A history of Lazio players at the World Cup 2010-2026
- Simon Basten
- Jul 2
- 7 min read
Part three of our series of Lazio connections at the World Cup. We go from the largest contingency in 2014 to none at all in 2026.
South Africa 2010
Just like in the previous World Cup, in the first African edition there were three Lazio players present: Fernando Muslera, Alexsandar Kolarov and Stephan Lichtsteiner.
Muslera arrived at Lazio in 2007 and he made 7 appearances for Uruguay as they were eliminated in the semi-finals by The Netherlands. He was however one of the protagonists particularly in the quarter final against Ghana, saving two penalties in the shootout. Also in the team was Martin Caceres who came to Lazio in January 2018. He was with Juventus at the time and he played the semi-final and third place final which Uruguay lost to Germany. Miro Klose, at Bayern Munich at that time, was obviously in the German squad and he made five appearances and scored four goals.
Kolarov, who had arrived at Lazio in 2007 and was about to be sold to Manchester City, made two appearances for Serbia who were eliminated in the group stage. Also in that squad was Dejan Stankovic who made three appearances. In their group there was also Australia with Mark Bresciano, who played two games, but they too were eliminated in the group stage.
Lichtsteiner, who played for Lazio from 2008 to 2011, was part of the Swiss squad together with former Lazio Valon Behrami. He made three appearances as Switzerland were eliminated in the group stage. Behrami did not play at all.
There were a further six Lazio connections present: Djibril Cissé was there for France, eliminated in the group stage, but did not play; Federico Marchetti was third keeper for Italy, they too did not make it to the knock out phase; Juan Sebastian Veron made three appearances for Argentina who were eliminated by Germany in the quarter finals; Edson Braafheid, at Celtic at that time (he would join Lazio in 2014 and stay two seasons), played the last 15 minutes for Netherlands in the final against Spain.
In the Spanish team that won the cup there were two future Lazio players: Pepe Reina was second keeper and hence never played but Pedro made five appearances including the final.
Brazil 2014
For the Brazilian edition there was the largest number of Lazio players present at a World Cup, seven, beating the previous record of six in 2002. These were: Antonio Candreva (Italy), Alvaro Gonzalez (Uruguay), Senad Lulic (Bosnia), Eddy Onazi (Nigeria), Helder Postiga (Portugal), Lucas Biglia (Argentina) and Miro Klose (Germany). The Great Miro also became Lazio’s sixth World Champion.
Candreva played two games as Italy were unable to reach the knock out phase for the second consecutive edition. Alas, this will also be the last time Italy have participated in a World Cup as for the next three editions they did not qualify. For the Azzurri there was also Ciro Immobile and Marco Parolo who would be arriving soon to the right side of the Tiber. Both made two appearances.
In Italy’s group there was Uruguay with Gonzalez, future Lazio Caceres and past presence Muslera. They progressed to the Round of 16 amid a lot of controversy because Luis Suarez famously took a bite at Giorgio Chiellini but was not seen by the ref. Uruguay won but were then eliminated in the next round by Colombia. The three Lazio connections all made four appearances.
Argentina, Nigeria and Bosnia were in the same group with the first two qualifying for the knock out phase. Lulic played two games for Bosnia. Nigeria then went on to play in the Round of 16 but lost to France. Onazi made four appearances. The Argentinians reached the final and Biglia made seven appearances.
Helder Postiga, who had arrived at Lazio in January on loan and was certainly not going to be confirmed, played 16 minutes for Portugal who were eliminated in the Group phase. Also present was Nani, who made three appearances and scored one goal.
Miro Klose led Germany to victory with five appearances and two goals as they beat Argentina in the final 1-0 after extra time. Klose played in the final and semi-final, scoring in the latter. With these goals he became the leading scorer of all time in the World Cup, just recently overtaken by Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé.
There were nine other Lazio connections in Brazil 2014. Lichtsteiner and Behrami were there for Switzerland and made four appearances each as the Swiss were eliminated in the Round of 16 in extra time by Argentina. Stefan de Vrij, considered one of the best defenders of this edition, joined Lazio in the summer. He played seven games and scored one goal as the Dutch lost on penalties in the semi-final then beat Brazil in the third place final. The Netherlands in the group stages had eliminated Spain, who had in the squad Pedro (2 appearances) and Reina (one), and Australia where there was Mark Bresciano who played three games. Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro was part of the Ivory Coast squad which were surprisingly eliminated in the group stage, but he did not play. Milan Badelj also did not play for Croatia who were also eliminated in the group stage.
