“When Reinildo Mandava started for Sunderland in their 3-0 win over West Ham, he became the first Mozambican to play in the Premier League, which has now hosted players from 125 different countries,” noted Owen Collins last week. “That only dates from 1992 though – are there any nationalities that played in the old First Division that haven’t yet been represented in the Premier League?”
Mandava’s debut actually takes the number of Premier League nationalities to 127, but are there any countries only represented in the English top flight before 1992? Well, the logical starting point is nations that only existed prior to 1992. Take it away, Darren Jalland: “Sergei Baltacha was, as far as I can tell, the only player from the Soviet Union whose entire club stint in England came before 1992 – he played for Ipswich Town from 1988 to 1990.”
