La Liga Out in Front of Top Rated Leagues Represented at Euro 2016

With the group stages complete following a third round of fixtures just as packed with late drama as those beforehand, the final standings have taken most by surprise. The likes of England, Spain, Belgium and Portugal all failed to win their groups, leading to something of an uneven draw for the knockout stages. All four home nations progressed, while elsewhere the likes of Iceland, Hungary and Slovakia exceeded expectations to book a place in the round of 16.

As far as the star players tipped to shine ahead of the tournament were concerned, it was something of a mixed bag too. The likes of Paul Pogba, Robert Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann and Harry Kane have underwhelmed, and while Cristiano Ronaldo finally found the net in Portugal’s last group game with Hungary, it’s Gareth Bale who has stolen the show to now. The Real Madrid star has represented La Liga superbly, sharing the lead for goals with 3 having fired off the most shots on target (12) and completed the most dribbles (13).

The Welshman is one of a number of players from La Liga to shine this summer, arguably more so than any other league despite the fact that of all players competing at the tournament this summer, just 6.3% (35) played their club football in Spain last season. That’s a lower proportion than Turkey (6.5%) and four times fewer than those plying their trade in England (including Swansea), at 25%.

Fewer still have featured at the Euros this summer, with just 29 La Liga players making an appearance. However, thanks to the likes of Real Madrid’s Bale (8.78 rating), Kroos (8.02), Modric (7.86) and Ronaldo (7.50) - only Liverpool and Juventus (both 12) have more players at the tournament - not to mention Iniesta (7.47), the average rating of players from Spain’s top tier is significantly higher than any other league (7.03).

Despite the strong representation from the Premier League, with 87 players from England’s top-flight flight thus far, it's down in third with regards to the best ratings by domestic league. Indeed, it’s in part due to the struggles of Roy Hodgson’s squad that have brought that average down, with Eric Dier (7.35) the top rated Englishman to have featured more than once, ranking 11th of Premier League players in that regard and 39th in the tournament as a whole.

Italy’s Serie A (6.88) just pips the Premier League (6.86) into second, though it’s Croatia’s Ivan Perisic (8.16) and Marek Hamsik (7.65) of Slovakia that have most impressed, while the aforementioned Pogba is down in 16th of 47 players to feature from Italy’s top division.

The Bundesliga is some way back still, despite being the second most represented league at the Euros this summer, with 47 of a possible 65 players from Germany’s top-flight having made an appearance. The most notable culprit in terms of underperforming is undoubtedly Robert Lewandowski, who ranks 36th of said players with a rating of 6.33 despite being tipped by many for the Golden Boot, having failed to register a single shot on target.

Elsewhere despite the national team’s woeful campaign the Russian Premier League (6.66) is next up, ahead of the Turkish Super Lig (6.59) and Ligue 1 (6.55). In fact, France’s top tier is only just in front of the English Championship (6.52) of leagues from which at least 15 players have featured, with only three Ligue 1 players having secured a WhoScored.com rating in excess of seven this summer, with star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic down on 6.37.

There is, of course, plenty of time for the ratings to change but it's fair to say players from England, Italy and Germany's top tiers have some way to go to catch up with their La Liga counterparts at the Euros this summer.

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