A Madrid derby with a strong international flavour

This Friday's Madrid derby between CD Leganes and Getafe CF on Matchday 3 of LaLiga Santander will not only be a special occasion due to the fact that two neighbouring Spanish top-flight teams will go head to head. It will also be a festival of football that brings together players of 15 different nationalities, even more than took part in the last Clasico between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

Four different continents will be represented at Butarque, where players from Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, Serbia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Morocco, Algeria, Togo, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Japan will all be vying for a place in the starting line-ups.

The bulk of Leganes's and Getafe's squads are composed of Spanish footballers, with Los Pepineros having 13 national players to Getafe's 12. However, the dressing rooms of the two teams also feature a wealth of different nationalities.

After Spain, the country with the largest contingent in Friday's Madrid derby at Butarque will be Argentina with six players – five for Leganes (Nereo Champagne, Martin Mantovani, Mauro Dos Santos, Ezequiel Muñoz and Alexander Szymanowski) and one for Getafe (Emiliano Martinez).

The following countries with the most players will be Uruguay and Morocco with three apiece. The South American nation will be represented by Getafe players Damian Suarez, Mathias Olivera and Mauro Arambarri, whilst the Moroccan accent will be added by Nabil El Zhar and Nordim Amrabat for the home team and Faycal Fajr for the visitors.

European representation is completed by two Serbs (Leganes's Darko Brasanac and the Getafe shotstopper Filip Manojlovic), one Frenchman (Claudio Beauvue), a Portuguese (Vitorino Antunes) and a Greek (Dimitrios Siovas). In addition to the six Argentines and three Uruguayans, the American continent will also contribute a Brazilian, Gabriel Pires, and an Ecuadorian, Jefferson Montero.

From Africa, in addition to the three Moroccans, Getafe will offer the chance to shine to an Algerian, Mehdi Lacen, a Togalese, Dakonam Djene, and an Ivorian, Amath Ndiaye. They will be joined on the opposing team by the Senegalese forward Mamadou Kone. The Asian touch will be added by Getafe's Japanese midfielder Gaku Shibasaki, completing what will be a wonderful occasion replete with quality football and no shortage of multiculturality.