CURIOUS ABOUT Honduras? Confused by Peru? Can't tell your Arca from your El-Khalej? Don't worry, you're probably just a Premiership football supporter.

As The Times's chart of foreign-born Premiership players shows, in season 2000-01 more countries than ever will be represented by a record total of 187 overseas players, three quarters of whom hail from European nations (and 21 of whom play for Chelsea, if you were wondering).

With 50 countries represented, from the USA to Bosnia-Herzegovina, overseas players seeking to make their fortunes abroad probably view the sight of a Premiership stadium with the same excitement as immigrants felt seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.

Yet there is a final frontier the Premiership has only just begun to cross. Kharim Bagheri, signed this week by Charlton, is the only Asian player currently in the Premiership. But given the rate at which the clubs are scouring the globe for bargains, it won't be long before that statistic becomes as out of date as the idea of playing a team comprised of British players alone. The Gallic influence on the Premiership is greater this year than ever. Thanks to Arsene Wenger, Gérard Houllier and the recent renaissance of the French national side, France, England's old foe, now provides the top division with more players than any other nation. Norway's Viking invasion comes a poor second with 18.

The trouble with foreign players

A player with a passport from a European Union country does not require a work permit. Footballers from non-EU nations have to apply to the Department of Employment (DoE) for a permit. They are usually granted only if the player has played in 75 per cent of his country's international matches in the last two years, but - as with Middlesbrough's Alen Boksic - clubs can sometimes successfully appeal if a player does not meet the initial criteria.

Tom Dart