Did your Premier League team have a good World Cup?

The World Cup is over, and all that’s left are memories and the aftermath.

Part of that aftermath is to consider which Premier League clubs will be happy with how the World Cup went. Plenty of players based in England’s top division had a significant impact on the tournament, from difference-makers for nations who got to its business end, to those who powered some of the underdogs.

But there are lots of other things to consider, and that is also true when deciding what actually constitutes ‘good’ in this context.

Is a ‘good’ World Cup for a club one in which their players excelled, so can potentially take their summer form into the new domestic season? Or is a ‘good’ World Cup actually one in which none of your lads featured, or their country got knocked out early, and are therefore going to be fresh heading into the 10 gruelling months ahead?

Take Rodri, for example: he was captain of eventual winners Spain and was voted the player of the tournament, but he now requires back surgery and his World Cup success could make him even more of a target for suitors Real Madrid. So is that good for his current club Manchester City… or not?

Here, The Athletic’s writers look at each of the 20 Premier League teams to assess how the tournament went for them.

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Arsenal

Leandro Trossard included, as his move to Besiktas was confirmed after Belgium were eliminated from the tournament, 15 Arsenal players were part of the World Cup. Overall, there will be mixed feelings about how they fared in North America.

Pride will come from the fact the Spanish trio of Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and David Raya will return to north London as world champions. Also, all 15 reached the knockout stages, and of all clubs represented at the tournament, Arsenal players scored the third-most goals (13).

Anxiety and frustration would have built over the usage (or lack thereof) of fatigued players including William Saliba, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka. Saliba going off with a back injury as France lost to Spain in the semi-finals and Saka not getting on the pitch in England’s defeat by Argentina at that same stage, before scoring a hat-trick in the third-place play-off three days later, are particular lowlights.

Even so, Merino provided big moments for Spain, Gabriel Martinelli did the same for Brazil and Martin Odegaard broke new ground with Norway. There was, without question, light among the darkness.

Art de Roche

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Aston Villa

It was a fine World Cup from a Villa point of view, even if it does leave a bitter taste.

Emiliano Martinez gave his best Argentina performance, albeit in a losing cause, in the final.

Morgan Rogers did not play as much as he would have liked as England came third. Lucas Digne forced his way into the France XI but came unstuck against Lamine Yamal in the semi-finals and Youri Tielemans led Belgium well as captain before succumbing to injury and missing their last-eight defeat by Spain. All three, however, are now out the Villa Park exit door, or close to it.

New signing Johan Manzambi sparkled for Switzerland before missing their final two knockout-phase matches with a knee issue, though.

John McGinn scored but then struggled, like all of Scotland’s players, as they were knocked out in the group stage. Victor Lindelof played in defence and midfield for Sweden, yet they lasted only 90 minutes longer than the Scots. Most gallingly, Belgium’s Amadou Onana sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury, which forced Villa to pivot on their midfield transfer plans.

Jacob Tanswell

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Bournemouth

Bournemouth sent six players to the World Cup — a success in itself.

Of those, Marcos Senesi, who joined Tottenham Hotspur during the tournament, started and completed the 90 minutes for Argentina against Jordan in the group phase and played 18 minutes of extra time against Spain in the final.

Tyler Adams was solid for the United States until their 4-1 round-of-16 loss to Belgium, while Ryan Christie and Ben Gannon-Doak appeared in all of Scotland’s games, with a combined three starts, before a group-stage exit. Justin Kluivert came off the bench against Tunisia and Morocco, missing his penalty in the latter’s shootout as the Netherlands exited in the round of 32.

Bournemouth’s biggest success story of the tournament was Rayan, who conjured up more flashes of the brilliance he had shown after joining the club in January. After sitting out Brazil’s opening 1-1 draw with Morocco, the 19-year-old injected life into their attack thereafter as he played in the remaining four games, starting three. He contributed an assist against Scotland, but was a non-factor in the last-16 defeat by Norway.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

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Brighton and Hove Albion

The only Brighton player to make it deep into the tournament was Maxim De Cuyper with Belgium, although training goalkeeper Jason Steele did end up as a bronze medalist with England despite not officially being a member of the 26-man squad.

