Euro 2016: Only Wales have more foreign born players than Ireland

Ireland have selected the second most amount of foreign-born players of any of the nations competing in the upcoming European Championships.

Martin O’Neill has called upon eight players born in the United Kingdom to represent the Republic of Ireland.

Even more reliant on English-born players, and the only competing nation to have more foreign born players than the Irish - Wales have nine players in their squad who were not born within their own borders.

Ireland's eight players are Jonathan Walters, Ciaran Clark, Cyrus Christie and Richard Keogh - all born in England. Aiden McGeady and James McCarthy are both Scottish-born, while Shane Duffy and James McClean both qualify for the list as they were born in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland have selected six players, five born in England and one - Alan Mannus - who is a Canadian by birth. England's only foreign born senior player is Raheem Sterling, born in Jamaica; however 18 footballers born in England will be turning out for other nations in this year's tournament.

With the same number of foreign-born players as Ireland is Albania, with six of their eight hailing from Switzerland. That includes Taulant Xhaka, who is a brother of Swiss midfielder and recent Arsenal signing Granit. The two nations, and brothers, meet in the group stages of the competition.

Turkey, with their heavy German-born contingent, and Portugal are next with seven players. Brazilian born Pepe being the most notable of those from Portugal.

Reigning champions Spain have just the one player, Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcantara, born in Italy to Brazilian parents. While World Champions Germany’s sole representation on the list compiled by Ticket Compare is Lukas Podolski, who was born in Poland.

In all there are 12 players from Africa and six players from North and South America that have earned call-ups to nations competing in Euro 2016.

None of Slovakia , Czech Republic, Romania, Russia or Iceland contain players born outside of their own country.

Talking in his Paddy Power blog former Ireland international and manager Mick McCarthy says that the Irishness felt by Irish Internationals born abroad shouldn’t be questioned.

“My mother-in-law is 93 years old and originally from the Curragh in Kildare, and she sums it up perfectly: There are men from Ireland and then there are Irish men. That’s the way it is. When people questioned me about my Irishness I used to say to them, ‘If you left Ireland to live abroad and had children, and your son was good enough to represent Ireland in any sport, would you think he is Irish and able to play for them?’ Every single person would give me the same answer. Of course they’d let their son play for Ireland, and that’s exactly what I did and exactly what a lot of players are still doing. There’s no issue there.

"Ireland only get bashed with the 'Non-Irish' stick by the teams they've beaten, strangely enough! When I was playing there was myself, Ray Houghton, Andy Townsend, John Aldridge, Chris Morris and plenty more who were born of Irish parents, but outside the island of Ireland. I tend to think as a player and a manager that you are accepted far quicker if you're winning. If the team is doing well nobody cares, that's the fickle nature of sport. It doesn't matter where you are from or where you were born, as long as you're winning."

McCarthy, who managed Ireland between 1996 and 2002, also recalled how his first job as Ireland manager was to seek out players with Irish heritage:

“One of the first jobs I had as manager of the Ireland team was to write to every single club in England and Scotland to find out if there were any players of Irish descent that would qualify to play for the national team. The irony of that was the first reply I got, and it was a very polite reply it must be said, was from Glasgow Rangers telling me that they didn’t have any. To be honest I thought that but I sent the letter nevertheless.”

The data used by Ticket Compare was pulled from official sources such as Fifa, Opta and the squad sheets published on websites of first division club teams across Europe. It includes all players that have been featured in their respective national squads for group matches and international friendlies since the start of the qualifying campaign.