Benchwarmers and Veterans: These European Championship Teams Are Bringing the Players with the Most Minutes Played to the Tournament

After the Bundesliga season comes the European Championship: The German team will battle for the European title in front of a home crowd. Alongside some familiar names, the DFB squad also includes many young players who only came into the spotlight last season. They have been at the German national team’s training camp for some time now, ahead of the tournament’s start. A short break and some relaxation off the field were therefore not possible due to the short time between the end of the season and tournament preparations.

However, adequate recovery is very important for professional athletes to avoid long-term injuries such as stress fractures. The training and match workload was enormous, especially for the soccer players who competed in multiple tournaments for their clubs. Whether it’s fascia training with the Blackroll or stretching exercises: for these pros in particular, recovery after exercise is absolutely essential to being able to take the field again at the European Championship. However, a lack of training and match practice can also become dangerous if the intensity of play increases during the tournament.

We’ve looked into which players logged the most minutes on the field for their clubs during the 2023–2024 season and which national teams consist more of benchwarmers and substitutes than of seasoned veterans. To do this, we analyzed all performance data for the 622 professional soccer players on the rosters of the European Championship teams. According to our findings, there are significant differences even within the German team.

Many Albanian national team players are among the pros with the fewest minutes played

Despite making just an eight-minute substitute appearance in the K-Leaguelast season, Jasir Asani still made the cut and is part of Albania’s European Championship squad. Due to a lack of match fitness, he played only once for Gwangju FC and was otherwise only able to gain playing time in international matches. Alongside Asani, a familiar face from the Bundesliga also appears on the list of players with the least playing time: Due to a torn cruciate ligament, Swiss player Breel Embolo was sidelined for a long time and has only been fit again since April. His playing time for the 2023–2024 season with AS Monaco totals just 181 minutes.

Close behind is Hertha’s Peter Pekarík with a total of 182 minutes of playing time. For the most part, the Slovakian was a benchwarmer or wasn’t even included in the squad. Albania’s Medon Berisha has a total of 294 minutes to his credit, which the midfielder played for US Lecce. Rounding out the top five is another Albanian professional soccer player: Thomas Strakosha spent 344 minutes in goal for English Premier League club FC Brentford last season.

Here’s an overview of all the results by player:

These Are the Super Substitutes of the European Championship

With 31 substitute appearances each, Spain’s Joselu and Italy’s Davide Frattesi were particularly often used as substitutes but still made it into their national teams’ Euro squads. Noah Okafor (Switzerland) and Giacomo Raspadori (Italy) were substituted in 30 times each, placing them in third place. Denmark’s Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner follow with 29 substitute appearances each.

On the German team, it was primarily Thomas Müller, Robert Andrich, and Toni Kroos who entered the game late. With 16, 14, and 13 substitute appearances, respectively, the three players made only a few starts.

The table reveals which team is bringing the most substitutes to the tournament:

One goalkeeper played every minute last season

When it comes to the most appearances overall, one player takes the undisputed top spot: With 54 appearances and 4,950 minutes on the field, Slovenia’s goalkeeper Jan Oblak ranks first. Czech center back Robin Hranac of FC Viktoria Plzeň played a total of 4,635 minutes across five different competitions last season. Italy’s midfielder Bryan Cristante of AS Roma follows with 4,539 minutes. Among the players with the highest totals are Scotland’s Kenny McLean and France’s William Saliba, with 4,507 and 4,502 minutes played, respectively.

Here’s how it looks for the German national team

The German team also has several players who often came off the bench or played fewer games for their clubs. Although Thomas Müller has already played 129 games for the national team and a total of 473 games for FC Bayern Munich, his playing time this season is low at 2,180 minutes—no other player on the DFB team has spent less time on the field. VfB Stuttgart had a strong season in the Bundesliga, earning Maximilian Mittelstädt a spot on the European Championship roster. However, since the Swabians only competed in the DFB Cup and the Bundesliga, the defender spent 2,271 minutes on the field—fewer than many of his teammates on the national team. Mittelstädt is followed by his Stuttgart teammate Deniz Undav, who logged 2,339 minutes on the field this season.

The table below shows just how heavy the playing load is on the German national team:

DFB Captain Has the Most Minutes Under His Belt

Other players on the German team have a higher workload. To ensure they’re in top shape when the tournament begins, the DFB also uses Blackroll® products. Plus, with our DFB products—like the RECOVERY PILLOW and the RECOVERY BLANKET ALL YEAR —you can sleep like the pros.

DFB captain Ilkay Gündogan has played an especially high number of minutes: With 4,180 minutes, he leads the German team not only on the field but also in the rankings. Playing for Brighton & Hove Albion, Pascal Groß became the Premier League’s top scorer with 27 goals and racked up a total of 4,104 minutes of playing time across three competitions, securing second place. It wasn’t quite enough for Nico Schlotterbeck and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final, but he still has a chance to win the title with the German national team at the European Championship. The defender brings a wealth of playing experience with 4,078 minutes under his belt; Antonio Rüdiger’s total is similarly high at 4,076 minutes. Double winner Jonathan Tah of Bayer Leverkusen rounds out the list of players with the most playing time, with a total of 3,984 minutes.

Germany ranks second in a country-by-country comparison

In terms of nations, Germany claims at least the title of the team with the most playing experience, with 85,500 minutes of playing time across its roster. The English team comes in second with 82,401 minutes. Portugal and France are also bringing seasoned professionals to the championship: the players on both teams logged 81,683 and 79,102 minutes, respectively, last season, followed by Spain with 78,322 minutes.

Bringing up the rear are Albania and Georgia with 50,868 and 51,291 minutes of playing time, respectively. Hungary, too, is bringing many players with little experience to the European Championship, with a total of 52,403 minutes.

All results by country are available here:

What did we do?

For this comparison, performance data from the 2023–2024 season was collected for all competitions in which the players appeared. All 622 professionals nominated for the European Football Championship were included. Squad sizes may vary by country.