De Cuyper made five starts in Belgium’s six-game run to the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champions Spain.

Brighton sold one World Cup central defender during the competition and gained two others, Dutchman Jan Paul van Hecke and Luka Vuskovic of Croatia trading places in moves to and from Tottenham Hotspur, while Austria’s Michael Svoboda has arrived from Venezia of Italy.

Apart from De Cuyper, all eight of the club’s representatives at the start of the tournament (which became nine as it progressed) were knocked out in the groups, the round of 32 or, in the case of Paraguay’s Diego Gomez, the last 16.

That, together with Kaoru Mitoma being left out of the Japan squad because of a late-season hamstring injury, could be a blessing for Fabian Hurzeler.

Brighton’s head coach does not need a group of exhausted World Cup players on his hands when trying to cope with extra fixtures in the UEFA Conference League, especially in the early part of the season.

Andy Naylor

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Brentford

Defender Kristoffer Ajer had the most successful World Cup of Brentford’s four-man contingent, playing a vital role in Norway making the quarter-finals. Among players with 300 or more minutes of game-time at the tournament, Ajer ranked second for headed clearances (24) and committed only two fouls.

By contrast, his team-mates Igor Thiago and Aaron Hickey had forgettable tournaments.

Striker Thiago attempted just six passes and two shots in 62 minutes of Brazil’s drawn opener against Morocco before being relegated to the bench for the rest of the competition. Similarly, full-back Hickey played 75 minutes of the opening 1-0 win over Haiti, then did not get on the pitch in Scotland’s remaining two matches.

Jordan Henderson’s World Cup was far from forgettable.

On the pitch, he appeared for just six minutes in England’s dead-rubber against Panama at the end of the group stage. He then made headlines following their round-of-16 win over Mexico at the Estadio Azteca, slipping and falling as he vaulted the pitchside advertising hoardings while celebrating, resulting in a wrist injury that required surgery and ruled him out for the rest of the competition. He also got booked while not on the pitch in that game.

Henderson remained with the team, however, until the end, and will return to Brentford with his bronze medal.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

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Chelsea

Chelsea will feel their £120million ($160m) valuation of Enzo Fernandez is justified anyway, but it helps their cause that he played an increasingly prominent role for Argentina as the defending champions made it back to the final.

Granted, his lack of discipline to get sent off in that game was not the greatest advertisement. But scoring key goals in knockout-stage victories over Egypt and England, against whom he dictated play, is only going to stiffen Chelsea’s resolve over the asking price should anyone make a bid.

There is also going to be some measure of relief that, after suffering another hamstring problem early in the tournament, club captain Reece James returned to play in England’s last three games.

From a selfish point of view, Chelsea may be quite pleased that some first-team players got knocked out early.

Moises Caicedo (Ecuador), Jorrel Hato (Netherlands) and Nicolas Jackson (Senegal) exited at the last-32 stage, with Pedro Neto (Portugal) following them home a round later. It means all should get a much-needed holiday and still be back for the majority of Chelsea’s pre-season under new manager Xabi Alonso.

Simon Johnson

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Coventry City

Promoted Coventry, who kick off their Premier League return with a trip to champions Arsenal on the season’s opening night, had two players at the World Cup: Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante.

Striker Wright played only two minutes for the United States, coming on late as a substitute against Australia and Belgium, and had just two touches of the ball across the co-hosts’ five matches. He may have been given more of a chance in the round-of-16 game with Belgium had U.S. President Donald Trump not intervened to help suspend Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension.

Fellow forward Thomas-Asante was used sparingly, making two substitute appearances in Ghana’s four games. However, he made a telling impact from the bench in their opener, assisting Caleb Yirenkyi for a stoppage-time winner against Panama. He also came on for the last 19 minutes of the final group match, a 2-1 defeat by Croatia.

With Wright and Thomas-Asante — both crucial to Coventry’s Championship title triumph last season — not featuring heavily at the World Cup, head coach Frank Lampard will hope they return to the club relatively rested and raring to go.

Tom Burrows

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Crystal Palace

As well as their FA Cup and UEFA Conference League titles in the past two seasons, Palace now boast a World Cup winner in Yeremy Pino. The forward was part of the Spain squad, although he was limited to 69 minutes of game time in two substitute appearances across their eight matches.

