Premier League dominates the 2026 World Cup with 85 goal contributions

No other league on the planet comes close. Players who featured for Premier League clubs in the 2025/26 season – or are already registered for 2026/27 – have racked up 85 combined goals and assists at the 2026 World Cup, held across Canada, Mexico and the United States. That is almost double the second-placed Spanish LaLiga, which totals 45 direct contributions.

Liverpool lead among the English clubs, Real Madrid are ahead overall

Within the Premier League, Liverpool are the club with the most goal involvements: 16 in total, with 5 scored and 11 assisted by their players at the tournament. It is a striking number – but still three short of Real Madrid, who lead among all clubs in the world at the World Cup.

Sunderland and Crystal Palace stand out for different reasons. Both clubs have seven goals scored by their players at the World Cup – only Real Madrid and PSG have managed to top that mark. For teams living realities very different from the great European powers, the performance is surprising and validates squad choices made over recent seasons.

What these numbers say about the Premier League

The World Cup always works as a kind of accelerated showcase: compressed, with no margin for error and a global audience. The fact that English league players appear so frequently in the attacking statistics reinforces an argument that has circulated for years behind the scenes of football – the Premier League attracts and develops a volume of high-level forwards and midfielders that no other domestic competition can replicate so consistently.

LaLiga, with 45 contributions, is comfortably second in the ranking – but the gap to the English league’s 85 is far too large to be coincidental. The data, collected up to June 28, could still grow: the tournament is ongoing, and several players who have passed through the Premier League still have matches ahead of them.