The 2026 World Cup has closed with the championship belonging to Spain after a 1-0 victory over Argentina in the final. However, when the 2026-2027 Premier League season is only more than a month away from starting, the teams from the foggy country are facing significant impacts from the biggest tournament on the planet.
Man City has the most World Cup players
Man City is the Premier League team that contributed the most players to the 2026 World Cup with 16 faces. Among them is Spanish national team captain Rodri - who played the full journey of the championship and won the title of Player of the Tournament. There are also Marc Guehi, Nico O'Reilly, new signing Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki, players who all participated in the semi-finals.
Arsenal is immediately behind with 13 players, notably the World Cup champion duo Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi, along with England players Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke.
Tottenham, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester United all have two-digit numbers of players participating in the World Cup.
Not only leading in the number of players, Man City is also the team with the most total playing time of players with 5,595 minutes, far exceeding Arsenal (4,224 minutes) and Tottenham (3,318 minutes).
Rest schedule affected
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is the Premier League player with the most appearances at the 2026 World Cup with 810 minutes after playing all of Argentina's matches, including extra time.
Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool) ranked second with 749 minutes, while Rodri ranked next with 726 minutes.
According to FIFA regulations, players must have at least three weeks of rest after the end of the World Cup before returning to training with the club. This means that teams with many players going deep will lack personnel for most of the pre-season preparation period.
This is a significant challenge as the 2026-2027 Premier League will kick off on August 21, just over four weeks after the World Cup final.
Injury becomes a major concern
Besides the fitness issue, many teams also face serious personnel losses.
Aston Villa suffered the heaviest losses when Amadou Onana broke his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), an injury that could cause the Belgian midfielder to be out of action for 6 to 9 months.
Arsenal also received many bad news when William Saliba suffered a back injury in the semi-final match between France and Spain. Meanwhile, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice both had physical problems throughout the tournament.
Man United was also affected when new player Youri Tielemans suffered a hamstring injury in the quarter-finals, and Manuel Ugarte suffered a knee ligament injury before Uruguay was eliminated from the group stage.
Arsenal suffers the greatest impact
Based on many criteria such as the number of participating players, total minutes played, level of injury, recovery time and time of being eliminated from the tournament, Arsenal is considered the Premier League team most heavily affected after the 2026 World Cup.
Aston Villa, Man United and Tottenham are ranked behind each other, while Man City is only ranked fifth despite having the most players participating in the tournament.
In the opposite direction, Coventry is almost unaffected when no players are present at the World Cup. This helps coach Frank Lampard have a full force to prepare for the new season.
Two other Premier League newcomers, Hull City and Ipswich Town, are also less affected, similar to Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Brighton.
