Eight members of Inter’s squad are all but certain to play a part at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this year.
This according to today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera, who report that 110 players from within Serie A will be eligible to appear at the tournament, with eight from the Nerazzurri and ten from city rivals AC Milan.
During the last World Cup, the 2018 edition of the tournament held in Russia, there were five Inter players and four Milan players playing in total, and the fact that this has risen reflects the two Milan teams’ growth and their ability to attract top international players.
This time around, Italy’s shock failure to qualify means that Italian players like Inter’s Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni will not be involved in the tournament, but national sides such as Belgium and Serbia are well-represented within Serie A.
Among Inter’s players, the likes of Belgian Romelu Lukaku, Dutch duo Denzel Dumfries and Stefan de Vrij, Croat Marcelo Brozovic, Argentines Lautaro Martinez and Joaquin Correa, German Robin Gosens, and Cameroonian Andre Onana are all anticipated to be called up.
The winter World Cup will be an unprecedented development for international as well as club football, with club sides and leagues experiencing a longer break than they are used to in the middle of the season.
Many of the players for Serie A teams like Inter will have a long break in competitive football, but for eight of Inter’s players, they will instead be competing for international football’s most prestigious trophy.
