MLS remains most diverse North American sports league

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A total of 58 nations are represented among the 551 players in MLS, but just to give it a homegrown flavor, too, 59 players hail from California, more than any other state.

Almost half of MLS players come from outside the U.S. and Canada with 236 coming from overseas.

I’ll leave it to the reader to decide how that bodes for the continued development of domestic players. Are they deprived of playing opportunities or beneficiaries of a worldwide soccer education as a result?

Major League Baseball is closest to MLS in terms of diverse nationalities, with 26.5 percent of its players coming from outside Canada or the U.S.

A list of the players born abroad is here.

A list of the players born in the U.S. and Canada is here.

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