CIES (The International Centre for Sports Studies) Football Observatory Weekly Post ranks countries worldwide according to the number of their representatives having played professional football abroad in 2019.
In total, 186 national associations had at least one player expatriated in the 141 leagues from 93 countries included in the sample.
Azerbaijan, along with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Malawi, and Eswatini, ranked 114th to118th in the list with eight players each. All of them are active in top division leagues.
Brazil is at the top of the table (1,600 players, of which 74.6 % in top division leagues) ahead of France (1,027, 74%) and Argentina (972, 75.5%).