James Milner, Emile Heskey, Stephen Warnock and Brad Guzan will all be in South Africa this summer and now join a list of 19 who were Aston Villa players when they represented their countries in the previous World Cups.

Unfortunately, it was bad news for Shane Lowry when Australia finally announced their 23 man squad, but he was one of the youngest in the provisional squad and will have plenty of opportunities in the future.

With 4 players at this year’s tournament, Villa equal the 2nd biggest contribution to the finals with 4 players also at the 1994 World Cup in USA.

• 1958 – Peter McParland [N. Ireland], Vic Crowe [Wales]
• 1982 – Peter Withe [England], Allan Evans [Scotland]
• 1986 – Steve Hodge [England]
• 1990 – David Platt [England], Paul McGrath, Tony Cascarino [Ireland]
• 1994 – Paul McGrath, Andy Townsend, Ray Houghton, Steve Staunton [Ireland]
• 1998 – Savo Milosevic [Yugoslavia], Gareth Southgate [England]
• 2002 – Alpay [Turkey], Steve Staunton [Ireland], Darius Vassell [England], Olof Mellberg [Sweden], Bosko Balaban [Croatia]
• 2006 – Ulises de la Cruz [Ecuador], Olof Mellberg [Sweden], Milan Baros [Czech Republic]

In terms of English clubs with larger representation at the World Cup, Chelsea will have 14 players, Liverpool 13, Arsenal 10, Man Utd 8, Man City 8, Tottenham 8, Portsmouth 7, Everton 7, Wigan 5, West Ham 5 and Fulham 5.

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