Brazil, massive favourites, felt the pressure and collapsed in the semi-final with Germany losing 7-1. In that squad there was Hernanes who came in three times as a sub.
Russia 2018
Compared to the previous World Cup where there were seven current Lazio players plus 14 between previous and future players, the Russian edition saw a drastic fall in Biancoceleste participation with just 13 connections. This was the beginning of the decrease which culminated in the 2026 World Cup. It also coincided with Italy not qualifying for the World Cup.
There were two current Lazio players: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Martin Caceres. The sergeant was able to play three games but Serbia were eliminated in the group stage. Also in the Serbian squad was Kolarov who also played three games and scored one goal.
Uruguay did very well reaching the quarter finals where they were eliminated by France. Caceres was joined by Muslera and Matias Vecino and they all played five games.
Also present were the Swiss duo Lichtsteiner and Behrami, fourth World Cup for Valon and third for Stefan. Behrami made four appearances and Lichtsteiner three as Switzerland were eliminated in the round of 16 by Sweden.
Five more Lazio connections were present. Pepe Reina for Spain, Lucas Biglia with Argentina, Milan Badelj (Croatia), Eddy Onazi (Nigeria) and Keita Balde with Senegal. Spain lost on penalties to Russia in the round of 16. Reina was backup up keeper and did not play. Biglia, Badelj and Onazi were all together in Group D but only the first two continued as Nigeria were eliminated with Eddy not playing. Argentina then lost to France in the Round of 16 with Biglia making just one appearance. Croatia managed to reach the final where the were beaten by France. Badelj made three appearances including a few minutes in the semi-final. Senegal were unlucky to be eliminated on fair play points in the group phase. Keita did not play.
The number of Lazio players was certainly curtailed by the fact that Italy were not present. Had the Azzurri qualified, almost certainly there would have been Ciro Immobile and Marco Parolo plus maybe Antonio Candreva as a connection.
Qatar 2022
The list of Lazio connections at the world cup got even slimmer for Qatar 2022. Two Lazio players, Vecino and Milinkovic-Savic, and seven past or future players.
Neither Vecino nor Milinkovic-Savic were able to stir their teams past the Group stages. Vecino played three games in a squad which also included Muslera, who did not play, and Caceres who made one appearance. Also out went a disappointing Serbia with Milinkovic-Savic playing three games and scoring one goal.
The Netherlands had two Lazio connections, a past one, de Vrij and a future one, Kenneth Taylor. The Dutch were eliminated by Argentina on penalties in the quarter finals. Taylor played just four minutes, de Vrij not at all.
Three more players were there: Boulaye Dia, Matteo Guendouzi and Daichi Kamada. Senegal were eliminated by England in the Round of 16 and Dia made 3 appearances with one goal. France reached the final but were beaten by Argentina on penalties. Matteo made one appearance. Japan were eliminated in the round of 16 and Kamada made four appearances.
USA, Mexico, Canada 2026
And now we come to the current edition. No Lazio players were selected. Italy were eliminated by Bosnia and missed out for the third consecutive edition. Had they qualified, there would have probably been Nicolò Rovella and Mattia Zaccagni. Taylor was not selected for Netherlands nor Dia for Senegal. Denmark and Nigeria also did not make it to the final stage so Gustav Isaksen and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru also missed out.
An indication of lack of quality in the Lazio squad? Maybe, but we need to consider that Crystal Palace have more players present than Real Madrid but this does not mean that they are a better team.
There are some Biancoceleste connections present but just five: Fernando Muslera, Jovane Cabral, Kamada, Gael Kakuta and Pedro Neto.
Muslera was disastrous in his three appearances, making a number of blunders with Uruguay out in the group stage. Cabral, who played briefly for Lazio in 2022, has made one appearance so far for Cape Verde and they went through to the Round of 32 where they will meet Argentina. Japan were eliminated in the round of 32 by Brazil with Kamada making four appearances and two goals. DR Congo lost to England in this round with Kakuta, 2 appearances for Lazio in 2014, not playing. Pedro Neto, five appearances for the Biancocelesti in 2018-19, has played three games for Portugal who will face Croatia in the Round of 32.
Conclusion
With the end of this third part, we have gone through all of the editions of the World Cup to see who from Lazio has participated. We have had some highs and some lows over the course of the past 96 years and we are probably in a low moment. Let’s hope Lazio can turn this around for 2030 where it will be played in six countries: Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. There is talk of increasing the number of countries from 48 to 64. In this case even Italy could qualify!!!!
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