Five of the 12 Palace players who went to the tournament reached at least the quarter-finals: Pino, Jorgen Strand Larsen (Norway), Dean Henderson (England), Maxence Lacroix and Jean-Philippe Mateta (both France).

Three of their players scored, with four for Ismaila Sarr (Senegal) and two each for Daniel Munoz (Colombia) and Daichi Kamada (Japan).

Their best performers were Munoz, who played every minute in starting four of Colombia’s five matches, Kamada and Sarr, whose goals against Norway (two), Iraq and Belgium meant he continued the form which earned him Palace’s 2025-26 player of the year award.

Matt Woosnam

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Everton

Jordan Pickford made the headlines, becoming England’s most-capped player in World Cups, and producing a string of trademark spectacular saves en route to their semi-final loss to Argentina.

But the intriguing narrative for fans of the Merseysiders was whether their best outfield player, attacker Iliman Ndiaye, would translate his sparkling Premier League form to the World Cup stage and hasten a summer transfer for himself.

The answer was — not quite.

N’Diaye only started one of Senegal’s four matches, the round-of-32 defeat by Belgium, and although he got two assists and an eye-catching goal against Iraq from the bench, he was outshone by team-mates Pape Gueye and Lamine Camara. Whether that means the 26-year-old won’t still catch the interest of a Champions League club remains to be seen, but his chances of remaining an Everton player were not as damaged as some feared.

Elsewhere, manager David Moyes will have been satisfied that right-back Nathan Patterson, who has no apparent future at Everton, got enough minutes in Scotland’s three matches to provide a bargaining lever with any clubs interested in him.

Greg O’Keeffe

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Fulham

A burst of acceleration, a drop of the shoulder and a shimmy — that was all it took for Oscar Bobb to remind Fulham fans what he can do as he won a penalty for Norway against France in the group stage.

Jorgen Strand Larsen missed the spot kick, but the Norwegians’ progress to the knockout phase was already assured. Bobb, mostly as an impact substitute, and Sander Berge, as a steadying presence in midfield, were crucial in their eventual run to the quarter-finals.

Other Fulham players can be pleased with their performances this summer, too.

Timothy Castagne was typically composed for quarter-finalists Belgium and Issa Diop, who has since moved to promoted Ipswich Town, enhanced his reputation with solid displays for Morocco, even scoring a stoppage-time equaliser in the eventual win against the Netherlands on penalties in the round of 32.

As for Raul Jimenez, the 35-year-old striker had already left Craven Cottage for Wolverhampton Wanderers, but even the most cynical Fulham fan may have cracked slightly when he scored his “miracle” goal for Mexico in the tournament’s opening match against South Africa.

Justin Guthrie

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Hull City

Hull, who won promotion to the Premier League via May’s play-offs, had just one player see any game time at the tournament: Liam Millar of Canada.

Millar featured in three of the co-hosts’ five matches as they reached the World Cup’s round of 16 for the first time in their history. The 26-year-old winger started against both Bosnia and Herzegovina, in their drawn opening game, and South Africa in their round-of-32 victory, and also came off the bench in the 2-1 defeat by Switzerland in the group finale.

Speaking of the Bosnians, Amir Hadziahmetovic, a midfielder who spent last season on loan at Hull, came off the bench for them in their second group match against the Swiss.

Ivor Pandur, who signed for Scotland’s Rangers from Hull late last month as fellow goalkeeper Jack Butland moved the other way, was also at the tournament, but was an unused substitute in all four of Croatia’s games.

Tom Burrows

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Ipswich Town

It’s fair to say the 2026 World Cup largely passed Ipswich by.

The club had just two representatives at the tournament; neither made it past the group stage, and only one made it onto the pitch.

Striker Ali Al-Hamadi, who spent last season on loan at Luton Town in League One, started two of Iraq’s three group games, as they were beaten by Norway, France and Senegal. He became the first Ipswich player to feature at a World Cup since Denmark’s Jonas Knudsen in 2018.

Fellow centre-forward George Hirst was included in Scotland’s squad but did not add to his 10 caps as Steve Clarke’s side also failed to progress to the knockout stages.

