand

Nigeria

John Obi Mikel has won two Premier League titles for Chelsea

North Macedonia

Until 2019 named Republic of Macedonia

Norway

Ole Gunnar Solskjær won 6 Premier League titles for Manchester United, a record for a player from outside the British Isles

Oman

Pakistan

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo won a hat-trick of Premier League titles with Manchester United, was twice voted Player of the Season and is the only player to win the FIFA World Player of the Year while playing in the Premier League.
Ricardo Carvalho won three Premier League titles with Chelsea

Republic of Ireland

Roy Keane won seven Premier League titles with Manchester United, including four as captain
Robbie Keane played for six different clubs and scored a total of 126 goals
Shay Given has kept a total of 116 clean sheets

Romania

Dan Petrescu was selected as the right defender of the Premier League 10 Seasons Awards Overseas team

Russia

Andrey Arshavin became the first player in the Premier League history who scored four goals in an away game at Anfield Road

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Senegal

Sadio Mané scored the quickest Premier League hat-trick, netting three goals in 176 seconds

Serbia

Until 2003 FR Yugoslavia, from 2003 to 2006 Serbia and Montenegro

Nemanja Vidić won five Premier League titles for Manchester United and was voted Player of the Season twice

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa

Spain

Fernando Torres was signed by Chelsea from Liverpool in 2011 for £50 million, then the most ever paid by a Premier League club
Pepe Reina of Liverpool had the most Premier League clean sheets in three consecutive seasons

Sweden

Switzerland

Tanzania

Togo

Trinidad and Tobago

Dwight Yorke scored 123 Premier League goals, a record for a player from North America

Tunisia

Turkey

Ukraine

United States

Brad Friedel appeared in a record 310 consecutive Premier League matches during spells at Blackburn, Aston Villa, and Tottenham

Uruguay

Luis Suárez was the top scorer in the 2013–14 Premier League, with a then record-equalling 31 goals.

Venezuela

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Notes

  1. ^
    Born in Algeria
  2. ^
    Born in Angola
  3. ^
    Born in Angola (then Portuguese Angola)
  4. ^
    Born in Argentina
  5. ^
    Born in Australia
  6. ^
    Born in Austria
  7. ^
    Born in Burundi
  8. ^
    Born in Belgium
  9. ^
    Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Yugoslavia)
  10. ^
    Born in Brazil
  11. ^
  12. ^
    Born in Canada
  13. ^
    Born in Cameroon
  14. ^
    Born in Cape Verde
  15. ^
    Born in Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia)
  16. ^
  17. ^
    Born in Denmark
  18. ^
    Born in England
  19. ^
    Born in France
  20. ^
    Born in West Germany (now part of Germany)
  21. ^
  22. ^
    Born in Germany
  23. ^
    Born in Ghana
  24. ^
  25. ^
  26. ^
  27. ^
    Born in Italy
  28. ^
    Born in the Ivory Coast
  29. ^
    Born in Jamaica
  30. ^
    Born in Kosovo (then part of Yugoslavia)
  31. ^
    Born in Liberia
  32. ^
    Born in Morocco
  33. ^
    Born in North Macedonia (then Macedonia, part of Yugoslavia)
  34. ^
  35. ^
  36. ^
  37. ^
    Born in the Netherlands
  38. ^
    Born in Nigeria
  39. ^
  40. ^
    Born in Poland
  41. ^
    Born in Portugal
  42. ^
  43. ^
    Born in Russia (then part of the Soviet Union)
  44. ^
  45. ^
    Born in South Africa
  46. ^
    Born in Scotland
  47. ^
    Born in Senegal
  48. ^
    Born in Somalia
  49. ^
    Born in Spain
  50. ^
    Born in Serbia (then part of Yugoslavia)
  51. ^
    Born in Switzerland
  52. ^
    Born in Suriname
  53. ^
    Born in Suriname (then part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
  54. ^
    Born in Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia)
  55. ^
    Born in Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia)
  56. ^
    Born in Sweden
  57. ^
    Born in Uganda
  58. ^
    Born in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union)
  59. ^
    Born in the United States
  60. ^
    Born in Uzbekistan (then part of the Soviet Union)
  61. ^
  62. ^
  63. ^
  64. ^
  65. ^
  66. ^
  67. ^
  68. ^
  69. ^
  70. ^
  71. ^
  72. ^
  73. ^
  74. ^
  75. ^
  76. ^
  77. ^
  78. ^
  79. ^
  80. ^
  81. ^
  82. ^
  83. ^
  84. ^
  85. ^
  86. ^
  87. ^
  88. ^
  89. ^
  90. ^
  91. ^
  92. ^
  93. ^
  94. ^
  95. ^
  96. ^
  97. ^
  98. ^
  99. ^
  100. ^
  101. ^
  102. ^
  103. ^
  104. ^
  105. ^
  106. ^
  107. ^
  108. ^
  109. ^
  110. ^
  111. ^
  112. ^
    Capped for the Samoa national under-20 football team (then Western Samoa)
  113. ^
  114. ^
  115. ^
  116. ^
  117. ^
  118. ^
  119. ^
  120. ^
  121. ^
  122. ^
  123. ^
    Kosovo Albanian. Born in Kosovo (then part of Yugoslavia)

References

    • Since 1888... The Searchable Premiership and Football League Player Database (subscription required)
    • BBC Sport report
    • Ranc, David (2012). Foreign players and football supporters: The Old Firm, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8612-0. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
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