Mumbai, Dec 6 (IANS): After the end of the group stage of the FIFA World Cup, and with half of the teams already eliminated from the event, Spain's La Liga remains the league that brings the second-most international players to the event in Qatar.

With nearly 60 players of different nationalities, who will play in the Round of 16, La Liga is only behind the Premier League, and ahead of the other three major European leagues -- Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1.

The Spanish top flight thus accounts for 22.3% of the players in the European Top 5 for the Last-16 round, who come from 15 different La Liga clubs, the La Liga informed in a release on Tuesday.

It is worth noting that, despite being in second place, La Liga is the league that has lost the fewest players since the start of the World Cup, with -28.9% of the original volume of players.

The league that has lost the most players from its original volume is the Bundesliga (-48%), followed by Serie A (-40%), Ligue 1 (-37%) and finally the Premier League (-31.3%).

"We are proud that nearly 60 top players from our competition are still in the World Cup at such a crucial time. We have a high level of representation and we are sure that, as the competition progresses, this will be maintained," said Javier Tebas, President of La Liga.

This Tuesday, the teams that will advance to the quarterfinals will be decided, with players from the five major European leagues battling it out to be among the four best teams in the world.