The signing of Issa Diop from Fulham was confirmed after the World Cup ended on Sunday, and he was the only player in the current Ipswich squad to go deep into the tournament. The central defender started five of Morocco’s six matches as they made the quarter-finals and scored a late equaliser against the Netherlands to send a last-32 tie they would eventually win on penalties to extra time.

Due to his extended World Cup stay, Diop won’t join up with Ipswich until after their pre-season training camp in La Manga, Spain.

It means new manager Gary O’Neil’s players have enjoyed a minimally disrupted pre-season as they prepare for their return to the Premier League.

Ali Rampling

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Leeds United

Gabriel Gudmundsson started all four of Sweden’s games. He was solid, but did not create too many headlines. He showed versatility, being used as a centre-back, a left-back and a left wing-back.

Ao Tanaka did not, perhaps, play as many minutes as expected, but did start two of Japan’s four matches. While he dictated play in the group-stage draw with Gudmundsson and company from midfield, his abiding memory of this World Cup will, sadly, be the possession he gave away which led to Brazil’s stoppage-time winner in the round of 32.

Brenden Aaronson started the United States’ dead rubber with Turkey at the end of the group campaign, but did not get off the bench in any of their four other matches. This was not a huge surprise, given he has been in and out of coach Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT squads over the past 18 months.

Noah Okafor came away from the tournament with the fewest minutes among the Leeds contingent. Despite scoring eight Premier League goals last season, Switzerland did not find much use for him in their six matches. He was given 20 minutes at the end of the round-of-32 win over Algeria, and that was it.

Beren Cross

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Liverpool

Let’s all cheer for Victor Munoz, the new Liverpool signing who didn’t play a single minute for Spain over their eight games but still left the United States with a World Cup winner’s medal. Everyone at Anfield is so proud of him.

Jokes aside, being a squad member for the best international side on the planet is hardly a bad thing. And ultimately Munoz will be the happiest of all Liverpool’s World Cup players, especially in comparison to Alexis MacAllister, whose Argentina were the losing side in that final.

This summer was supposed to be a refreshing change of scenery for those on the road with their nations, but instead the difficulties of Liverpool’s 2025-26 campaign continued.

Alexander Isak (Sweden) and Florian Wirtz (Germany) both failed to make an impact, while Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo (both of the Netherlands) joined them in being eliminated in the round of 32. Alisson cut a frustrated figure as Brazil were knocked out by Norway in the last 16.

So much for building some momentum to bring back to Anfield after the horror show of last season.

Gregg Evans

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Manchester City

I suppose it depends what you mean by ‘good’.

Rodri had the best World Cup of anybody, officially, though there will be City fans who would have preferred him to have gone out in the quarter-finals and had some extra rest before the new season. It may even be that his heroics with Spain change some minds at Real Madrid and make a transfer to the Bernabeu this summer more likely, which is not good for City at all.

Erling Haaland was probably the ideal performer, because he was brilliant and will even bring new fans to the club, but his tournament still finished a couple of weeks ago. Rayan Cherki did not get much time to shine for France, so will be reasonably well rested for somebody who was there for the whole thing.

Elliot Anderson’s performances for England will excite City fans ahead of his arrival, though the longer-serving City players generally did not stand out too much for their nations. James Trafford (England) did not see any action, Matheus Nunes (Portugal) managed one minute, Marc Guehi (also England) was fine, Antoine Semenyo (Ghana) and Jeremy Doku (Belgium) were quieter than you might expect — but as long as they do their jobs in the City system over the coming months, all will be well.

Sam Lee

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Manchester United

Twelve(ish, depending on how you view Casemiro’s summer free agency) United players travelled to North America for the 2026 World Cup. Lisandro Martinez made the deepest run in the competition, starting seven of Argentina’s eight matches, but had to come off late in the first half of the final.

Joining him on the list of casualties is Manuel Ugarte, whose tournament with Uruguay was cut short by a knee injury that is expected to keep him out for much of the coming season.

United captain Bruno Fernandes provided one assist in Portugal’s run to the quarter-finals (a campaign that also included two brief substitute appearances for Diogo Dalot). Matheus Cunha quickly became Carlo Ancelotti’s preferred centre-forward for Brazil, and ended the tournament with three goals in four starts.

