The Smallest Countries Who’ve Had Premier League Stars (Part 2)
G'day tribe! Yesterday I wrote about the smallest countries who have had the pleasure of having Premier League stars play for their countries. Check it out here. Here is part two!
10. Guyana
Population: 786,559
Premier League Stars: Leon and Carl Cort, Matthew Briggs, Neil Danns
The "Golden Jaguars" lowest ever FIFA world rank was 185th in 2004, and as high as 86th in 2010. Guyana is located in mainland South America but culturally is Caribbean and is a part of CONCACAF. They managed to qualify for the Gold Cup for the first time in 2019 managing a draw against Trinidad and Tobago. Carl Cort, capped six times for Guyana, was most notable for his time at Wimbledon FC playing 111 times in the Premier League, scoring 28 goals and registering 14 assists. His brother Carl also played 26 games in the EPL.
9. Montenegro
Population: 621,718
Premier League Stars: Stevan Jovetić, Stefan Savić, Simon Vukčević, Elsad Zverotić
Montenegro became independent from Serbia in 2006, the Montenegrin national football team formed in 2007 and ranking as high as 16th in the world in 2011. Stefan Savic became a Premier League champion with Manchester City in 2011/12 appearing in 11 games and scoring a goal. Stevan Jovetic also won the Premier League with City in 2013/14 and appeared 30 times for the club, scoring 8 goals. Quite impressive the links of Montenegro with one of the biggest clubs in the world in Man City.
8. Suriname
Population: 586,634
Premier League Stars: Ryan Donk
Suriname, like Guyana, is located in mainland South America but is a member of CONCACAF and culturally Caribbean. Suriname has a strong Dutch influence and became independent from the Netherlands in 1975. The country has produced phenomenal talent considering its size, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf all born in Suriname and representing the Dutch national team. Just imagine if they all represented Suriname. The most notable Premier League player who has represented Suriname is Ryan Donk who appeared 16 times for West Brom in 2008-09.
7. Iceland
Population: 366,425
Premier League Stars: Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Aron Gunnarsson
Iceland extraordinarily ranked as high as 18th in the world in 2018 on the back of a quarter-final appearance in Euro 2016 and qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, becoming the smallest country to ever do so in the process. Eidur Gudjohnsen became a two-time Premier League champion at Chelsea, appearing 211 times and scoring 55 goals at the club. Gylfi Sigurdsson has appeared more than 300 times for Swansea City and Everton, and scored a penalty at the 2018 World Cup for Iceland.
Also, who can ever forget the Viking Thunder Clap? That really brought Euro 2016 to life!
6. Barbados
Population: 287,371
Stars: Emerson Boyce, Paul Ifill
Barbados hasn't made it to any major international tournaments but did make the semifinal round of the CONCACAF 2002 World Cup qualifiers. The Caribbean country hasn't ranked higher than 92nd in the world and Paul Ifill and Emmerson Boyce have 22 caps between them for Barbados. Boyce enjoyed a successful 9-years at Wigan, playing 221 games, kept 50 clean sheets and scored 10 goals in the Premier League.
...I'll be back tomorrow with the third and final part. Can you guess which country is the smallest that has had an English Premier League player or players?
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
Thank you for this, my friend. Oh... Iceland... I've always fancied Eidur Gudjohnsen for his time with Chelsea. He was really an amazing player. Whatever happened to Jovetic though. Stopped following him ever since he left City. I think he went to Fiorentina and that was it.
Yep he did falter a little bit. I was so hopeful Andriy Shevchenko could be the new type of Eidur but he flopped
Massive flop I must say. He came highly recommended due to personal affiliation with Chelsea's owner.
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Thanks for sharing this.. this are great histories and great heros
Iceland national team, the team that caught the eye in the Euro 2016 and reached the quarter-finals and the 2020 World Cup in Russia, the team that imposed a draw on Argentina was one of the candidates at the time to win the title
2018 world cup*. It was a fun ride to watch
What a great footballing nation Iceland are! Those players you've mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg if you'll excuse the pun. Also a place I've always wanted to visit one day
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I'd love to visit Iceland too. I hate the cold though so I'd probably freeze to death.
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