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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jonty Colman

The surprise World Cup record that has West Ham above Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea

West Ham United have had six players attend this year's 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

As well as having Declan Rice (England), Nayef Aguerd (Morocco), Lucas Paqueta (Brazil), Alphonse Areola (France) and Thilo Kehrer (Germany) attending straight out of David Moyes' squad to go and represent their countries, Croatia forward Nikola Vlasic, who is currently out on loan at Torino in Serie A, was also at the competition.

Of the six, five made it through to the knockout rounds with their respective nations, and the one departure was somewhat of a surprise, with Germany and Kehrer crashing out at the group stage.

READ MORE: West Ham's Gianluca Scamacca sets Udinese target for friendly clash after Cambridge struggles

All of the five that made it into the round of 16 continued their good form with their countries in the second round, leaving West Ham with five players in the quarter-finals.

With five of the eight quarter-finalists having a West Ham player in their squads, two of the four ties saw West Ham owned players go against each other.

The first West Ham exit from the quarter-finals came on Friday afternoon when Lucas Paqueta and Brazil suffered a penalty shootout defeat to Vlasic and Croatia.

On Saturday afternoon, Morocco without the injured Aguerd sealed a shock victory over Portugal, booking his place into the World Cup's semi-finals. Hammers captain Rice was part of the England side that lost to France, who had Irons goalkeeper Areola on their bench.

In total, of the 104 players still in the competition with their countries, three are currently on the books of West Ham. Of all clubs around the world, only six teams own more players still in the World Cup than the Hammers do.

Nikola Vlasic of Croatia scores the team's first penalty in the penalty shoot out during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 quarter-final match between Croatia and Brazil at Education City Stadium (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Top of the tree is German champions Bayern Munich with six, while Spanish duo Sevilla and Atletico Madrid both have five each.

Three clubs have four players still at the tournament. Paris-Saint Germain, Real Madrid and Dinamo Zagreb, with no clubs from Italy or England having more players still at the World Cup than the Hammers.

West Ham and rivals Tottenham Hotspur share the lead for English teams with three representatives each. Barcelona and Al Wydad complete the list.

Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus are among the clubs with only two players left at the tournament, while Arsenal and Manchester City are among the clubs with only one current World Cup player.

How many players each club has among the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists

Bayern Munich – 6

Sevilla and Atletico Madrid – 5

Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Dinamo Zagreb – 4

West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and Wydad AC – 3

Villarreal, Real Betis, Juventus, Inter Milan, Benfica, Manchester United, Monaco, Marseille, AC Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, Stade Rennais, Chelsea and Angers – 2

River Plate, Lyon, Manchester City, Bayer Leverkusen, Atlanta United, Brighton and Hove Albion, Roma, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Liverpool, Borussia Monchengladbach, Fiorentina, Besiktas, Al Ittihad, Burnley, Sampdoria, Al Wehda, Queens Park Rangers, Toulouse, Standard Liege, Real Valladolid, Brest, Bari, Genk, Qatar SC, Rangers, Sassuolo, Zenit, Hoffenheim, Hadjuk Split, Atalanta, Osasuna, Stuttgart, Red Bull Leipzig, AEK Athens, Celtic, Osijek and Red Bull Salzburg - 1

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