Marcus Rashford also had a solid World Cup, including a goal in England’s opening match against Croatia. Senne Lammens made an unfortunate mistake as a substitute in Belgium’s quarter-final against Spain to give Mikel Merino a chance to score the winner, while Amad was the surprise ace for Ivory Coast, netting a stunning equaliser in the round of 32 loss to Norway.

Kobbie Mainoo, Tyler Fletcher and Altay Bayindir were unused by England, Scotland and Turkey respectively.

Carl Anka

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Newcastle United

Dan Burn was the last man standing of Newcastle’s seven representatives at the World Cup (seven-and-a-half if we include Anthony Gordon, whose transfer to Barcelona was made official midway through), reaching the semi-finals with England and playing a prominent role as a substitute in famous victories against Mexico and Norway.

It was a less happy experience for Tino Livramento, who suffered a tournament-ending calf injury in training before England’s first match, and not much better for Nick Woltemade and Malick Thiaw, as Germany were knocked out by Paraguay in the round of 32. Brazil only made it one stage further, and Bruno Guimaraes missed a penalty as Norway beat them 2-1. His future at Newcastle is uncertain.

There were glimmers of form from Yoane Wissa (DR Congo) and Anthony Elanga (Sweden), both of whom need to hit the ground running in the coming season.

George Caulkin

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Nottingham Forest

The tournament began with questions over why Thomas Tuchel did not include Morgan Gibbs-White, one of the Premier League’s in-form No 10s. And, before it ended, the one Forest player the England coach did select, Elliot Anderson, had been sold to Manchester City for £116million.

Dan Ndoye scored the second of his two World Cup goals in Switzerland’s quarter-final against holders Argentina, but it was not enough to secure victory. Ibrahim Sangare’s Ivory Coast went out in the round of 32, losing to Norway.

Chris Wood and Tyler Bindon only collected a single point with New Zealand, while Angus Gunn could not help Scotland get beyond the group stage either.

Paul Taylor

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Sunderland

Before this summer, only one Sunderland player had ever scored in the World Cup — Wahbi Khazri, for Tunisia in 2018 – and he left the club less than a month later.

In the 2026 edition, that tally was multiplied by eight, and Sunderland’s 11-strong contingent left their mark.

Brian Brobbey’s brutalist brace led the Netherlands’ 5-1 thrashing of Sweden, before he followed it up with another goal against Tunisia; Habib Diarra scored two for Senegal; Nilson Angulo (Ecuador), Granit Xhaka (Switzerland) and Wilson Isidor (Haiti) managed a goal apiece.

Absent from the scoresheet but doing his value little harm was midfielder Noah Sadiki. At his metronomic best for a DR Congo team who nearly shocked England in the round of 32, Sadiki’s boundless energy carried over from the domestic season.

He was one among plenty who showcased Wearside’s recruiting excellence to the world.

Chris Weatherspoon

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Tottenham Hotspur

Had Pedro Porro not signed a contract extension three days into the tournament, Tottenham may now be nursing a post-World Cup headache. As it was, his excellent performances for Spain have not come at the cost of unwelcome transfer interest. As it is, it’s the best of both worlds. Porro will return to the club as a world champion, and with his future locked up.

Djed Spence’s performances for England won him new admirers, particularly for his one-on-one defending. It’s unclear whether that expedites a move away, but it’s a good problem to have.

Cristian Romero and Argentina went all the way to the final, of course. Injury then forced him off against Spain, but not before he reminded the world of the centre-back he can be. Romero is expected to leave Spurs during this window, and his performances in America will have reassured interested clubs.

New signing Jan Paul van Hecke had a solid few weeks, despite the Netherlands’ round-of-32 defeat by Morocco. As did Micky van de Ven, playing alongside him as a full-back.

Lucas Bergvall only started once, and that was in Sweden’s fourth and final game, when they were overwhelmed 3-0 by France in the round of 32. He made no real impression, and this World Cup did little to alter his value ahead of another anticipated departure. Pape Sarr was on the pitch for Senegal’s devastating extra-time defeat by Belgium at that same stage, but joins Bergvall as a Spurs player who had little impact on a tournament where his career — and market value — could really have used a jolt.

Seb Stafford-Bloor