The Romanian Championship sends two players to the World Cup: how are the neighbors doing

Ashley Davis3 days ago

0 33 3 minutes read

Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Tuesday, 09 June 2026, 13:17 / Updated Tuesday, 09 June 2026 13:17

Two players registered in the Romanian championship will participate in the World Cup, Joao Paulo (Cape Verde) and Jovo Lukic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). In the previous edition, League 1 had no representative, and in 2018 there was only one. How many people do leagues of a similar level like Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia and Slovenia send?

Among the 1,248 players summoned to the World Cup, there are also two footballers registered in the Super League: the top scorer of the championship, Jovo Lukic from U Cluj, is part of the Bosnia and Herzegovina team, and the midfielder Joao Paulo from FCSB will represent Cape Verde.

For starters, the “trap”: two now make one in 2018

As a gross figure, our championship registered an important jump compared to previous editions: in 2022 there was no representative in Qatar, and in the 2018 edition there was only one, the Panamanian goalkeeper Jaime Penedowho played at Dinamo.

However, this comparison must be contextualized: 736 players, 32 teams with groups of 23 participated in the 2018 World Cup, and in 2022 there were 832 names – the same number of teams, but with groups of 26.

Instead, this year's edition will see 1,248 players, a 69.5% increase on 2018's numbers: 48 teams with groups of 26.

This means that although the number of players has doubled, the representativeness of the Super League in 2026 is similar to that of 2018: 0.16% now, 0.135% at the World Cup in Russia.

How does the Romanian Superliga compare with championships of a similar level?

Also relevant in this exercise is the representation of championships of a similar level – of course, from countries that did not qualify for the final tournament.

The Romanian Championship ended the 2025/2026 season in 25th place in the UEFA ranking. Below is Slovenia, above are Serbia, Ukraine and Hungary.

Prva Liga, the top division in Slovenia, also sends two players at the North American World Cup, the Ivorian Jean Seri and the Tunisian Omar Rekik, both from NK Maribor.

And the Serbian league, located immediately above the Romanian championship, will have two representatives. Both are registered at Red Star Belgrade, South Korean Seol Young-woo and Austrian Marko Arnautovic.

Above Serbia, on the 23rd place in the ranking of UEFA coefficients, we find Ukraine. The Ukrainian championship does not send any players to the planetary tournament.

We move on. The Hungarian Championship, the 22nd of the continent in this hierarchy, sends 3 players to the World Cupwith one more than Romania. They are Algerian Nadhir Benbouali from Gyor, Cape Verdean Laros Duarte from Akademia Puskas and Haitian Lenny Joseph from Ferencvaros.

And to review all of Romania's neighbors, we conclude with the Republic of Moldova and Bulgaria.

The Moldovan championship, ranked 34th in the UEFA ranking, will not have a representative at the World Cupwhile from the Bulgarian league, the 30th in Europe, two people will gothe Cape Verdeans Deroy Duarte (Ludogorets) and Marcio Rosa (Montana).

The Premier League has no opponent

The league with the most representatives at the World Cup is the Premier League, with 164 expected to see action on the North American stage. Most are English, 20 in number, then 15 Dutch and 8 Brazilians, Scots and Swedes each.

Interestingly, England's second division, the Championship, also makes the top 10 in a ranking of the leagues with the most representatives at the World Cup. The Island “B” sends 36 players to 17 national teams qualified for the final tournament.