The 2026 World Cup is now well underway and the Premier League’s huge influence on the tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada cannot be underestimated.
Mark Guehi and John Stones have been named in England’s World Cup squad (Image: Getty Images)
The Premier League supplies 163 players to the World Cup. And surprisingly, Crystal Palace have sent more players to the tournament than Real Madrid.
According to research by Football Benchmark, English football’s top flight outperforms the next league by more than 60 per cent.
Incredibly, 39 of the 48 participating nations have Premier League players in their squad, with 20 members of England’s national team playing in the Premier League. Including Marcus Rashford, the number rises to 21.
This is more than any other major European country, as Spain has 17 players in La Liga, Germany has 18 in Bundesliga, France has eight in Ligue 1, and Portugal has six in Liga Portugal.
A really surprising statistic is that Real Madrid do not have a single player in the Spanish national team. According to Football Benchmark, Real Madrid have 10 players in this competition, while Crystal Palace have 12 players in this summer’s World Cup.
Palace have Jean-Philippe Mateta and Maxence Lacroix (France). Dean Henderson (UK); Chris Richards (USA); Daichi Kamata (Japan). Yeremy Pino (Spain); Chadi Riyad (Morocco); Daniel Muñoz & Jefferson Lerma (Colombia). Ismaila Saar (Senegal). Evan Gesand (Ivory Coast) and Jørgen Strand Larsen (Norway).
The Premier League also sends more Portuguese players to the Portugal national team than the Portuguese league. Manchester City supply more players than any other club, with an astonishing total of 19 players.
Premier League leaders will see this as vindication of the Elite Player Performance Plan, which was launched in 2012. Fourteen years on, the academy has produced elite players through the system who are playing at the highest level in Europe and even representing England.
Harry Kane is a superstar at Bayern Munich, Jude Bellingham is a huge star at Real Madrid and Anthony Gordon just joined Barcelona for £70 million.
Maxence Lacroix and Jean-Philippe Mateta earn France World Cup spots (Image: Getty Images)
England’s youth national teams are the most successful in Europe, winning six major tournaments: UEFA U17, U19, U21, FIFA U17 and U20.
The benchmark report states: “The Premier League’s growing dominance is also reflected in a data point that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago: Crystal Palace FC sent two more players into the tournament than Real Madrid CF (12 to 10).”
Andrea Sartori, founder and CEO of Football Benchmark, said: “The FIFA World Cup has always been soccer’s biggest stage, but the data shows how much the tournament has evolved.”
“The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest tournament ever held, reflecting both the growing scale of the tournament and the global reach of the game.
“From increased revenue and prize money to the concentration of talent in a relatively small number of clubs, leagues and national teams, our tournament guide provides a unique snapshot of many of the financial, commercial and sporting trends that are shaping the game today.”
Read the full report here: Football Benchmark Guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup
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