Aston Villa and World Cup 2026
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Aston Villa’s contingent consisted of Birkir Bjarnason representing Iceland, Mile Jedinak captaining Australia, and Ahmed Elmohamady flying the flag for Egypt. Three players, three nations with no realistic prospect of going deep, at a tournament Villa supporters watched largely as neutral observers. The club was in the Championship. The World Cup was a reminder of exactly that.
Four years later in Qatar, there was at least a winner. Emiliano Martínez became Villa’s first World Cup champion, but the supporting cast – Leander Dendoncker, Jan Bednarek, and a Matty Cash not yet remotely the 2025/26 player he would become – barely registered. Progress, of sorts.
Which brings us to Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026, and ten Villa players. John McGinn marked the first of them with a goal — Scotland’s winner in a must-win against Haiti, their first World Cup appearance in 28 years. It’s hard to think of a Villa player more pivotal to his nation’s summer hopes. And he is far from alone.
As well as McGinn, the most high-profile will obviously be Emiliano Martínez, who previously created Villa history by becoming both the club’s first World Cup winner and their first player to appear in a World Cup final. He’ll be looking to make it back-to-back World Cups, although the bookies have Argentina out at 11/1, fifth favourites behind four European countries. It’s worth remembering only one European team has won the World Cup in the Americas, when Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in Rio in 2014.
Perhaps the main intrigue from a Villa point of view will be to see how involved Villa’s Three Lions— Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa, and Morgan Rogers— will be in the England set-up, as well as the impact of Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans on the Belgian team.
The Belgians were ranked second in the world going into the 2022 World Cup, but didn’t even get through the group stage, as another so-called Golden Generation disappointed.
While Lucas Digne will probably start on the bench as France aim to do one better than 2022, Victor Lindelöf should be front and centre of the Swedish Houdini act that perhaps shouldn’t even be at the finals. Sweden managed to finish bottom of their World Cup qualifying group, winless in their six games, but scrambled into the tournament via their Nations League ticket to the play-offs, where they beat both Ukraine and Poland.
The true impact of their twin threat up top of Viktor Gyökeres and Alexander Isak will depend on whether Graham Potter can sort out his troubled backline. Lindelöf will be key to this, but he faces fitness concerns ahead of the Swede’s first game against Tunisia.
The World Cup Shop Window Concern
That leaves just one Villan, who many supporters thought would be a Crystal Palace player by now – Evann Guessand. After a loan period that saw him win a Conference League medal with Palace, the Eagles’ clause to sign him permanently from Aston Villa expired on June 1st, while Palace were undergoing the process of finding a new manager (Lens manager Pierre Sage is expected to be appointed).
Guessand impressing in the World Cup could be vital to Villa’s summer transfer plans, if they can recoup the €30 million they outlaid on him, it would lessen the pressure to sell their golden goose, namely Morgan Rogers.
Aston Villa’s World Cup contingent:
Lucas Digne (France)
Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast)
Ezri Konsa (England)
Victor Lindelöf (Sweden)
Emiliano Martínez (Argentina)
John McGinn (Scotland)
Amadou Onana (Belgium)
Morgan Rogers (England)
Youri Tielemans (Belgium)
Ollie Watkins (England)
The Emery World Cup Effect
While Gianni Infantino and American fascination with dynamic pricing have eaten away at the soul of what used to be the best sporting tournament on the planet, Emery’s progress with Villa means that for the month ahead, it’ll at least be worth watching for Villa supporters for a change.
UTV
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