Top-flight rankings
MLS 6th, LaLiga 2nd – Which leagues dominated the 2026 World Cup?
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While Spain were crowned world champions and Argentina could boast an impressive record of back-to-back finals at the 2026 World Cup final, it was a competition that was undoubtedly dominated by the Premier League. No other top-flight in Europe or from across the world came close to matching the impact the Premier League had on the World Cup, in terms of the number of participants at the competition and the minutes those players racked up. And, using Transfermarkt’s database, we can reveal the extent of the English top-flight’s stranglehold over the best talents from across the world of football.
Indeed, according to Transfermarkt data, no less than 21% of the total minutes played by every single player at this year’s World Cup came from a player who played in the Premier League at the start of the tournament. That, perhaps, should come as no great surprise when we consider that the total market value of every Premier League participant at the tournament amounted to an incredible €5.94 billion – which is more than double the next highest combined market value of a league’s participants, which happens to be the Bundesliga on €2.16b. And it was also evident in the final, where eight of the starting 22 players were Premier League players when the competition started.
As we can see in the table above, the next best league in terms of participation at the World Cup was LaLiga, with the Spanish top-flight laying claim to 9.4% of the total minutes played. This, undoubtedly, was boosted by Spain’s progression to the final of the competition, with the national team relying heavily on players from LaLiga. Seven of Spain’s starting XI in the final play their football in LaLiga, alongside two of the four substitutes that came on during the match. In third place was the Bundesliga, which had 93 players at the tournament and some notable stand-out performers, such as Michael Olise, Dayot Upamecano and Harry Kane all making it to the semi-finals of the competition.
Curiously, Ligue 1 and Serie A ended up tied on exactly 7.2% each, only for none other than Major League Soccer to leapfrog a number of Europe’s biggest leagues to claim sixth place. The North American top-flight undoubtedly benefitted from Lionel Messi’s push to the final, alongside Argentinian teammate Rodrigo De Paul. MLS had no less than 45 participants at the tournament that made up 4% of the total minutes played, putting them ahead of the Saudi Pro League (3.4%). Turkish Süper Lig (2.8%) and Eredivisie (2.7).
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